Australian Defence Organisation

Organisation

Defence consists of several smaller interrelated military and corporate organisations. The two most significant organisations are the ADF, led by the Chief of the Defence Force who is Australia's senior military leader, and the DoD, managed by the Secretary of the Department of Defence who is a senior public servant accountable under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

In addition to the two primary organisations, a number of other entities are considered part of Defence:

• The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is an independent statutory agency under the Intelligence Services Act 2001.
• The Australian Submarine Agency is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity under the DoD.
• Both the Inspector-General of the ADF and the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal are independent statutory offices created by the Defence Act 1903 which operate within the DoD.
• Defence additionally contains a number of independent statutory offices created by the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982.
• Various other trusts and companies support the mission of defence, including the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Defence Housing Australia and funds and trusts associated with branches of the ADF.

Entities within Defence report to the Minister for Defence, but the defence minster's portfolio and ADO are not identical, for example the Department of Veterans' Affairs reports to the defence minister but is not part of Defence.

For the 2024-25 financial year, as estimated in the Defence Portfolio Budget Statement prepared as part of the 2024 Australian federal budget, Defence's total workforce was 82,724 people (16,331 Navy personnel, 31,339 Army personnel, 15,927 Air Force personnel and 19,127 public servants), and Defence received A$53.58 billion in government funding.

The ADO is understood to be a diarchy, a rare organisational structure intended to take advantage of "the responsibilities and complementary abilities of public servants and military officials". The 2014 First Principles Review, taken up in the 2016 Defence White Paper, recommended moving to operate as a more integrated organisation, amid public criticism of the diarchy structure.

While Defence is more commonly used, use of 'Australian Defence Organisation' to refer to the entities collectively is longstanding practice. For example, 'Australian Defence Organisation' can still be seen on the number plates of vehicles managed by the Australian Defence Organisation Commercial Vehicles Fleet, operated by the Australian Army.