Department of Defence (Australia)

The Australian Department of Defence is a Federal Government Department. It forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation along with the Australian Defence Force. The Defence mission is to defend Australia and its national interests. It is accountable to the Commonwealth Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, for the efficiency and effectiveness with which it carries out the Government's defence policy.

Organisational groups

The Department of Defence consists of 11 major organisational groups:

• Capability Development Group
• Chief Finance Officer Group
• Chief Information Officer Group
• Defence Materiel Organisation
• Defence Science and Technology Organisation
• Defence Support Group
• Intelligence, Security and International Policy
• People Strategies and Policy
• Strategy, Coordination and Governance

The Australian Defence Force consists of:

• Royal Australian Navy
• Australian Army
• Royal Australian Air Force
• Joint Operations Command
• Vice Chief of the Defence Force Group

The Defence Materiel Organisation is a prescribed agency responsible for acquisition, sustainment and disposal of Defence equipment. Although the DMO forms part of the Department of Defence, it is also separately accountable to the Minister for its budget and performance.

The Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Secretary for the Department of Defence jointly manage the Defence organisation under a "diarchy", a term used to describe the relationship between the Chief of the...
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