ISSN: 1836-1838
Date presented to Premier: 20th September 2021
To:
Hon Steven Marshall MP
Premier of South Australia
This annual report will be presented to Parliament to meet the statutory reporting requirements of relevant acts and regulations and the requirements of Premier and Cabinet Circular PC013 Annual Reporting.
This report is verified to be accurate for the purposes of annual reporting to the Parliament of South Australia.
Submitted on behalf of the Defence SA by:
Richard Price
Chief Executive
15th September 2021
From the Chief Executive
This year we have made enormous progress in positioning South Australia as an international leader in the defence and space industries, and building a more inclusive and supportive environment for veterans and their families.
Despite unforeseen challenges due to the global COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020-21 financial year, South Australia’s defence and space sectors have continued to thrive and will be crucial to the state’s future economic recovery.
Our main priority was ensuring South Australia’s defence and space industries were positioned to emerge strong and resilient from the pandemic. Despite travel restrictions, we remained committed to strengthening international engagement and local industry participation in global supply chains on major projects across naval shipbuilding, land systems, information warfare and space. South Australian industry participated in several virtual missions and tradeshows, including Euronaval 2020 and Eurosatory 2020, while the state’s capabilities were showcased at Land Forces 2021 in June.
Our vision for growth and investment in the defence and space industries over the next decade has been clearly mapped out, with the release of overarching strategies: South Australia Growth State: Defence State Sector Strategy 2030 and Space Sector Strategy. These strategies outline how South Australia will rise to the challenge of supporting our defence and space sectors and capitalising on the investment, supply chain and career opportunities.
Our first priority is ensuring South Australia has the skilled workforce to deliver major Defence projects. In order to achieve this, Defence SA launched a local and national workforce and skills attraction campaign to build a pipeline of work-ready employees for the industry. Other initiatives, like the Premier’s Defence Industry Scholarships Program, have been successful in supporting the next generation to pursue careers in the defence sector.
South Australia’s space industry made significant gains this year. The state again hosted two Australian Space Forums, which were well-attended by national and international guests. The most recent forum was run by the newly established Andy Thomas Space Foundation and included the largest industry exhibition in the event’s history. South Australia also celebrated the opening of the Australian Mission Control Centre and Australian Space Discovery Centre at Lot Fourteen, while the South Australian Government initiated its first-ever space services mission (SASAT1) in collaboration with local industry and academia.
In the research sector, the Defence Innovation Partnership successfully secured funding to continue its work in catalysing collaborative defence research and development between industry, universities and Defence in South Australia. This year alone, the Defence Innovation Partnership awarded $1 million to projects that drive collaboration, innovation and enhance our industry’s capability.
Our team within Veterans SA supported the community through challenges resulting from the Brereton Report and the announcement of a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The agency continues to work across government to ensure the right support services are available at the most critical times. Increasing workforce participation of women and men with military experience has been a priority this year. A pilot Veterans SA Mentor Program was launched to connect members of the veteran community to leaders and professionals across the South Australian community. Improved visibility of veterans who work in the public sector, the largest employer in this state, will realise further opportunities for veterans across the South Australian Government.
Though 2020-21 was a challenge, significant progress across the defence and space industries in addition to empowering our vibrant veteran community paves the way for a bright future in these important and high-growth sectors.
Richard Price
Chief Executive
Defence SA
Contents
Overview: about the agency
- Our strategic focus
- Our organisational structure as at 30 June 2021
- Changes to the agency
- Our Minister
- Our Executive team
The agency’s performance
- Performance at a glance
- Agency contribution to whole of Government objectives
- Agency specific objectives and performance
- Corporate performance summary
- Employment opportunity programs
- Agency performance management and development systems
- Work health, safety and return to work programs
- Executive employment in the agency
Financial performance
- Financial performance at a glance
- Consultants disclosure
- Contractors disclosure
Risk management
- Risk and audit at a glance
- Fraud detected in the agency
- Strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud
- Public interest disclosure
- Reporting required under any other act or regulation
- Reporting required under the Carers’ Recognition Act 2005
Public complaints
- Number of public complaints reported
- Additional Metrics
- Service Improvements
- Compliance Statement
Appendix: Audited financial statements 2020-21
Overview: About the Agency
Our strategic focus
Purpose:
Defence SA is South Australia’s lead government agency for all defence and space related matters, with a mission to grow investment, the Australian Defence Force and defence and space industries which leads to new and exciting jobs for South Australians. A key part of the organisation’s strategy is to ensure a highly skilled, industry-ready workforce is in place to underpin defence and space projects.
The Defence SA Advisory Board provides high-level strategic advice to promote the growth of the defence industry in South Australia and plays a key role in guiding the state’s defence strategy.
Within Defence SA sits the Defence Innovation Partnership, South Australian Space Industry Centre and Veterans SA:
Defence Innovation Partnership – fosters collaboration and engagement between government, universities/research organisations and industry. The Defence Innovation Partnership helps deliver innovative solutions to Defence by: creating connections between researchers, industry and Defence; building and supporting defence-relevant collaborations through the Collaborative Research Fund; attracting research and development funding to South Australia; and supporting the translation of defence and national security research and development.
South Australian Space Industry Centre (SASIC) – drives space industry innovation, research and entrepreneurial development. SASIC collaborates with the Australian Space Agency to play a key role in the national space agenda.
Veterans SA – serving the veteran community and South Australian Government, providing education and advocacy on all matters relating to veterans. Veterans SA support serving and ex-serving military personnel and those who support them by providing a central contact point for information about the state government’s services to veterans across South Australia. Veterans SA provide administrative support to the Veterans’ Advisory Council to ensure veterans receive a voice at the highest levels of government.
| Defence SA | By 2030 South Australia will be recognised as an international leader in the defence and space industries by building on its highly skilled workforce, world-leading technology and infrastructure and culture of innovation driven by focused research and development. |
| Defence Innovation Partnership | A trusted, forward-thinking and sustainable defence-relevant research, development and innovation ecosystem, supporting Australia’s defence and national security needs. |
| SASIC | A thriving and enduring South Australian space ecosystem, supporting Australia’s national space strategy, building on the opportunities of NewSpace. |
| Veterans SA | A strong, vibrant and well supported and represented veteran community, inclusive of all generations, that is understood and appropriately acknowledged by all South Australians |
| Defence SA | To establish and maintain a competitive business environment in the defence sector. |
| Defence Innovation Partnership | Catalyse a trusted and recognised R&D ecosystem that delivers valued outcomes to its stakeholders. |
| SASIC | To grow a thriving and enduring South Australian space sector, in partnership with industry. |
| Veterans SA | To uphold the provisions contained in South Australia’s Charter for Veterans by ensuring that the needs of veterans, government and the wider South Australian community are served through the provision of advice and expertise on veterans’ affairs and by influencing government decision making to ensure that the veteran community is well represented in South Australia. |
| Defence SA
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| Defence Innovation Partnership |
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| SASIC |
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| Veterans SA |
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Our organisational structure as at 30 June 2021
Changes to the agency
During 2020-21 there were changes to the agency’s structure and objectives resulting from internal reviews or machinery of government changes.
Our Minister
The Hon Steven Marshall MP is South Australia’s 46th Premier. The Premier is responsible for the defence and space industries and veterans’ portfolios.
Our Executive team
As at 30 June 2021, Defence SA’s Executive team comprised:
Richard Price, Chief Executive, Defence SA, Veterans SA and South Australian Space and Industry Centre
Richard Price is responsible for providing executive and strategic leadership to Defence SA, Veterans SA the South Australian Space Industry Centre and the Defence Innovation Partnership. The Chief Executive is responsible for the attraction, development and growth of sustainable industry business initiatives to establish a long-term viable Defence presence and promote defence and space industries in South Australia.
Rob Barnett, Executive Director, Corporate Services
Rob Barnett is responsible for leading the corporate services functions of the agency. This includes the delivery of all administration, finance and procurement support, as well as providing commercial cost/benefit analyses where required.
Reg Carruthers, Executive Director, Defence and Space
Reg Carruthers is responsible for initiatives to support and grow the defence and space industries in South Australia.
Sumen Rai, Acting Director, Defence Innovation Partnership
Sumen Rai is responsible for leading the Defence Innovation Partnership team, which builds and supports collaborative defence-relevant research and development in South Australia.
Jessica Hernandez, Director, Marketing and Communications
Jessica Hernandez is responsible for the oversight and management of all marketing and communications activities for Defence SA, including events and tradeshows.
Catherine Walsh, Director, Veterans SA
Catherine Walsh is responsible for ensuring that the interests and needs of the community of those who have served in the Australian Defence Force and their families are represented across the South Australian Government.
The Agency’s Performance
Performance at a glance
- Released the South Australia Growth State: Defence State Sector Strategy 2030 and Space Sector Strategy. The defence and the space industries have been identified as two of the nine priority areas under the South Australian Government’s Growth State initiative. They were selected due to their strong growth potential and the comparative advantage that South Australia provides to business in those areas.
- Committed to a $5 million co-investment with Flinders University for the establishment of the Line Zero – Factory of the Future, located at the Tonsley Innovation District.
- Hosted a Defence Cyber Security Forum in collaboration with AustCyber (SA Node) and the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre, to help businesses build cyber resilience and enhance their defence supply chain prospects.
- Supported 10 students to undertake their defence industry placements under the Premier’s Defence Industry Scholarship Program, with nine securing ongoing employment at defence industry workplaces.
- Showcased and promoted South Australian supply chain capabilities in the land sector as well as the maritime, aerospace, research and innovation, cyber and space sectors, creating opportunities for collaboration at Land Forces 2021 in Brisbane, in June 2021.
- Launched national defence industry workforce and skills attraction campaign Make Your Move and continued to develop local campaign, Find Your Place SA, both undertaken in partnership with major defence companies and SMEs across South Australia.
- Achieved full occupancy of the Defence and Space Landing Pad at Lot Fourteen.
- Managed two Australian Space Forums (November 2020 and March 2021), attracting over 1000 national and international registered attendees virtually in November 2020 and over 700 attendees in person and 400 virtually in March 2021. The most recent event was hosted by the newly established Andy Thomas Space Foundation and was the largest industry exhibition in the event’s history, showcasing 65 exhibitions from over 70 organisations, to discuss the latest space industry trends, opportunities, technologies and showcase South Australia’s growing space ecosystem.
- Provided support for the formation of The Andy Thomas Space Foundation. The foundation’s primary mission is to support space education and outreach across Australia and inspire young people to pursue careers in space by building a culture of entrepreneurship and igniting a curiosity for space.
- Launched the fourth round of the Space Scholarship Program, providing an opportunity for up-and-coming South Australian space leaders to apply for scholarships of up to $20,000 to develop their leadership skills, experience and knowledge in the space sector through education and training that will help to launch their careers in the state’s booming space sector.
- Initiated the South Australian Government funded SASAT1 Space Services Mission to launch a cube satellite into low-Earth orbit in 2022. The project will provide South Australian space companies space-flight experience, paving the way for global exports and state government uptake of space enabled technology and data.
- Contributed to the opening of the Australian Mission Control Centre and Australian Space Discovery Centre at Lot Fourteen. The South Australian Government contributed $2.5 million into the establishment of the national facility.
- Secured funding to continue the Defence Innovation Partnership under an enhanced operating model for a further four years from 2021-22.
- Delivered Round 4 of the Defence Innovation Partnership’s Collaborative Research Fund, including a contribution of $1 million to support seven project teams undertaking collaborative defence research and development activities, leveraging over $1.3 million in additional co-contributions from universities, industry and Defence.
- In collaboration with Defence Science and Technology Group, Office of National Intelligence, and the Defence Innovation Partnership’s counterpart organisations in other states, delivered the national Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making Initiative for South Australian participants.
- Established the Defence Innovation Partnership Space Security Community of Practice, in collaboration with the South Australian Space Industry Centre.
- Delivered the first CATALYSED Collaborative Research Fund project showcase, highlighting the work of project teams funded by the first four rounds of the Collaborative Research Fund, to potential future collaborators, funders and CRF applicants from industry, government and the research sector.
- Delivered 16 grants totalling $101,000 to the South Australian community from the annual Anzac Day Commemorative Fund, including towards the construction of the Sir Richard Williams statue in Moonta to commemorate the Centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force.
- Undertook community consultation on priority areas for the South Australian Government across the next decade, for inclusion in the Veterans SA strategic plan.
- Continued close collaboration with Department of Health and Wellbeing to ensure the successful commencement of services from the Repat Veterans Wellbeing Centre.
- Inclusion of “Have you served in the Australian Defence Force?” question in the I WORK FOR SA – Your Voice annual survey.
- Completed the Anzac Highway memorialisation project.
- Increased accessibility to veteran events through livestreamed and recorded media.
- Launched the inaugural Veteran Mentoring Program.
Agency contribution to whole of Government objectives
South Australia has received significant investment to put the state at the centre of the nation’s space endeavours. The Australian Space Agency, the SmartSat Collaborative Research Centre and SASIC are the centrepiece of a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem contributing to South Australia’s thriving space economy. The Australian Space Agency has set an ambitious goal to triple the size of Australia’s domestic space industry to $12 billion by 2030. South Australia is consolidating and refining its activities to best support the state’s space industry in collaboration with the Australian Space Agency.
The South Australian Government, in partnership with defence industry, the Australian Government and our local education institutions, is committed to supporting and developing the state’s defence and space industries workforce. A number of key initiatives are in place to ensure South Australia has the highly skilled workforce in place to deliver key projects now and into the future.
Veterans SA collaborates across the South Australian Government to ensure policy and program departments consider the implications and incorporate beneficial approaches for veterans and their families to live their most fulfilled lives. The South Australian Government recognises the vital role veterans and ex-service personnel play in the South Australian community, and Veterans SA supports leaders of the veteran community to collaborate and enable opportunities and/or support are available to veterans and their families to best suit their needs.
| Key objective | Agency’s contribution |
| More jobs | Australian Space Agency – SASIC continues to collaborate with the Australian Space Agency to support its strategy, initiatives and activities to stimulate the South Australian space ecosystem.
Defence Job Attraction – To support the growth of South Australia’s highly-skilled defence industry workforce, Defence SA currently has two marketing campaigns in market, aimed at educating and attracting skilled and future workers to defence industry jobs in South Australia. SASAT 1 Space Services Mission – Will accelerate the state’s space economy, create jobs and strengthen the competitiveness of South Australian businesses in the small-satellite supply chain while paving the way for external investment and future growth in Australia and abroad. Line Zero – Factory of the Future – The investment in the state-of-the-art facility ensures that South Australia is in the best position to take on the challenges of the digital shipyard, equipping the state with a highly skilled workforce prepared to guide us into the future. Veterans’ Mentoring Program – A pilot mentoring program matching veterans with leaders across a diverse range of roles and sectors enables skills development for veterans to become the community leaders of the future. |
Agency specific objectives and performance
Defence SA
| Agency objectives | Indicators | Performance |
| Maximising business opportunities by influencing policy, connecting industry to global supply chains and attracting investment. | Build strong relationships with local industry and international stakeholders for all major South Australian projects to better understand industry capability and needs. | Engaged with Attack Class submarine design partner, Naval Group and ship designers, BAE Systems Maritime Australia and Luerssen to maximise South Australian companies’ involvement in supply chain opportunities associated with major maritime projects. |
| Support South Australian industry to gain access to global supply chains and Defence export opportunities to key targeted markets and connecting South Australian industry to opportunities. | In December 2020, conducted virtual trade missions due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The virtual missions involved over eight European companies (focused on the maritime industry) led by the German Chamber of Commerce. The missions resulted in over 20 business to business virtual meetings.
Virtually attended Euronaval 2020 and Eurosatory 2020 to explore global supply chain opportunities. From 1 – 3 June 2021 showcased and promoted South Australian supply chain capabilities in the land sector as well as maritime, aerospace, cyber, research and innovation and created opportunities for collaboration at Land Forces 2021. |
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| Identify supply chain requirements. | Ongoing development of supply chain mapping for the Attack Class submarine, Arafura Class offshore patrol vessel and Hunter Class frigate programs. | |
| South Australia as a centre for information warfare. | Establish a sustainable Information Warfare supply chain through maximising local industry participation, independent exports and global supply chain exports. | Engaged with key Defence primes responsible for information warfare projects including BAE Systems (P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance), Northrup Grumman (MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicles), General Atomics (MQ-9B Sky Guardian), L3 Harris (MC-55A Peregrine) and Defence primes bidding for project AIR6500.
Ongoing high-level engagement with the Department of Defence and Defence Science and Technology Group across all capability areas. |
| Stimulating business capability by aligning local research and development, infrastructure and regulation with industry needs. | Maximise utilisation of the current facilities at Edinburgh and grow the precinct capability in line with future projects. | Continued to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure the ongoing viability of the Edinburgh Defence Precinct and to minimise encroachment on the RAAF Edinburgh Base. |
| Ensure the expansion of Lot Fourteen is designed to support the needs of potential defence tenants | The Defence and Space Landing Pad reached full capacity in February 2021.
Defence SA is monitoring travel restrictions due to COVID-19 and continues to remain in contact with international tenants. |
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| Stimulate research and development in emerging technologies relevant to systems and cyber. | In September 2020, hosted a Defence Cyber Security Forum in collaboration with AustCyber (SA Node) and the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre, to help businesses build cyber resilience and enhance their defence supply chain prospects. | |
| Support of the Line Zero – Factory of the Future facility | Funding of $5.0 million has been provided over six years to create a collaborative environment for defence primes, researchers, SME suppliers and technology partners for an industrial scale testing and training environment for the transitioning of new production concepts from the laboratory into the commercial shipyard environment. | |
| Building business capacity by working to attract and retain talent in the state. | The launch and development of marketing campaigns to build awareness of careers in the defence industry within the state and attraction campaigns to bring interstate and international skilled workers to South Australia to work on major Defence projects. | In October 2020, launched Make your Move campaign, 24-month employee attraction campaign targeting skilled workers with more than five years’ experience in their fields nationally and internationally. Feedback from industry has been positive with a significant increase in career page visits since the campaign launched.
Continued development of the Find Your Place SA campaign over 12 months, targeting South Australian high school students, university students (under and post grad), career advisors, career changers, parents and educators. Feedback from industry and the education sector has been favourable and KPIs exceeded. |
| Development of the Premier’s Defence Industry Scholarships Program. | In December 2020, the first cohort of university students completed their defence industry placements, with 10 students accepted in the first round of placements and seven in scholarship-supported placements.
Nine students secured full-time or part-time employment with defence industry companies following their placement. |
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| Implementation of the Action Plan as part of the Defence Industry Workforce and Skills Strategy (Strategy) to ensure South Australia has the workforce to meet industry demands. | Conducted review of the Workforce Strategy and implementation of Action Plan. |
Defence Innovation Partnership
| Agency objectives | Indicators | Performance |
| Stimulating business capability by aligning local research and development, infrastructure and regulation with industry needs. | Facilitate and support new defence-relevant research and development collaborations in South Australia | Round 4 of the Collaborative Research Fund awarded over $1 million to seven collaborative research fund projects. Round 4 had an 80% increase in applications from previous rounds of the Collaborative Research Fund, and unsuccessful applicants had the opportunity for feedback sessions with the Defence Innovation Partnership team who provided advice on their applications, alternative sources of funding and additional collaborators. |
| Increase the number of researchers in South Australia involved in defence-relevant research and development. | Pre-application meetings with potential Collaborative Research Fund applicants showed a significant increase in engagement from researchers who had previously not worked with or had minimally worked with Defence. The Defence Innovation Partnership provided advice to these researchers on the best way to connect with potential collaborators in Defence and made introductions for researchers into Defence Science and Technology Group, other parts of Defence, and defence industry.
The Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making program, delivered in partnership with Defence Science and Technology Group and the Office of National Intelligence, was aimed at researchers who had not previously worked with Defence. |
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| Promotion of South Australia’s credentials through advocacy and stories of defence-relevant research collaboration. | Eight short videos of completed Collaborative Research Fund projects were produced to communicate the subject matter of the projects, the relevance of the projects to Defence and provide advice on building successful R&D collaborations. Views of these videos have been steadily increasing over time.
The CATALYSED Collaborative Research Fund Project Showcase highlighted the achievements and progress of project teams across the first four rounds of the Collaborative Research Fund. This event attracted a wide range of senior representatives from government, industry and the research sector. |
South Australian Space Industry Centre
| Agency objectives | Indicators | Performance |
| Maximising business opportunities by influencing policy, connecting industry to global supply chains and attracting investment. | Delivery of the Australian Space Forums held biannually. | In November 2020, SASIC hosted the 9th Australian Space Forum, attracting over 1000 national and international delegates virtually (held virtually due to COVID-19). In March 2021, The Andy Thomas Space Foundation hosted the 10th Australian Space Forum, attracting over 700 attendees in person and 400 virtually, including the largest industry exhibition in the event’s history showcasing 65 exhibitions from over 70 organisations |
| Investigate use of local procurement rules to prioritise local space companies | South Australia is embarking on a bold mission with industry to design and build a satellite to deliver space-derived services to the state. SASAT1 Space Services Mission will send a locally manufactured small satellite to low Earth orbit and employ an Internet of Things (IoT) data collection service along with an electro-optical payload for Earth observation. SASAT1 is growing South Australian space companies through procurement. | |
| Stimulating business capability by aligning local research and development, infrastructure and regulation with industry needs.
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Support of the Mission Control Centre | In late 2020, construction and fit out of the Mission Control Centre commenced. The Centre was formally opened along with the Australian Space Discovery Centre on 31 March 2021. Saber Astronautics (selected to operate the facility) located at the Defence and Space Landing Pad. |
| Development of space technology innovation programs. | Managed by Deloitte, SASIC is a key contributor to the GRAVITY Challenge.
GRAVITY Challenge is a space technology innovation program exploring new uses for space data and space capability. Its goal is to activate the space ecosystem by bringing market challenges and global innovators together to create viable solutions, and ultimately accelerate their commercial uptake. |
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| Support Southern Launch through the major projects planning process to obtain approval for Whalers Way as an orbital launch site. | SASIC continues to Chair the South Australian Government Southern Launch Task Force.
Established with representatives from all government departments and emergency services, the task force is progressing the complex approvals required for the first of type launch facility in South Australia. Members of the task force are working closely with Southern Launch to facilitate approvals. In June 2021, State Commission Assessment Panel approved infrastructure required to undertake three test launches at the Port Lincoln site before end of 2021. |
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| Building business capacity by working to attract and retain talent in the state. | Delivery of the $4 million Space Innovation Fund. | In March 2021, SASIC launched the fourth round of the South Australian Space Scholarship Program. In January 2021, applications opened for The Space Incubator Program, Venture Catalyst Space. |
| Support of the Space Industry Workforce Experience Program | 162 applications from 51 South Australian schools were received for the second round of the Space Industry Workforce Experience Program. 29 students were shortlisted and commenced their placements. | |
| Establish a National Space Foundation to provide an interface between the space community and the wider Australian community. | In November 2020, the Andy Thomas Space Foundation was launched with funding support from the South Australian Government and Australian Space Agency. The Foundation will inspire and support the growth of the Australian space industry from economic and innovation development, through to education and training. |
Veterans SA
| Agency objectives | Indicators | Performance |
| To influence government decision-making at both state and federal level for future policy with respect to the relevance and delivery of services to the veteran community.
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Support the work of the Department of Health and Wellbeing in establishing services from the Repat Veteran Wellbeing Centre. | Successful opening of Repat Veteran Wellbeing Centre and commencement of services in June 2021. |
| Participation in cross-jurisdiction working groups and committees to ensure the impact on, and experience of veterans and their families is considered in the whole-of-South Australian context. | First inclusion of “Have you served in the Australian Defence Force?” question in the I WORK FOR SA – Your Voice annual survey.
Support for interim National Commissioner into Defence and Veteran Suicide Round Tables. |
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| To be first with advice and expertise on veterans’ affairs to government and to position government to provide relevant high-level services.
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Establishment of community forums and dialogue opportunities to collect views and feedback from veterans and their families to inform government decision-making. | Opportunities for the veteran community to contribute to the development of the Veterans SA strategic outlook and identify priorities for the community looking forward to 2030.
Veterans forums through monthly Community Conversation series on topics of importance to the community. Refreshed e-news and social media approach to share more relevant and diverse content and engagement opportunities. New communication opportunities in print, digital partnerships and radio, in metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia, to reach a wider audience of veterans and families. |
| Improve data collection and analysis to better understand the South Australian veteran community. | Established partnership with the Office of Data Analytics to improve analysis of existing data sets.
Analysis of Department of Defence transition data to identify trends and opportunities for state government initiatives. |
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| To support the sustainability of the veteran community.
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Establishment of the inaugural Veterans’ Mentoring Program connecting veterans with leaders across the South Australian community. | 20 veterans connected with professionals across diverse sectors for a six-month pilot program. |
| Veterans and their families are able to access the right information and support for their needs when they need it. | Ongoing Hub Coordinator role focussed on enabling informed choice for veterans and families.
Close collaboration with Department of Health and Wellbeing to establish services from the Repat Veteran Wellbeing Centre. |
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| To support the veteran community in delivering commemorative events continue to reflect the significant impact of the service and sacrifice of veterans to the nation and to ensure that military historical significance is remembered and preserved. | Support ex-service organisation and community-led commemorative activities. | Provision of $100,000 of grant funding through the Anzac Day Commemorative Fund for commemorative activities across South Australia.
Provision of funding to the RSL-SA and identified RSL sub-branches to support COVID-19 compliant Anzac Day Dawn Services. Assisted in improving accessibility to the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day through live-streaming of the state-based service from the National War Memorial on North Terrace. |
| Ensure public accessibility to recognise and commemorate military service. | Relocation of the plaques from the median strip of Anzac Highway to a prominent position within the Torrens Training Depot. |
Corporate performance summary
Defence SA is a government agency of the state of South Australia, established pursuant to the Public Sector Act 2009. Defence SA operations are funded predominantly via appropriation. Secondary income sources are derived from event participation fees and sponsorships associated with industry events through which Defence SA promotes the state’s defence and space industries capabilities. The activities of Veterans SA are entirely funded from appropriation or other internal South Australian Government contributions.
Defence SA’s net result for 2020-21 was a deficit of $1.950 million including net revenue from the South Australia Government of $7.814 million. The budgeted net result was for a deficit of $9134 million. The main reasons for the variation in net result is attributable to the following key factors:
- Increased grant funding from the Jobs and Economic Growth Fund for the SASAT1 Space Services Mission project and bringing forward funding for milestones achieved earlier than expected for industry assistance programs.
- Reduced grant expenditure as a result in delays on the part of recipients in the achievement of payment milestones for industry assistance grants
Employment opportunity programs
| Program name | Performance |
| Aboriginal Employment Program | The Aboriginal Employment Program was established to provide the opportunity for participants to gain experience in administration, office and work management through exposure to the defence and space sectors. This assists participants to pursue a career in the South Australian public sector while also providing a better understanding of the opportunities available in the defence and space sectors. The current participant who is studying at university commenced in June 2020 and has been extended for a further twelve months to June 2022. |
Agency performance management and development systems
| Performance management and development system | Performance |
| Staff Performance Management and Development System | All non-executive staff participate in an annual performance review process linked to training and development. This involves, a half-yearly review and an annual review. By 30 June 2021, 100% of non-executive staff had completed an annual review. |
| Chief Executive Performance Agreement | The Chief Executive and Premier undertook a review of the goals and objectives component of the annual performance agreement on 23 August 2021. |
Work health, safety and return to work programs
| Program name | Performance |
| Mental Health First Aid | Defence SA has Mental Health First Aid Officers who have completed accredited training. This complements the existing Employee Assistance Program. Senior management have also received training on mental health first aid. |
| Workplace injury claims |
2020-21 |
2019-20 |
% Change |
| Total new workplace injury claims |
0 |
0 |
0% |
| Fatalities |
0 |
0 |
0% |
| Seriously injured workers* |
0 |
0 |
0% |
| Significant injuries (where lost time exceeds a working week, expressed as frequency rate per 1000 FTE) |
0 |
0 |
0% |
*number of claimants assessed during the reporting period as having a whole person impairment of 30% or more under the Return to Work Act 2014 (Part 2 Division 5)
| Work health and safety regulations |
2020-21 |
2019-20 |
% Change |
| Number of notifiable incidents (Work Health and Safety Act 2012, Part 3) |
0 |
0 |
0% |
| Number of provisional improvement, improvement and prohibition notices (Work Health and Safety Act 2012 Sections 90, 191 and 195) |
0 |
0 |
0% |
| Return to work costs** |
2020-21 |
2019-20 |
% Change |
| Total gross workers compensation expenditure ($) |
$0 |
$0 |
0% |
| Income support payments – gross ($) |
$0 |
$0 |
0% |
**before third party recovery
Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/whands-defencesa
Executive employment in the agency
| Executive classification | Number of executives |
| EXEC0A | 1 |
| SAES1 | 9 |
Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/executive-employment-defencesa
The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment has a workforce information page that provides further information on the breakdown of executive gender, salary and tenure by agency.
Financial performance
Financial performance at a glance
The following is a summary of the overall financial position of the agency. The information is unaudited. Full audited financial statements for 2020-2021 are attached to this report.
| Statement of Comprehensive Income | 2020-21
Budget $000s |
2020-21 Actual
$000s |
Variation
$000s
|
2019-20 Actual
$000s |
| Total Income | $20,118 | $22,937 | $2,819 | 21,991 |
| Total Expenses | $29,252 | $24,887 | $4,365 | 17,283 |
| Net Result | $(9,134) | $(1,950) | $7,184 | 4,708 |
| Total Comprehensive Result | $(9,134) | $(1,950) | $7,184 | 4,708 |
| Statement of Financial Position | 2020-21
Budget $000s |
2020-21 Actual
$000s |
Variation
$000s
|
2019-20 Actual
$000s |
| Current assets | $6,337 | $13,556 | $7,219 | $15,358 |
| Non-current assets | $3,072 | $3,070 | $(2) | $3,527 |
| Total assets | $9,409 | $16,626 | $7,217 | $18,885 |
| Current liabilities | $3,692 | $3,633 | $59 | $3,613 |
| Non-current liabilities | $2,959 | $3,051 | $(92) | $3,380 |
| Total liabilities | $6,651 | $6,684 | $(33) | $6,993 |
| Net assets | $2,758 | $9,942 | $7,184 | $11,892 |
| Equity | $2,758 | $9,942 | $7,184 | $11,892 |
Consultants disclosure
The following is a summary of external consultants that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken and the payments made for the work undertaken during the financial year.
Consultancies with a contract value below $10,000 each
| Consultancies | Purpose | $ Actual payment |
| n/a | n/a | n/a |
Consultancies with a contract value above $10,000 each
| Consultancies | Purpose | $ Actual payment |
| Be Sustained Pty Ltd | Development of Veterans SA strategic Plan 2030 | $42,500 |
| Total | $42,500 |
Contractors disclosure
The following is a summary of external contractors that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken and the actual payments made for work undertaken during the financial year.
Contractors with a contract value below $10,000
| Contractors | Purpose | $ Actual payment |
| All contractors below $10,000 each – combined | Various | $42,580 |
Contractors with a contract value above $10,000 each
| Contractors | Purpose | $ Actual payment |
| BDO Advisory | Review of policies and procedures | $19,529 |
| Be Sustained | Program development | $28,000 |
| Celine Youf MifSud | Workshop facilitation | $10,786 |
| Defence Teaming Centre | Defence and Space Landing Pad concierge service | $31,792 |
| GHD P/L | Master-planning services | $13,272 |
| Hays Specialist recruitment | Temporary staff | $26,601 |
| Lateral Vision | Creative services | $45,420 |
| Myriota | Supply chain study | $50,000 |
| Noetic Solutions | Professional services | $33,594 |
| Rasu Film & Stills | Creative services | $37,376 |
| SmatSat CRC | Satellite development | $458,000 |
| University of South Australia | Supply chain study | $18,115 |
| Total | $772,485 |
Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/contractors-defencesa
The details of South Australian Government-awarded contracts for goods, services, and works are displayed on the SA Tenders and Contracts website. View the agency list of contracts.
The website also provides details of across government contracts.
Risk and audit at a glance
Fraud detected in the agency
| Category/nature of fraud | Number of instances |
| n/a | nil |
NB: Fraud reported includes actual and reasonably suspected incidents of fraud.
Strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud
All staff completed the SA Public Sector Code of Ethics refresher training during May 2021. Fraud awareness training including cyber security awareness training will be conducted in September 2021.
Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/fraud-detection-defencesa
Public interest disclosure
Number of occasions on which public interest information has been disclosed to a responsible officer of the agency under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018:
Nil
Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/whistle-blower-defencesa
Note: Disclosure of public interest information was previously reported under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1993 and repealed by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 on 1/7/2019.
Reporting required under any other act or regulation
Reporting required under the Carers’ Recognition Act 2005
Defence SA is not required to report under the Carers Recognition Act 2005.
Public complaints
Number of public complaints reported
| Complaint categories | Sub-categories | Example | Number of Complaints
2020-21 |
| Professional behaviour | Staff attitude | Failure to demonstrate values such as empathy, respect, fairness, courtesy, extra mile; cultural competency | 0 |
| Professional behaviour | Staff competency | Failure to action service request; poorly informed decisions; incorrect or incomplete service provided | 0 |
| Professional behaviour | Staff knowledge | Lack of service specific knowledge; incomplete or out-of-date knowledge | 0 |
| Communication | Communication quality | Inadequate, delayed or absent communication with customer | 0 |
| Communication | Confidentiality | Customer’s confidentiality or privacy not respected; information shared incorrectly | 0 |
| Service delivery | Systems/technology | System offline; inaccessible to customer; incorrect result/information provided; poor system design | 0 |
| Service delivery | Access to services | Service difficult to find; location poor; facilities/ environment poor standard; not accessible to customers with disabilities | 0 |
| Service delivery | Process | Processing error; incorrect process used; delay in processing application; process not customer responsive | 0 |
| Policy | Policy application | Incorrect policy interpretation; incorrect policy applied; conflicting policy advice given | 0 |
| Policy | Policy content | Policy content difficult to understand; policy unreasonable or disadvantages customer | 0 |
| Service quality | Information | Incorrect, incomplete, out dated or inadequate information; not fit for purpose | 0 |
| Service quality | Access to information | Information difficult to understand, hard to find or difficult to use; not plain English | 0 |
| Service quality | Timeliness | Lack of staff punctuality; excessive waiting times (outside of service standard); timelines not met | 0 |
| Service quality | Safety | Maintenance; personal or family safety; duty of care not shown; poor security service/ premises; poor cleanliness | 0 |
| Service quality | Service responsiveness | Service design doesn’t meet customer needs; poor service fit with customer expectations | 0 |
| No case to answer | No case to answer | Third party; customer misunderstanding; redirected to another agency; insufficient information to investigate | 0 |
| Total | 0 |
| Additional Metrics | Total |
| Number of positive feedback comments | 0 |
| Number of negative feedback comments | 0 |
| Total number of feedback comments | 0 |
| % complaints resolved within policy timeframes | 0 |
Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/public-complaints-defencesa
Service Improvements
Not applicable
Compliance Statement
| Defence SA is compliant with Premier and Cabinet Circular 039 – complaint management in the South Australian public sector | Y |
| Defence SA has communicated the content of PC 039 and the agency’s related complaints policies and procedures to employees. | Y |
