Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) head Dr Stephen Gumley has announced his resignation, effective immediately.

 

Dr Gumley was the Australian Government's highest paid public servant, on a salary of more than $730,000. He had led DMO as its first chief executive for more than seven years but he had been under significant pressure for months over delayed defence projects and acquisitions, particularly the poor maintenance record of Australia's navy supply ships - none of which were available for service earlier this year when Cyclone Yasi hit Queensland.

 

At the end of a recent parliamentary update on Australia's role in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Stephen Smith announced the sudden resignation.

 

"Dr Gumley leaves the Defence Materiel Organisation and the Defence Organisation itself in a much stronger and better position than when he joined some seven and a half years ago and we wish him all the best for the future," he said.

 

Opposition defence spokesman Senator David Johnston says the resignation is suspect and wonders whether Dr Gumley really wanted to retire today.

 

"He was pushed or he jumped. Now I'm not sure either way…I have enormous respect for him, he has been a vital part of the reform and the direction of capability acquisition in Australia and he is a man of extremely high expertise in this area. I am very concerned."

 

Senator Johnston says the bungles in Defence Force acquisitions and state of repair do not necessarily fall on Dr Gumley.

 

"The problem is that the Government has had three ministers in three years effectively," he said. "Nobody has had an opportunity to put a clear stamp of authority on the overall oversight and administration of the portfolio and these are the sorts of things that happen when you do that."

 

Senator Johnston says he has heard rumours the DMO will be backing away from important reform within the organisation.

 

"In modern Defence capability acquisition, strict commercial disciplines are one of the fundamental building blocks to getting it right and if we are going to subserve and subsume DMO back into the department, that is absolutely the epitome of a retrograde step and we will not be part of it," he said.