Canberra's massive Defence Establishment is facing a fresh assault on its internal "red tape" and "layers of bureaucracy" with a hand-picked bureaucracy buster recruited to oversee the blitz.
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Yet more of the city's 9000 Defence public servants face an uncertain future with very few of the department's backroom activities off-limits as the Abbott government looks to put the brake on Defence's spiralling $32 billion budget.
The new sweep is aiming to rid Defence of bureaucratic waste and excess that it has inflicted on itself over the years, with more reduction, streamlining and abolition promised.
Travel, "co-ordination", non-military procurement, performance management and complaints processes are all in the sights of Defence's newly appointed red tape czar Dr Allan Thomas.
The former ambassador has been appointed by departmental secretary Dennis Richardson to conduct the review of a bureaucratic structure which has been described as "complicated, slow and inefficient" and where "waste, inefficiency and rework are palpable."
The new assault on red tape follows on from April's "First Principles" review of Defence which complained of "institutionalised waste, delayed decisions, flawed execution, duplication, a change-resistant bureaucracy, over-escalation of issues for decision and low engagement levels amongst employees."
In some cases, the review found an administrative structure of 12 layers between top bosses and front line staff and called for up to 3000 civilian jobs to be culled with another 1000 sailors, soldiers and Air Force personnel moved from their office jobs back into the armed forces.
Announcing the new red tape blitz, Defence's human resources boss Rebecca Skinner said Dr Thomas would be looking for bureaucratic waste and excess that had been inflicted on the department by itself.
"This follows in part on the First Principles Review which highlighted the need to reduce red tape and to streamline and improve decision making and accountability across the organisation," Ms Skinner wrote in her bulletin.
"Dr Thomas will be looking at unnecessary layers of red tape and administrative process which have largely been imposed by Defence on itself and which often go beyond legislative or other legal requirements.
"He will present a report with practical recommendations for action to the Secretary by mid-December 2015."
The new review will go beyond the sweeping recommendation of "First Principles" and looks likely to put many more of Defence's back office functions on the chopping block.
"While taking into account recent efforts to reduce red tape in Defence, the review will nonetheless take another look at some processes, including travel, co-ordination processes, non-military procurement, performance management and complaints processes, to name but a few areas, with a view to streamlining them further," Ms Skinner wrote.
"The review will also identify other areas where streamlining and peeling back layers of bureaucracy could have real and practical benefits for our work."
Ms Skinner said the new red tape buster would begin his work by crowdsourcing ideas from Defence's workforce around Australia and overseas.
"An important part of Dr Thomas's work will be to consult widely throughout Defence about what processes might be streamlined, reduced or abolished," Ms Skinner wrote.
"Apart from meeting with senior staff and work areas, Dr Thomas is keen to hear from individual staff at all levels who may have ideas about how excessive red tape might be reduced or eliminated."
