With as little fanfare as possible, the Defence Department has released a new corporate logo in the final week of the caretaker period and rebranded as "Defence Australia".
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In a note on Facebook, the government department charged with defending Australia and its national interests explained it was dropping two words, "Department of", from its corporate branding.
"A new Defence logo has been created to appropriately reflect the unique and co-equal construct of the Defence enterprise consisting of the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force," it posted on the new profile image.
Its username on Twitter was also changed from "DeptDefence" to "DefenceAust".
But there's never a good time for a public service organisation to rebrand, and the feedback online was largely mocking of the change.
Several people posted memes about the new and old logos appearing identical, and suggested it was a missed opportunity to use more icon Australian colours, such as green and gold, instead of the black and white design that is standard for federal departments.
"How much did it cost to get a few words taken out?" one asked.
Others imagined consultants being brought in to design the new logo: "Wonder how much that cost us, consultant fees, graphic design drafts, exec meetings, draft papers and more consultation before finally approved."
The Canberra Times understands no consultants were responsible for the change, and Defence does not intend to replace its stationery, signage or name badges that all carry the original branding. The minimal alterations to the digital logos were done in-house, despite a portfolio budget of more than half a trillion dollars.
The existing logos and branding for the three uniformed services of the navy, army and air force, as well as other corporate logos, will continue to be used, and Defence does not intend to phase them out.
However Defence has not confirmed that the rebranding will be cost-neutral to the taxpayer, and did not issue a response to questions from The Canberra Times on Tuesday.
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Rebranding public service bodies has been fraught for governments, with the rebranding of the Australian Border Force from Customs costing upwards of $10 million in 2015-16, while Scott Morrison was the responsible minister.
Almost half of that amount was spent on new stationery, signs and branded notepads and corporate gifts.
But it was the much-mocked silhouette design of an officer, originally designed for a corporate report, that caused the most controversy when it was enlarged for a pull-up banner for Mr Morrison's announcement of the newly created force in an attempt to save money on commissioning a new design.
Other agency rebrandings have been much cheaper, including that of ASIC, which paid designers $100,000 for a refresh of its two-decade-old logo.