Australia needs a "defence industry czar" to ensure the nation has access to the equipment and weapons it needs, a report has found.
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The Australian Industry Group says the government needs to identify the priority capabilities defence industry needs and use policy tools to help the sector deliver those at a larger scale and more quickly.
It calls for a capability manager to bring together the sector and government to build an industry that can deliver the nation's strategic ambitions.
"A key problem this report seeks to address is a lack of coordination across many layers and dimensions of government and industry," Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said.
"A strong recommendation to address this shortcoming is the appointment of an industry capability manager.
"If we need coordination, then there's got to be a defence industry Czar."
The report, created with the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said a domestic defence industry should be viewed as a national capability in its own right.
The centre's Stephan Fruhling said the conflict in Ukraine had demonstrated once again the importance of a defence industrial base that could surge and adapt.
"Not just to support but also to reconstitute, expand and provide new capabilities during conflict," Professor Fruhling said.
He said other countries had built and managed their defence industrial bases as national assets for threatening times, and so should Australia.
The government will release its delayed defence industry strategy in early 2024, following the defence strategic review which was handed down earlier this year.
Australian Associated Press
