'There is a way to go': Defence Minister calls for excellence in his department

Mr Marles appeared to confirm a report, published in The Australian Financial Review on Thursday, that he had told Defence secretary Greg Moriarty and Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell it should not be hard to expect excellence from them, in a tense exchange last year.

His comments were prompted by a question from the opposition's defence spokesperson Andrew Hastie in the House of Representatives, asking him to confirm that he had given "a verbal dressing-down" to his department secretary.

"The Department of Defence, the Australian Defence Force, is on a journey, and we are working very cooperatively with the senior leadership of the Department of Defence and the ADF in relation to that journey," Mr Marles responded.

"But I make no excuses or apologies for demanding excellence and a culture of excellence in the Department of Defence and in the Australian Defence Force.

"And there is a way to go before we have that culture of excellence in the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force."

Mr Marles continued to say that he had "some sympathy of where Defence is at", claiming issues in the department and the ADF were "because of the mess that was left by those opposite".

"But having said that, I have some sympathy for where Defence is at, because the issues around culture in Defence today are a result of the 10-year tenure from those opposite," he said.

"Because when you have six, really seven, different defence ministers over the course of nine years, that is demoralising to Defence, and it has been.

"So, there is a lot of mess to clean up, which this government is committed to doing.

"We are giving the defence force a strategic purpose, we are giving it direction, we are working closely with the defence force and cooperatively and well to improve the culture, but there is a way to go because of the mess that was left by those opposite."

A spokesperson for the Department of Defence said it "meets regularly with ministers and their offices and routinely prepares and reviews information to support decision making.

"Defence senior leadership works productively and impartially to serve the Australian Government."

Mr Marles faced criticism from both Mr Hastie and the opposition's spokesperson for Home Affairs, James Paterson, earlier in the day.

Mr Hastie claimed the government was "particularly weak on national security".

"Today, in the AFR, we've seen that there is dysfunction at the very heart of the Defence portfolio - the Deputy Prime Minister now has Defence officials briefing against him, so bad is his performance as a part-time Defence Minister," he told journalists in Canberra.

The article had cited claims from Defence sources that the Minister was not turning around paperwork fast enough, causing frustration within the department. The Canberra Times has asked Mr Marles' office for a response to this claim.

"The 'right to disconnect' laws were only tabled last night, but it seems that the Deputy Prime Minister is already exercising his right to disconnect, with paperwork piling up on his desk, with unactioned submissions still waiting for direction from him. It's not good enough," Mr Hastie said.