Within days of naming Australia’s first female Army Chief, Anthony Albanese has shocked the military community by revealing a woman will soon also head the Department of Defence.
Unlike the popular and highly anticipated promotion of Lt-Gen. Susan Coyle, pictured right, few had tipped economist and Industry Department boss Meghan Quinn, pictured left, would be chosen to take over the massive and notoriously difficult Defence organisation.
As Australia’s next Defence Secretary Ms Quinn will be required to work closely with the Trump administration to oversee this country’s push to acquire nuclear powered submarine under AUKUS.
Senior Government figures insist the long-serving bureaucrat who has no background in national security will be the “agent of change” the Defence Department needs, but already in Washington her selection is raising eyebrows.
In announcing the appointment, the Prime Minister highlighted her “distinguished” public service career which includes overseeing the 2012 Asian Century White Paper and accolades for developing climate change policy.
Shortly after taking over the Department of Industry, Science and Technology in 2022, the new secretary declared her support for “Wear it Purple Day”, which raises awareness of issues affecting younger members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Thank you to the department’s Pride Network for all the wonderful events, including purple cupcakes and drinks! On a more serious note, this year’s theme ‘Still Me, Still Human’ is something for us to all get behind,” she posted online.
In Trump’s America, where Pentagon boss Pete Hegseth is overseeing an anti-woke agenda in the newly renamed Department of War, a woman who has lead climate change policy and enthusiastically supports the LGBTIQIA+ community is unlikely to be warmly embraced.
Shortly after Mr Albanese’s announcement, American naval expert John Konrad, a conservative commentator who is accredited to the Pentagon Press Corp and has close links to the Trump Administration, mocked her appointment.
“Meet Australia’s new Secretary of Defence. ‘Trained economist’. Never served in the military. But she has won a medal for ‘outstanding public service’ in the development of climate change policy”, Konrad wrote on social media.
When asked by The Nightly whether he had deliberately chosen an “outsider” to run the Defence Department because it had become too complacent and needed a shake-up, the PM simply insisted Ms Quinn was “the best qualified” candidate.
Shadow Defence Minister James Paterson also welcomed Ms Quinn’s “significant and historical appointment” but also noted he was not aware of her having previous service in national security portfolios.
“When the Prime Minister was asked about this today, he pointed to her role in authoring the Asian Century White Paper as evidence of her experience in national security. I would say that’s a white paper that hasn’t aged very well,” Senator Paterson said.
“It was incredibly optimistic about Australia’s relationship with China in particular. To be fair to Secretary Quinn, though, the world has changed. Presumably, her views have been updated in that time,” he told the National Press Club.
What is not in doubt is that the new secretary will face a daunting challenge as she administers an organisation dogged by delays and multi-billion-dollar procurement blowouts.
As one veteran Defence insider remarked after hearing of the appointment: “I’m just glad it’s not another Department of Foreign Affairs-type that wants to play strategy while the enabling functions of defence fall apart.”
“Leave the strategic stuff to the Chief of Defence and have a proper public servant policy expert ensuring the department’s governance gets much better”.
The almost 60,000 men and women who serve full time in uniform, along with the department’s 20,000 public servants responsible for the $59 billion in annual defence spending, need Ms Quinn to succeed in her new job.
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