The security of Australia’s global supply chains is under increasing strain. This is driven by both traditional supply chain challenges such as the COVID pandemic, as well as strategic factors associated with rising geopolitical competition.

While supply chain risks are felt economy-wide, they are especially pressing for mission-critical Defence and defence industries. There is now a globally recognised need to invest in improving the resilience of defence supply chains.

Developed with the support of the Department of Defence’s Strategic Grants Program, this report takes stock of the security of Australia’s defence supply chains, and maps a resilience agenda for the industry’s future.

Key recommendations:

• A comprehensive strategy and action plan for the strategic protection of defence supply chains.
• Robust and scalable mechanisms for generating information on defence supply chain risks.
• The establishment of governance structures that allow regular and organised engagement with industry.
• To develop a clear methodology to identify, select and resource supply chain interventions to identified risks.
• To increase the priority accorded to supply chain issues during Defence procurement processes calibrated by risk.
• Collaboration with international partners to enable trusted capability supply chain options.