In Episode 76, the Grumpy Strategists ponder revelations of $29 billion of waste in just some of Australia’s big defence projects from Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy. His answer: bold reform that changes things in minor ways that look eerily like the flawed approach Defence took a decade ago. Instead of the Vice Chief of Defence being responsible for decisions, under these bold reforms, the Vice Chief of Defence will be responsible.

The good news is that for all the failure and waste of the last decade, it was the fault of no individual making no bad decisions. No. It was ‘the system’ that forced these powerful well-paid officials to NOT make decisions and be paralysed by paperwork.

Now these fine leaders will be free to do what they have always wanted to do but were stopped from doing – by the system they built, lived in and presided over. It’s a courageous set of bold changes that will clearly take some time – probably beyond any current minister or official’s time in office – to really bear fruit.

The Grumpies celebrate Australia’s massive and growing Documentation Overmatch over even powerful potential adversaries like the Chinese military, who are reduced to firing nuclear capable missiles into our neighbourhood in the absence of effective paperwork or a meeting to go to.