About NIOA

HON Christopher Pyne - CHAIRMAN

Christopher Pyne served as the 54^th Australian Defence Minister, and was responsible for delivering the $200 billion build-up of Australia’s military capability, the largest in Australia’s peacetime history.

Serving previously as Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher was responsible for developing the 2016 Defence White Paper and implementing the Integrated Investment Program.

During his time as a Cabinet Minister in the Defence portfolio, Christopher:

• Awarded the $35 billion Hunter Class Anti-Submarine Warfare frigates contract to BAES;
• Backed in the $50 billion Attack Class Submarine project by Defence and Naval Group Australia;
• Awarded the $3.7 billion Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessel project to Luerssen Australia, CIVMEC and the ASC;
• Awarded the $5.2 billion Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle project to Rheinmettal Australia; and
• Secured Australia as the Asia Pacific hub for the sustainment and maintenance of the F35-A Joint Strike Fighter.

Christopher also worked to ensure the growth and sustainment of Australia’s Defence Industry, and thus implemented Australia’s Defence Export Strategy, Defence Industrial Capability Plan, and the Naval Shipbuilding Plan. He also created the Defence Cooperative Research Centre, the Centre for Defence Industry Capability, the Defence Innovation Hub, and the Next Generation Technology Fund.

Christopher was a Minister in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Governments, holding various portfolios including Ageing, Education, Industry Innovation and Science, and Defence.

He was the longest serving non-Labor Member of the House of Representatives from South Australia since Federation in 1901.

He is the author of “A Letter to my Children”, published in 2015 by Melbourne University Press.

Before entering Parliament, Christopher practised as a solicitor.

HON David Feeney

Prior to entering politics David worked for National Office of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) as well various Labor Party executive and campaign roles between 1994 and 2007.

On 1 July 2008, Mr Feeney commenced his term as a Senator for Victoria. He was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Defence on 14 September 2010 in the first ministry of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and he was reappointed to this role in the second Gillard ministry.

Mr Feeney was elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Batman in 2013. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten appointed Mr Feeney as Shadow Minister for Justice and Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence. After 1 July 2014 the portfolio of Veterans Affairs and Centenary of ANZAC were added to his responsibilities.

In 2016, Mr Feeney was re-elected as the Member for Batman. He was not re-appointed as a Shadow Minister. As an MP, Mr Feeney was a regular commentator on strategic and defence matters, a regular contributor to ADM magazine, and served as Deputy Chair of the Defence Sub-Committee of the Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCDFAT).

Hon. Ellen M. Lord

Senate Confirmed in August 2017, the Honorable Ellen M. Lord formally served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S). In this capacity, she was responsible to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; developmental testing; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base.

Prior to this appointment, from October 2012 – June 2017, Ms. Lord served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Textron Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Textron Inc. In this role, she led a multi-billion dollar business with a broad range of products and services supporting defense, homeland security, aerospace, infrastructure protection, and customers around the world.

Ms. Lord has more than 30 years of experience in the defense industry, serving in a variety of capacities, to include Senior Vice President and General Manager of Textron Defense Systems, now Weapon & Sensor Systems; and Senior Vice President and General Manager of AAI Corporation, now known as Textron Systems’ Electronic Systems, Support Solutions, and Unmanned Systems businesses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lord served as Vice President of Integration Management for Textron Systems and Vice President of Intelligent Battlefield Systems for Textron Defense Systems, in addition to other business and operations positions.

Ms. Lord is a former Vice Chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association, as well as a former Director of the U.S. – India Business Council. She has served on the industry steering committee for the Centre for New American Security’s (CNAS) task force on “Strategy, Technology and the Global Defense Industry,” as well as CNAS’s DoD-Industry collaborative project “Future Foundry: Forging New Industries for Defense,” which was formed to examine key technological trends and challenges facing the global defense industry. Ms. Lord has also served on the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Naval Institute Foundation.

Ms. Lord earned a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the University of New Hampshire, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from Connecticut College.

Mr Mark Donaldson VC

Mark Donaldson VC is an Australian soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award in the Australian honours system. He was presented with the decoration by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, in a ceremony in Canberra on 16 January 2009.

On 25 January 2010, Mr Donaldson was named the 2010 Young Australian of the Year. After receiving the award, Donaldson continued to serve in the ADF until 2017.

Major General (Retired) Fergus (Gus) McLachlan AO

Gus McLachlan grew up in Melbourne before attending the Royal Military College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1985.

His early military career was spent building a foundation of leadership experience. He served on deployments in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and on exchange with the US Marine Corps. The operational phase of his career concluded with selection to lead the Australian Army’s only Tank Regiment.

In his more senior appointments, Major General McLachlan was seconded to the Federal Parliament as the Defence Adviser to the Joint Standing Committee and appointed Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Force. In 2009 he was selected to represent Australia on a placement in the Pentagon where he worked on the first Defense Review of the Obama Administration.

Major General McLachlan has been responsible for generating Australian Defence capability in cyber space, electronic warfare and command and control systems. He completed two years as Head of Army Modernisation, during which time he worked closely with industry to commence a major recapitalisation of Army equipment and to network the systems of the Army.

From December 2016 to December 2018, Major General McLachlan led Land forces Command, the largest organisation in the Defence Force. This role included the responsibility to train and sustain 35,000 members of the Army, from entry-level recruits through to the generation of combat brigades, helicopters and drones. He led a major structural transformation of the command that redirected more than 2000 personnel from traditional roles in order to develop new cyber and electronic warfare forces.

Since retiring from the military he has been appointed Adjunct Professor at Monash University where he advises on linking innovation and research to Defence and National Security institutions and he has been appointed as a Director of US technology company L3 Harris’s Australian Board of Management.

In 2018 Gus McLachlan was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his leadership and contribution to Army modernisation.