Department of Defence (Australia)

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The Department of Defence is an Australian Department of State. It forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation along with the Australian Defence Force and Defence Materiel Organisation. The Defence mission is to defend Australia and its national interests. It is accountable to the Commonwealth Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, for the efficiency and effectiveness with which it carries out the Government's defence policy.

The Department conists of nine major organisational groups:

Australian Defence Headquarters
Royal Australian Navy
Australian Army
Royal Australian Air Force
Defence Intelligence Group
Defence Support Group
Chief Information Officer
Joint Logistics Group
Defence Science and Technology Organisation

The Defence Materiel Organisation is a prescribed agency responsible for acquisition, sustinment and disposal of Defence equipment. Although the DMO forms part of the Department of Defence, it is separately accountable to the Minister of Defence for its budget and performance.

The Chief of the Defence Force and the Secretary for the Department of Defence jointly manage the Defence organisation under a 'diarchy', a commonly used term to describe the relationship between the Chief of the Defence Force and Secretary, who both report directly to the Minister for Defence. The diarchy is a governance structure unique in the Australian Commonwealth public service.