There is chaos and dysfunction at the heart of the Albanese government’s Defence portfolio with Department officials at odds with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. The word is “he doesn’t respect them and they sure as hell as don’t respect him.”

It is deeply troubling that, so poor is the Defence Minister’s performance, officials from his own department are briefing against him.

The 'right to disconnect' laws were only tabled in Parliament this week, but it seems that Mr Marles is already exercising his right to disconnect, with hundreds of submissions reportedly sitting unactioned on his desk.

In October 2022, Mr Marles stood up and said the buck stopped with him as the Minister of Defence. He is failing by his own standard.

Australia is facing the most dangerous strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War – the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister have both acknowledged this – yet all we get from Labor is weak leadership.

We saw this in April last year, when the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) was handed down with no new money for Defence, cuts to capability, delays and deferral of decisions.

Nearly a year on from the DSR, we’re still waiting for the government to hand down its “short, sharp” Surface Fleet Review, and we're yet to see a National Defence strategy.

The Albanese government continues to prove its weakness when it comes to defence and national security.

It's time for Richard Marles to step up and lift his game instead of being a part-time Defence Minister.