Sep 15, 2026 · 24 min · 11 segments
Deteriorating geopolitical circumstances has driven increased activity within the commercial innovation ecosystem on DefenceTech and dual-use technology - including more active participation of…
Lee GoddardGuest
James RileyHost
There was a great book, it's probably 15 years old now, Freedom's Forge, which is about the mobilization of the US industrial system in Second World War to build tanks and planes and ships and all the rest of it, which effectively, you could argue, was the differentiating factor that won the war.
And Australia hasn't really had the kind of indigenous domestic Australian defence industry of that kind of scale.
So what I'm asking you is, where are we going to see these industrialists come from? who are going to be those leaders and i suppose from the point of view of mobilization mobilization is a big word what does mobilization mean in terms of australian industry
first of all the big word we weren't really comfortable using the word china a few years ago we now comfortable using the word china both positive and also the reality of superpower competition and what that means for australia same with mobilization people saw it as an alarmist word it's not it's It's just alerting.
Your manufacturing base is reduced, then you need to then be more self-reliant.
In fact, I'm meeting tonight with Ms. Ellen Lord, who was the former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition in Trump 1.0. And she first introduced me to that book.
the New Deal Democrats had to reach across the aisle to the Republican fundraisers and say, we don't necessarily like each other, but we've got to work together.
And while the Army and Navy are great operators and strategists, they do not understand industrialization.
Private capital, of course, those $1 CEOs and the 15% profit, I'm paraphrasing the book, really drove outcomes.
He became the general manager, I think, of our aircraft manufacturing, our munitions, et cetera, as well.
There was a great book, it's probably 15 years old now, Freedom's Forge, which is about the mobilization of the US industrial system in Second World War to build tanks and planes and ships and all the rest of it, which effectively, you could argue, was the differentiating factor that won the war.
And Australia hasn't really had the kind of indigenous domestic Australian defence industry of that kind of scale.
So what I'm asking you is, where are we going to see these industrialists come from? who are going to be those leaders and i suppose from the point of view of mobilization mobilization is a big word what does mobilization mean in terms of australian industry
first of all the big word we weren't really comfortable using the word china a few years ago we now comfortable using the word china both positive and also the reality of superpower competition and what that means for australia same with mobilization people saw it as an alarmist word it's not it's It's just alerting.
Your manufacturing base is reduced, then you need to then be more self-reliant.
In fact, I'm meeting tonight with Ms. Ellen Lord, who was the former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition in Trump 1.0. And she first introduced me to that book.
the New Deal Democrats had to reach across the aisle to the Republican fundraisers and say, we don't necessarily like each other, but we've got to work together.
And while the Army and Navy are great operators and strategists, they do not understand industrialization.
Private capital, of course, those $1 CEOs and the 15% profit, I'm paraphrasing the book, really drove outcomes.
He became the general manager, I think, of our aircraft manufacturing, our munitions, et cetera, as well.
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