8 October 2026

Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues. It now falls to me to close the Chief of Army Symposium for 2026.

I would like to start in the most important place … with gratitude and thanks.

First, thank you to the City of Perth and the great state of Western Australia.

We could not have felt more welcome … from the support from the Governor and state government, through to the Western Australian police who have kept us safe.

This city is a jewel on our west coast, and it has been a privilege to be here.

To the AMDA Foundation, thank you.

The convening power you offer through events like these is a great boon to the nation’s defence. The partnership we have together is a key strength.

To the just under 1,000 exhibitors, thank you for making the journey to Perth.

It has been a long journey, but one we hope will prove fruitful.

A particular shout out to Australian defence industry! I have been blown away by your creativity and innovation these last few days.

You are central to the Army’s future, and I thank you for your tireless efforts and energy.

Next, to my own

Team. When we started to plan the Chief of Army Symposium this year, some people said, ‘you and whose Army’!

Well, luckily enough we had one ready and willing to help.

It is a small but highly-capable team of soldiers and public servants that make this Symposium happen.

I would like to call out a few.

First is the amazing team at Army Events, led by their fabulous Director, Ms Kayla Scott.

This is Kayla’s sixth CAS, and she and her team are the powerhouse underpinning the event!

Kayla, while I hate to embarrass you in public, please come up to the stage so we can show our appreciation!

Second are the soldiers of Army’s 13th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier Damien Bushell and reinforced with crews from across our Army.

Our soldiers are our greatest asset, and you have seen them throughout the event this week.

I could not be more proud of how they have looked after us, and how they have represented our Army.

Many of the soldiers in 13 Brigade are reservists.

As the saying goes, they are ‘twice the citizen’, and I thank them for their service.

Third is our international engagement team, who have done a wealth of work to bring us together as nations.

They have arranged no less than 24 bilateral meetings for me alone … but even more importantly, they have coordinated 46 separate meetings between visiting nations!

This significant contribution to our relationships is worth celebrating.

I would like to acknowledge and thank our MC – BRIG Natasha Ludwig. Tash will promote to Major General as Commander Forces Command at the end of the year. This week was her final test!

In all, this week has been a fantastic event, and I hope you will join me in a round of applause to thank all who have supported it.

This brings me neatly to my Chief of Army counterparts and the heads of the 26 delegations here today.

Thank you for making the journey to Australia’s Indian Ocean capital.

For many years, the Australian Army and the US Army in the Pacific have together advocated for a ‘strategic land power’ network in the Indo-Pacific … one dedicated to maintaining a free, open and peaceful region.

The hard power we all collectively steward is both impressive and important.

We are ready to fight tonight, tomorrow and together.

But it is the soft power – the relationships and trust – that are our real collective superpower.

We are neighbours by geography, but friends by choice.

Friendships truly come to the fore in challenging times, helping us to withstand the pressure together.

As the Chief of Army, I understand that friendships are most valuable when they are open and clearly signalled. Best built over time than during a crisis.

Signatures strengthen handshakes, and so we are working hard to formalise our traditional alliances and partnerships.

On my very first day as the Chief of Army I was proud to sit alongside my good friend Major General Rose King, New Zealand’s Chief, as we signed the next iteration of Plan Anzac – an agreement that brings our two armies beyond inter-operable and towards being inter-changeable.

This week I was delighted to sign a similar plan … called Plan Bati Oceans of Peace Alliance… with Commander Land Forces – ‘Thoh Von Nee Sun Ah’ – from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

The Australian Army’s relationship with the PNG Defence Force is now fifty years strong.

The Pukpuk Treaty, signed a year ago this week, provides the opportunity to now strengthen it even further … forging new relationships as ‘wantoks’, based on trust, mutual respect and the desire for collective defence.

And, can I say to John Gire Gire – mates since RMC days in 1992, how wonderful for you to be here representing your chief.

Events like this Symposium provide a rich opportunity for us to gather, to talk, and to learn about each other.

It has been a delight for me to start to get to know you all this last few days, and I look forward to hearing your insights in our Chiefs’ conclave this afternoon for those who can attend.

I want to turn now to our Army, and the topic of being hardwired for adaptation.

All our speakers have said that war’s nature endures.

But they also agreed that the pace of change today is something special.

I joined the Army in 1987, the same age as those Gen As who will join next year!

In the four decades since I first put on a uniform we have seen at accelerating pace:

• the worldwide adoption of personal computing,
• the birth of the internet,
• the invention of wifi, GPS networks, mobile telephones,
• Wikipedia, social media, Mars landers, electric cars …more electric cars… and now the emergence of AI.

Every piece of equipment I used as a young signaller is now in a museum… where it belongs!

Not since the industrial revolution have we seen such a potential for technology to drive societal change of such scale.

This is why our Army must be hardwired to adapt.

It is why I am so grateful to our speakers for helping us grapple with this thorny challenge.

I have three personal conclusions from CAS. These are not just theoretical … they are intensely practical.

They will shape the direction I will issue to the Army in the weeks and months that follow.

First, the Symposium has confirmed for me that, in military adaptation, context rules.

It is context that provides relevance to how you evolve as an Army.

If you want to adapt effectively, you have to really understand your environment, your institution’s character, and most importantly your adversary.

It is not good enough to be aware of it. You have to REALLY understand it.

Any adaptation that is misaligned to the specific war that you face, at the specific time you face it, is maladaptation.

It is as likely to weaken you, as it is to provide strength.

The Australian Army is now going to invest hard into context by exploring a new theory of warfare for our Army, with the working title of Archipelagic Warfare.

This evolving theory focuses on an Army that can campaign across an archipelago, alongside allies and partners, to achieve the vital outcome of military advantage.

Archipelagic Warfare is likely to demand an Army optimised for the control of strategic positions, for the manoeuvre and sustainment of dispersed forces, for the creation of opportunities for the ADF, and above all the integration of effects across all five warfighting domains.

An Army that acts as the backbone of Australian, alliance and coalition operations in our region, in peace and war.

This is the context that will drive our adaptation.

That will ensure that every dollar we invest will be both relevant and credible.

The second conclusion is that the Army’s relationship within industry is not just essential, it is existential.

The Army will never adapt with pace and relevance if we are not working side by side with industry, each and every day … to shorten the timeframe from discovery to delivery at scale.

Defence reform and the creation of the Defence Delivery Agency does not weaken the relationship between the Army and industry.

Instead, it strengthens and focuses it.

The Army is the home of the soldier … the professional in the arena who knows what war is like, and can help industry understand what will work in modern combat … and what won’t.

Literally, the boots on the ground. 

Today we must be true partners. Soldiers, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, all standing side by side - in the context of war - creating new solutions for the defence of Australia. 

Solutions that are better, cheaper, more lethal … and able to genuinely keep pace with the changing character of war. 

Get this right and it’s a win - win situation. Our soldiers, sailors, and aviators are better able to fight and win Australia’s wars. 

And in turn, industry makes an impressive, sustainable long-term profit that meets the needs of shareholders, and benefits the nation and our alliances writ large.

My task now as Chief is to help bring this all together.

To put our soldiers, with specialists, side by side.

The 57 talented junior leaders here today are the heart of this. To you and your 6000 other mates, be bold! The RSM-A and I have your back. 

We will generate more events like Project Convergence, like our innovation days, and our technology challenges.

We will provide opportunities to develop strong relationships, built on trust, respect and mutual interest.

If I have heard one message from industry this week, it is the importance of strong communications at times of change … of outlining the guardrails.

You are our trusted service advisors.

We will work hard to communicate more with industry as things change, as I know industry will too.

My third and final conclusion is that - despite the profound scale of change - human judgement remains paramount in war.

There is no scientific silver bullet to defeat the uncertainty and friction inherent in war’s nature.

Technology alone can never be decisive.

So, we are right to invest in organisational culture as much as we do in anything else.

I assess even more, if we are to be Mission Ready, People Always.

Technology is a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

We must particularly apply judgement in our adoption of AI. It offers remarkable capabilities, but nothing ever comes without cost.

As Jim Mitre argued yesterday, we must treat AI as ‘a sparring partner rather than an oracle’.

AI will reward militaries that fight differently, not just faster.

As Colonel Tony Bennett (recent Australian Defence Attaché to Ukraine) reaffirmed, the Ukrainians perhaps know more about the integration of autonomy and AI into warfighting than anyone else today.

Last week they unveiled their intention to field an ‘Army of Robots’, to offset their disadvantage in mass.

One might conclude that they are all in on the robots.

Last week the Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released his commander’s intent, which some of us have read.

It is a captivating and impressive document.

One sentence for me stood out more than any other, in this world seemingly dominated by robots, autonomy and AI agents.

I quote:

‘The most valuable combat capability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is our people, and we are responsible for protecting them’.

I endorse this message, and take it for what it is: the experience of a commander fighting for national survival.

It also makes me double down on something that our Commander of Joint Operations said yesterday.

The centrality of the human in war suggests that there is surely a cognitive domain in warfare.

I’ve had similar discussions within the ADF SLG, in my previous role as Chief of Cyber, and during bilats this week.

I think we need to explore this seriously, as a sixth warfighting domain. We exist on the land. As was said yesterday, it is easier to drop a bomb than release a tweet.

We must control the narrative, or lose the will of our people. Our legitimacy in conflict may depend on it.

This may be a key missing piece in our puzzle.

Our speakers have made it clear that senior leadership is central to adaptation.

Dr Bensahel was frank yesterday in her message that senior leaders must not be the barrier to adaptation.

There can be no ‘say / do gap’.

I agree, and I spoke about this with our junior leaders forum. We have to ensure – to echo her delightful words - that ‘the audio matches the video.’

You’ve been an amazing Keogh Chair, Nora – thank you.

Importantly, it is for our senior leaders to ensure that the human remains firmly in control of the loop of adaptation. How do we address ‘cultural inertia’ as described by CAPT Andy Dunn-Lobban?

Our Army’s guiding principal of Mission Ready – People Always will help focus us.

So, to conclude … the world is changing, but the purpose of our Army remains fundamentally the same as it has been for 125 years.

We exist to fight and win our nation’s wars. We are Australia’s experts in combat on the land.

We are increasingly clear on what we need to go from here. Our Army must be able to operate across the five warfighting domains.

We must be able to fight and win in the littoral.

We must be able to strike at long range.

We must be able to win the close fight on, from and into the land.

And, we must integrate with the ADF, with allies and partners, and with sovereign industry.

We are already transforming at pace. Just look at the last five years. New concepts, command and control, capabilities from HIMARS to helicopters, self-propelled Howitzers, longer ranges, and an evolved culture.

Phenomenal kit is rolling in, retention is up, and we are focused. It is a great time to be an Australian soldier.

The next stage is for us to be hardwired for adaptation. To command as we fight.

To be ready for Archipelagic Warfare in the modern age.

To our Army, I cannot tell you how excited RSM-A and I are to be on this journey with you.

Team Army – Soldiers for Life.