The senior naval officer in charge of Australia’s massive AUKUS project will remain in charge of the fledgling Australian Submarine Agency despite last year announcing his retirement, because the Albanese government is yet to find a suitable replacement.
Confirmation that Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead has agreed to stay on in the high-profile role came as former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds told an unofficial AUKUS inquiry that China already had the ability to shut down Australia’s critical infrastructure.
In November last year Admiral Mead confirmed plans to step down as the inaugural Director-General of the ASA in “mid 2026”, but The Nightly can reveal he told staff last week he would now be staying for the foreseeable future.
On Monday Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the Government was still searching for a replacement to Admiral Mead, who has run the ASA since its establishment in July 2023.
“Vice Admiral Mead has made an enormous contribution to AUKUS and the Government extends its sincere thanks to him for agreeing to stay on as Director-General until his successor is confirmed,” a spokesperson for Mr Marles said.
In a separate and subsequent statement, the ASA said: “Vice Admiral Mead has been asked to stay on as the Director-General of the ASA for a transition period from 1 July 2026 until the next Director-General has been confirmed”.
Earlier this year The Nightly revealed Labor was considering appointing Admiral Mead as Australia’s next High Commissioner to New Delhi, to eventually replace Philip Green who has been in the senior diplomatic post since 2023.
On Monday government and military sources said the overseas posting was still a possibility, although others in defence industry believe Admiral Mead could instead move to the private sector to work for a defence company.
In 2024 former Defence Department Secretary Dennis Richardson was tasked with conducting a confidential review of the ASA amid reports of widespread dissatisfaction inside and outside the newly formed government organisation.
The Nightly has confirmed Mr Richardson recommended that the next head of the ASA should possibly be from outside Australia, with sources saying former US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John M Richardson was initially considered for the job.
The Albanese government will instead continue a global search to find the “right person” to run the ASA, while it also prepares for US and British nuclear submarine rotations to begin at Western Australia’s HMAS Stirling naval base next year.
Former Defence Minister issues China warnings
On Monday the contentious AUKUS endeavour came under further scrutiny at an unofficial, crowd funded inquiry into the $368 billion program led by vocal critic and former Labor Minister Peter Garrett.
At a public hearing in Fremantle, close to where Submarine Rotational Force-West will begin, former Liberal Defence Minister Linda Reynolds argued in favour of the importance of the AUKUS project.
During her evidence she warned that Australia had already been at war with China since before she became Defence Minister in 2019 in the former Morrison Government.
“Now, that’s not kinetic war, and I can see some of you shaking your heads, but it is what’s called hybrid and grey zone war, so they’re persistent.”
“Hundreds, thousands of attacks on our infrastructure, so for our critical industries, our big companies, our Defence Department, our government agencies, Centrelink Services Australia.
“They are also not just China, but predominantly China, and there is nothing benign about that, but not only do they attack to interfere, they also put malware on the software, which actually then maps our systems, so that they can work out how to turn the systems off.”
Former WA Labor Premier Carmen Lawrence is on the panel of Commissioners, alongside Mr Garrett.
But Western Australia’s current State Labor Government has dismissed the unofficial inquiry as a waste of time.
“Ultimately our state government is committed to this project, I think it will be an unnecessary distraction,” WA’s Housing Minister John Carey said.
“I think it’s about trying to undermine the confidence, but ultimately AUKUS is an incredible economic opportunity for our State, and we will continue to embrace it”.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails