I am pleased to announce the appointment of Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove AC MC as the new Chief of the Defence Force (CDF).
Lieutenant General Cosgrove will commence his three-year appointment on 4 July this year and will be promoted to the rank of General. He replaces the current CDF, Admiral Chris Barrie AC, who is retiring from the ADF after 41 years of service. Admiral Barrie has served with distinction as Chief of the Defence Force since 4 July 1998.
Rear Admiral Russ Shalders CSC, Head Defence Personnel, will be appointed Vice-Chief of the Defence Force with effect from 15 July 2002 for three years. He will be promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and replaces Lieutenant General Des Mueller AO who has served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Force over the past two years.
Rear Admiral Chris Ritchie AO, Commander Australian Theatre, will be promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral and appointed as Chief of Navy with effect from 3 July 2002 for three years. Rear Admiral Ritchie replaces Vice Admiral David Shackleton AO who is also retiring from the ADF on 2 July this year after three years as Chief of Navy.
Major General Peter Leahy AM, Deputy Chief of Army, will be promoted to Lieutenant General and replaces General Cosgrove as Chief of Army on 28 June this year. His appointment will be for a three year period.
On behalf of the Government and the people of Australia, I would like to express my gratitude to Admiral Barrie, who has served as Chief of the Defence Force for the past four years.
His advice to the government was crucial to the ADF';s state of readiness when the decision was taken for the Interfet deployment to East Timor. He has also overseen Australia';s involvement in the war against terrorism, most particularly in Afghanistan.
His military and strategic advice to the government has been of a very high order.
I would also like to thank General Mueller and Vice-Admiral Shackleton for their respective contributions to the ADF and the nation. I wish them all well in their retirement from the ADF.
The current Chief of the Air Force, Air Marshal Angus Houston, was appointed on 20 June 2001. He has brought leadership and direction to that role and will continue to make a strong contribution to the ADF for the remainder of his term, which runs until 19 June 2004.
Lieutenant General Cosgrove is well known to all Australians for his outstanding command of the Australian led INTERFET mission in East Timor, his command of the Australian Army as Chief of Army and his appointment as Australian of the Year for 2001.
I believe Lieutenant General Cosgrove and the new leadership team bring a wealth of command experience and strategic expertise to the ADF.
I am confident they will build on the work done by Admiral Barrie and his leadership team and continue to enhance and improve our Defence Forces.
Appointments for the positions of Deputy Chief of Army, Commander Australian
Theatre and Head Defence Personnel will be announced shortly.