Vice Chief of the Defence Force (Australia)

Vice Chief of the Defence Force (Australia)
Incumbent	Mark Binskin

The Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF) is the military deputy to the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) of Australia, and acts as the CDF in his absence under standing acting arrangements.

The VCDF is a three-star officer in the Australian Defence Force (Lieutenant General, Vice Admiral, or Air Marshal). The position's standing responsibilities include: Joint Doctrine, Education, Training and Evaluation; Joint Logistics; Reserve Policy; and Joint Capabilities, Commitments and Concepts. When acting as Chief of the Defence Force, the VCDF attends the National Security Committee of Cabinet (NSCC) and Secretary’s Committee on National Security (SCNS).

The appointment is made by the Governor General on the advice of his ministers under Section 9AA of the Defence Act (1903) and is for a fixed term of three years, nominally rotated between the three services (Navy, Army and Air Force); however in practice this has not been the case and the appointment has been held for longer or shorter periods of time. The role is politically neutral, as are all military positions, and is not affected by a change of government.

The position of VCDF was created in 1986.

Appointees

Rank	Name	Post- Nominals	Service	Term began	Term ended	Time in Appointment
Air Marshal	Funnell, RayRay Funnell	AO	RAAF	000000001986-06-01-0000June 1986	000000001987-01-01-0000January 1987	50000000000000000000 years, 7002214000000000000214 days
Vice Admiral	Knox, IanIan Knox	AC, RAN	RAN	000000001987-01-01-0000January 1987	000000001989-09-01-0000September 1989	70002000000000000002 years, 7002243000000000000243 days
Vice Admiral	Beaumont, AlanAlan Beaumont	AC, RAN	RAN	000000001989-09-01-0000September 1989	000000001992-10-01-0000October 1992	70003000000000000003 years, 700130000000000000030 days
Lieutenant General	Baker, JohnJohn Baker	AC	Army	000000001992-10-01-0000October 1992	000000001995-04-01-0000April 1995	70002000000000000002 years, 7002182000000000000182 days
Vice Admiral	Walls, RobertRobert Walls	AO, RAN	RAN	000000001995-04-01-0000April 1995	000000001997-03-01-0000March 1997	70001000000000000001 year, 7002334000000000000334 days
Vice Admiral	Barrie, ChrisChris Barrie	AC, RAN	RAN	000000001997-03-01-0000March 1997	000000001998-07-03-00003 July 1998	70001000000000000001 year, 7002122000000000000122 days
Air Marshal	Riding, DouglasDouglas Riding	AO, DFC	RAAF	000000001998-07-03-00003 July 1998	000000002000-07-01-0000July 2000	70002000000000000002 years, 50000000000000000000 days
Lieutenant General	Mueller, DesmondDesmond Mueller	AO	Army	000000002000-07-01-0000July 2000	000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002	70002000000000000002 years, 50000000000000000000 days
Vice Admiral	Shalders, RussRuss Shalders	AO, CSC, RAN	RAN	000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002	000000002005-07-01-0000July 2005	70003000000000000003 years, 50000000000000000000 days
Lieutenant General	Gillespie, KenKen Gillespie	AO, DSC, CSM	Army	000000002005-07-01-0000July 2005	000000002008-07-01-0000July 2008	70003000000000000003 years, 50000000000000000000 days
Lieutenant General	Hurley, DavidDavid Hurley	AC, DSC	Army	000000002008-07-01-0000July 2008	000000002011-07-01-0000July 2011	70003000000000000003 years, 50000000000000000000 days
Air Marshal	Binskin, MarkMark Binskin	AO	RAAF	000000002011-07-01-0000July 2011	Incumbent	70002000000000000002 years, 70033946000000000003,946 days

Timeline

Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS)

Main article: Chief of Joint Operations (Australia)

Until September 2007, the VCDF was "double hatted" as the Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS). In this role he commanded Australian Defence Force operations on behalf of the Chief of the Defence Force. In September 2007, The (Liberal) Minister of Defence, Brendan Nelson announced the formation of a separate three-star CJOPS position based at the Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC) facility at Bungendore, New South Wales.