April 2026
From bases to places
Meet Consult Australia’s new Defence Manager
“Defence capability is highly skilled work that doesn’t have to sit in the cities,” says Consult Australia’s new Defence Engagement and Government Relations Manager, Dean Spence.
According to the 2026 National Defence Strategy, the Australian Government will invest around $425 billion over the next decade – historic spending that aims to strength self-reliance, resilience and national preparedness. Capability at this scale must built, coordinated and delivered.
Consult Australia sits at a critical junction between government priorities and industry capability. Dean Spence is focused on bolstering that bridge.
“I’m excited to be joining Consult Australia at such an important moment. It’s an organisation with real credibility, and with a real opportunity to help our members capitalise on record levels of investment,” Dean says.
“The defence sector has a huge role to play in our national economy. We’ve got the capability right here in Australia to deliver it. We should be building it.”
Dean was most recently strategic business executive with project management firm BPS Defence. Previously, he spent six years with the NSW Government, leading engagement and investment attraction for the state’s defence and aerospace sector. During this time, he brokered 42 major defence industry projects and facilitated over $2 billion in international activity.
But when Dean talks about defence, he doesn’t start with the word “budgets”. He starts with “community”. And understanding the consequences of policy is part of what Dean brings to Consult Australia.
Dean grew up on a small farm in Hartley, just beyond Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, not far from the Three Sisters. “I saw how small towns get left behind as coal mines close and jobs move to the cities. Defence capability can come in to support communities with high paying, high value work.”
Military bases, he notes, have always been economic anchors. “There’s the uniformed personnel and then there’s a whole ecosystem around them. Hairdressers, cleaners, landscapers – all the local services. That’s on top of the construction, engineering and design jobs.”
For an industry often framed in terms of projects and pipelines, this is a powerful story – and a positive one in what the 2026 National Defence Strategy calls a “more dangerous and unpredictable era.”
“Defence investment shouldn’t be going offshore when we can build the capability here, offering highly skilled jobs to school leavers in regions where they grew up, and where housing is affordable.”
Dean is now on a “listening tour”, talking to members to understand their “priority ambitions”.
“Defence is a goliath and nothing will change overnight. But we can work together as an industry to get results. What’s driving people? And what’s driving them up the wall? I want to understand this, because that’s how Consult Australia will drive real change.”
Contact Consult Australia’s Defence Engagement and Government Relations Manager, Dean Spence.