Australia’s Department of Defense, Defence Australia, reportedly failed to effectively manage millions of items equating to $1.7 billion according to an Auditor-General report released June 7. The mismanaged inventories included ration packs for military personnel, toiletries, light globes, clothing and parts for special pieces of military equipment.

The report found the value of the items, where a need or activity could not be identified, to be $1.7 billion out of a total amount of $2.6 billion. Moreover, up to 79% of the current items were identified as overstock.

"The framework is not operating as intended to achieve the proper use and management of public resources," the report reads.

The Auditor-General reportedly made four recommendations to Defence Australia, all of which were agreed to by the department.

In a response to the recent report, Defence Australia explained that it is "committed to strengthening processes and controls.” Also, the system currently being implemented by the organization “will deliver enhanced capability to track labor, storage and distribution costs to a greater level of granularity."

As of June 2022, Defence Australia was managing over 70 million items across 547 locations.