Do APS systems measure what matters when it comes to performance of top Defence officials?

Leadership performance, documented accountabilities and measures of assessing the efficacy of senior bureaucrats within the Department of Defence all recently came under the microscope thanks to a royal commission into how ADF suicide is handled.

Defence boss and former diplomat Greg Moriarty was subjected to some uncomfortable questions about his own performance during his six years of leading the department before the royal commission last month. But he was also quizzed on whether the tools at his disposal to monitor the work of his most senior subordinates were up to scratch by the inquiry.