Defence Minister Richard Marles said Defence needs to address its recruitment problems.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
He also warned the strategic review will foreshadow difficult decisions on some planned purchases because “as we think about how we reconfigure our Defence Force for a very different strategic environment inevitably we will have to make some hard choices”.
Though Marles did not explicitly make the link,Defence personnel played a key role on the front lines during major outbreaks of COVID-19 during the first two years of the pandemic,while it has also played vital roles in combatting major floods and bushfires.
Information provided to this masthead shows a significant number of people have quit the services since mid-2020,and by the start of the 2022-23 financial year the ADF and Defence Department had a workforce of about 77,000 people,5.4 per cent below what was required. The ADF employed about 3000 fewer personnel than the 60,000 planned for,while the department had about 1000 fewer public servants than budgeted.
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In his speech at the Sydney Institute on Monday evening,Marles said Defence needed to address its recruitment problems because “underpinning the development of a new strategic posture for our nation will be having the people and the funding to make it happen”.
“In part,the defence establishment is simply experiencing the demand for labour which is being felt right around the country. But it also has to do with ensuring that Defence’s recruitment reflects the way young Australians approach their careers and that within this context the Defence offering is competitive,” he said.
“What is completely clear is that urgent action is required ... because right now we have a defence personnel crisis.”