Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased that the member asked me that question, because it is important that we say very clearly what our policy is. The recreation leave policy for Australian Defence Force members is planned to change from 1 July 2012. The change was proposed to the government by the secretary and the CDF and was announced alongside the 2012-13 budget measures as part of a range of measures considered by defence as part of the Strategic Reform Program. Recreation leave travel was previously provided to single ADF members and consisted of annual Commonwealth funded return travel from the member's posting location to the location of their nominated next of kin. Defence has assessed that the policy is decreasing in relevance in the contemporary ADF and it should come as no surprise that Defence, as it should, continually assesses its personnel policies for relevance and appropriateness in order to implement and fund newer, better or more relevant policies in place of older, more outdated policies that needed review.

Major General Fogarty, head of People and Capability, said on 25 May that, unlike in previous years where single soldiers had to live on base, in the confined barracks environment, many members of the military are now based in communities outside the barracks, and that the benefit has become outdated. He said: 'It has become redundant, and the cost of travel within Australia is a totally different environment today to what it was 40 years ago.' The Chief of Defence Force also stated on 25 May that 'the free airfare for older single people was outdated' and that it was in place when he joined the Army 40 years ago, when salaries were low and airfares were very expensive from such places as Townsville. He said: 'The world has changed since that was introduced. You get cheaper airfares, communications are different and the town is not so isolated anymore.' And, importantly, of course, this measure will have no impact on single members who are posted to remote localities such as Darwin and Cairns, because they will still have an entitlement to remote locality leave travel. There will remain an entitlement of three trips a year for trainees and ADF members under the age of 21 will continue to get the entitlement.

Sometimes we make these decisions, and they are difficult decisions, but they need to be made. In this context it is very clear that we want to continue to continually monitor the entitlements that we provide to our Defence Force members. I am particularly pleased, frankly, that the overall package is such that it attracts such large numbers of people to our defence community. And whilst we have had retention issues previously—that is, people not wanting to leave; retention levels have been very good—we are seeing a bit of a change. I do not expect this particular policy item, this new change, to have any impact on our recruitment of new personnel.

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