David Feeney (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased indeed to rise to support this motion. The Australian Defence Force Cadets is a voluntary, uniformed, youth development organisation established within the Australian Defence Organisation and comprising cadets, community-based staff and volunteers. The ADF Cadets has a distinctive service character and relationships with each of the three services that are integral to their function, their identity and their work. There are the Australian Navy Cadets, the Australian Army Cadets and the Australian Air Force Cadets.

It is fair to say that in my time as parliamentary secretary for defence I had the privilege of visiting cadet units right across Australia, and again and again I was struck by the enormous success of this scheme. I would go so far as to make the boast that it is the leading youth development program in this country. The ADF Cadets program comes in two varieties: there are school-based units and there are community-based units. Each of them has their virtues and each of them relies on strong support from the community and community volunteers.

The ADF Cadets program, as a youth department program, serves a number of functions. Above and beyond youth development, it seeks to encourage young people interested in the ADF to pursue careers in the ADF, the Australian Defence Organisation or defence industries, and it seeks to engender a positive attitude towards the ADF in the broader community. In that sense, that makes the ADF Cadets program one of the most successful community outreach efforts organised by the ADF.

It would strike any observer visiting a cadet unit that the ADF Cadets program is successful in recruiting a greater diversity of Australians to its ranks than, in fact, the ADF itself is able to do. In particular, the ADF Cadets program has been very successful in attracting a much higher ratio of women into its ranks and a much higher ratio of Australians from families that were born overseas or do not speak English in their homes. These are two great virtues of the program. It engenders strong civics and Australian values in those young participants and, hopefully, serves to better the diversity of the ADF itself.

When in government, the Australian Labor Party very proudly organised the Hickling review into Australian Defence Force Cadets, led by Lieutenant General Hickling. That report of November 2008 enabled stronger funding and stronger focus on ADF Cadets. It also meant that there were new units formed, but it did identify a number of constraints. I would like to join with those opposite in congratulating this scheme for its work and for its reputation—and, indeed, for sustaining that reputation. At a time when other youth development programs have come under great scrutiny and great criticism, ADF Cadets remains a strong and reputable program.

But there are constraints that both sides of this parliament should join together in dealing with. There is an excessive administrative burden on those volunteers who make this program possible. There must continue to be a strong child protection focus, so that the pristine interpretation of ADF Cadets continues into the future. Also, of course, we should encourage the three services to take even greater interest in their own cadet programs.

There is an adage amongst ADF cadets that the Air Force love their cadets, the Army know they have cadets and the Navy is yet to find out that it has cadets. This adage—and I say it in jest—is borne out by the funding. In 2013, the last year of the Labor government, the Air Force Cadets spent some $8.8 million, Army spent $7.6 million and Navy spent $5.1 million. I can say from my personal experience that the former Chief of Air Force, Geoff Brown—and I am sure this also applies to the current Chief of Air Force—was an enormous enthusiast for Air Force Cadets, and that permeated right through his service. It meant that the additional funding provided by Labor to the cadet program was swooped up by him and spent on purchasing gliders. It is fair to say that for the young participants in that program the opportunity to fly gliders was an enormous delight.

This is a great success and a great model of enthusiasm, but it has always been my personal view that Navy Cadets, in particular, has enormous potential for growth in a maritime nation such as our own—building maritime and navigational skills. I suspect that is a program that would readily attract vast numbers of young Australians to join. I join with those opposite in congratulating this youth development program, and I think that together we can make sure that it has an even stronger future.

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