Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I'm here this evening to question and challenge the Minister for Defence Personnel in relation to the government's commitment to the Australian people. The 2016 Defence white paper stated that in the 10 years to 2026 it would recruit and train Australia's future force. That was indeed an admirable goal. That future force is meant to complement the unprecedented investment in defence capability of $270 billion to 2025-26. There is no disputing that, with Australia's vast coastline to be patrolled and protected and with the increased pressure on our reservists to assist civilian emergency agencies, we need to increase the number of Defence Force personnel. We have absolutely no argument with that. But my overriding question to the minister is: how is that 10-year goal going? We do have concerns.

Despite the government's insisting that its recruit targets are being met and will be met by 2026, the percentage of government spending on personnel, according to the updated figures in the 2020 Force structure plan, will fall from 37 per cent of its overall budget to 26 per cent. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute questions how sustainable this will be long term, given the size and quantity of new platforms in production and the anticipated expansion of the workforce in order to operate and maintain the new capability. I would actually like to add to what ASPI has said there. It's not only the size and quantity of new platforms but the complexity of these platforms. I've just come from a briefing on the Land 400. These are environments and systems that we're finding in capabilities now. It's well beyond someone being trained to do something. It is operating within this completely new and complex ecosystem that we need to have people trained up to do—and very quickly, I might add.

How does Defence plan to increase its workforce yet reduce its spend on personnel, Minister? While ASPI's research indicates Defence is averaging 90 per cent of its recruitment targets and separation rates are stable at around 9.3 per cent, Defence's own annual report reveals that defence personnel numbers have remained static over the four years since the publication of the 2016 white paper, and herein lies the rub. We're almost halfway there—time flies by—but we're not almost halfway there in terms of those recruitment numbers, and it is a real concern. We're putting the money in, and that's a good thing, but without the well-trained people on the ground to utilise this newfound capability, our defences will not be as strong as they should be.

The ASPI report also points out that defence will require more boots on the ground not only to operate newly purchased equipment but to carry out the critical maintenance. This is one of the questions that we were talking about earlier. This is about sustainment and maintenance over the life of these assets. Given this government's propensity for making big announcements, with paltry attention paid to the critical detail, one must really question the capability of the government to deliver, especially given the sheer scope of this announced spending. It is a lot of money. In comparison to its failed implementation in other areas, such as housing grants and disaster relief, to name but two, the percentage of full-time personnel as a percentage of Australia's population has declined over time, and this trend is set to continue. This is a real worry. How do we attract the best and brightest to our military? We've got to get these people in, and the government is failing on this. You can have all the money in the world for the Gucci kit but, if you've got no-one to use it, you're all at sea with, literally, not a canoe to paddle—or maybe the HMAS Perth laid up at Henderson with too few sailors to be able to get the thing in the water and operational. This is actually an issue. The guys in the back row are laughing about this, but it's a serious problem. We need the sailors to get the ship in the water.

I find it difficult to reconcile this result when Australia has such a proud tradition in respect of our current and former service men and women. The Anzac tradition has experienced a revitalisation in recent years, and more Australians recognise the sacrifices made. But the problem is that more Australians aren't being attracted to serve. And what's this government doing about it? You can have all the Gucci kit, but you've got to have people to run it. This doesn't appear to be the case. My question to the minister is: what is your plan to get more boots on the ground and more people in the Defence Force?

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