Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my colleagues who are here from all sides, particularly the previous speaker, who gave an impassioned speech, and the members for Canning and Herbert, who are my good friends, and we also served in various capacities and times. One of the things those of us who have served in uniform know, as well as those of us who know someone who serves in uniform, is that there is a moment in time when the seed is planted. We heard this at the tragic funeral of Jack Fitzgibbon, when his dad stood up and said that the moment his son, Jack, first thought about it was when he saw an Army truck moving around the electorate. That inspired him. And we know that there were various seeds in our minds that made us think about it. But there's a window where a young person, a young man or woman from one of the many corners of this country, wants to turn that seed into action. They go onto the website or they call 131901, and they're keen; they're ready to get started. This is the moment in time when they want to give everything to that.

So when I hear that at the moment the contractor who's supposed to process those applications has pushed them out to 300 days, I know that that is a key factor in why we are short by 5,000 full-time Defence Force members. I want you to picture what 5,000 is. We've got a target of 64,000, so 5,000 is roughly one in 12. Imagine a dozen Defence Force members, and there's one missing. There's one missing in every dozen Defence Force members throughout the nation—one in a dozen. At a time when we hear both sides, particularly the government, talking about the unprecedented strategic threat we face, they are sitting there in charge, two years in, with one in a dozen missing.

Yet what are their priorities? What are they doing about it? We saw in the budget an increase in public servants by 36,000. So, on one hand we're short of 5,000 people who are prepared to do the most dangerous, serious work to keep us safe, and on the other we have prioritised 36,000 public servants. That's not a criticism of public servants, and many of those 36,000 are needed, including some in DVA, of course. No-one's saying that; we won't accept that straw man argument. But it is unacceptable, at this moment in time, in this moment in history and with this threat, to sit there and say that that level of recruiting is adequate.

So, what are you doing about it? We heard in the last few days some thought bubbles about expanding the pool of potential recruits, and there may be some merit to that. But, again, minister after minister has left us feeling that they are not across their brief, that they didn't read the materials of that day, that they didn't check with their friends and colleagues in the relevant portfolios and that they didn't do the work. I don't know what ministers in this government do when they wake up every day, but I would have thought that the first thing you do is read the papers, talk to your colleagues in the relevant areas and then, when you go on the media, at least be consistent, if for nothing else than political reasons.

But this isn't just about politics; it's about national security. And I will say, as someone not born here, that the opportunity to serve in uniform as a migrant is one of the greatest honours I've had, as well as my way of giving back. Again and again I meet young Australians who weren't born here who have come from all corners of this earth, and they are desperate to serve. But, when they make that call or click that website and they're told to wait 300 days, guess what people of talent and action do. They go somewhere else. So we are losing people of talent and action who want to give to this nation at the moment in time of their life when it matters and for whom it's not happening.

In the last minute of my time, my questions are: What has the government done to hold Adecco to account for not bringing the processing time from 300 days to 100 days? What are you doing? What else are you doing about recruiting beyond a thought bubble? This should be a full-court press by every minister, including the Minister for Defence Industry, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the minister himself. In fact, the Prime Minister should be asking for a daily brief about where our recruiting strategy is. What are you doing to fill the gap of one in 12? He shouldn't be going to sleep at night knowing that that exists right now. It's unacceptable.

See this speech in context