Dave Tollner (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Would the minister outline to the House details of the government’s new strategy to retain Defence Force personnel and support their families? How will this strategy benefit the many Defence Force families in the electorate of Solomon?

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his question. With more than 5,000 ADF members from all three services and their families in his community and around greater Darwin he has a very particular interest in this. One of the challenges that kept emerging when we discussed with members of the ADF what would help keep them in the ADF—what would support a positive experience for them and through that support a defence capability—was the impact that service could have on their families. The new ADF Family Stability Initiative, budgeted to cost around $17 million a year, will provide ADF personnel with a new option where they may consider, at the time of being required to relocate on a posting, the opportunity for their family to maintain geographical stability while the personnel are away for part or all of their posting.

This is extremely important for defence personnel who are posted to areas where there is a high anticipation of deployment, where there may be other demands or, particularly, where their children have some critical years of their schooling emerging or where their spouses or partners have established employment or housing preferences. The upheavals of having to relocate can be exacerbated by these broader family impact determinations that need to be considered by the family. Under the Family Stability Initiative, ADF personnel can choose locational stability for their families whilst they proceed to fulfil their duty and their outstanding service to the Australian Defence Force. To overcome that choice and the implications that come with it, there will be added support in the services package for accommodation and rental assistance, meals assistance, increased family reunion visits and the additional costs associated with living away from their families for part or all of their posting.

Surveys of the ADF show us that this locational stability issue is a big one for our families. We may recruit a member of the ADF but to retain them we need to retain them and their families. This makes our defence enterprise a family friendly employer, it encourages military service and it encourages those keen to stay with the ADF to continue to make their contribution. It is about choice. It is about flexibility. We will always be reminding families that separation for whatever period is a difficult choice, but it is an option that needs to be considered, when broader family priorities are recognised by the family and the member, as something they wish to accommodate.

This initiative is just one of a range of things the government is canvassing. The Minister for Defence is doing a terrific job pursuing retention and recruitment initiatives. I say to anybody listening to this broadcast today: consider the delicious world of career opportunities within Defence—it is a fulfilling, meaningful and worthwhile way of using your working life. This is one of the measures that make that an easier, more supportive and choice-rich environment in which people can pursue that career.