Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence. Would the minister inform the House of measures to improve recruitment into and retention of personnel in the Australian Defence Force?

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Gilmore for her question and her very strong determination to represent the very best interests of the defence community in Nowra in particular.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the Seasprites?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hunter will remove himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Hunter then left the chamber

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Adams interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lyons is warned!

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first priority and responsibility of any government is the defence and protection of the country, its people, its interests and values. In order to do that it requires two things. Firstly, it requires political will, a government that believes in defence and is prepared to invest in defence and believe in its people; and, secondly, it requires strong economic management—a government that can create an environment in which wealth is created and strong surpluses are gathered so that money can be invested in the defence of Australia.

This government has announced that over the next 10 years an additional $50 billion will be spent on acquiring equipment and maintaining that equipment. But the most important asset that we have in Australia in defence is our people. The men and women who wear and who have worn the uniform of the Australian Navy, Army and Air Force, more than any other group of Australians, have defined and shaped our values, our beliefs and our national identity.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Brendan O’Connor interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Gorton. The minister has the call.

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the behaviour of the opposition is reinforcing the point that I have just made, Mr Speaker. Just before Christmas, the Prime Minister announced a $1 billion initiative, which is the first phase in a 10-year program to invest further in Australia’s Defence Force people. That includes a major reform to the way in which we recruit people. We will reduce over the next year, from an average of 31 weeks to six weeks, the time it takes to recruit people into the Australian Defence Force. We will also be providing bonuses and allowances of up to $40,000, particularly for our lower ranks, other ranks and lower officer ranks.

There will be further investment and reforms to Australian Defence Force cadets and there will also be changes to the way in which defence careers are managed throughout our Army, Navy and Air Force. Next year for the first time 1,000 young Australians, when they leave school, will have the choice of spending a gap year in one of our three services and wearing the uniform of the Australian Army, Air Force or Navy. The government is quite confident that not only will young Australians find increased resilience in themselves from that experience but many will subsequently go on to spend their careers and their lives serving Australia wearing the uniform. This government has committed itself to the task of building the Australian Defence Force by 6,000, from 51,000 to 57,000, over the next 10 years.

In contrast, the Australian Labor Party in government set itself the task in 1989 of stripping 6,000 men and women out of the Australian Defence Force and the hardest task it had in doing so was that, because more than a million Australians were unemployed, no-one wanted to leave the Australian Defence Force. In terms of actions, as distinct from empty rhetoric from the opposition frontbench, it ought to be remembered that, when the Australian National University published its survey of candidates standing for election in the federal parliament in 2004, more people sitting behind the Leader of the Opposition wanted to cut defence expenditure than increase it. This government believes in defence, in security, in standing up for Australia, in a strong economy and in investing in our people and our equipment.