Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The Government provisioned an additional 1,201 full-time equivalent uniformed personnel for 2010-11 under the White Paper, as reflected in the publication Strategic Reform Program: Making It Happen.

The workforce data detailed in Strategic Reform Program: Making It Happen are based on approved allocations at the time of publication and reflect full-time equivalent average numbers, known as Average Funded Strength (AFS) for military personnel. Using the AFS approach, Defence counts full-time and part-time service as one overall average quantity.

This workforce has been allocated to the Services to implement a range of White Paper initiatives including the Defence Capability Plan. The breakdown by Service is Navy 566, Army 392 and Air Force 243.

These personnel ranged from junior to senior officers on an as needed basis according to the particular White Paper initiatives being actioned, including through the SRP.

Because of the breadth and depth of the White Paper initiatives, the number of personnel varied throughout the specified period and it is not possible to provide a specific total referenced to each White Paper initiative.

In relation to the overall military workforce, over the period 01 July to 31 December 2010, Defence employed an average of 59,160 full-time equivalent average uniformed personnel which is 1,842 above the 2010-11 indicative allocation of 57,318 as specified in the Reform Program: Making It Happen publication. This indicative allocation has increased since that time, particularly with the allocation of 447 AFS in 2010-11 to provide to Defence on a no win/no loss basis to cover reserve Army personnel employed on a full-time basis for operations.