Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What confected outrage we have just heard from a failed shadow minister for Defence—outrage, as he goes on about members of the Defence Force before he leaves. I will tell him about outrage: they were outraged when that man there, with his back to us now, this failed shadow minister for Defence, abused a general of the Australian Defence Force and when called out, refused to apologise—even when his leader called him to apologise he didn't; a failed shadow minister for Defence, when in government, who did not support military superannuation et cetera.

I will come back and allow the Labor Party to burn slowly over the next few minutes, because what an opportunity has been given to me by Senator Moore, for which I thank her, in which you are asking us to debate the government's unfair pay deal for Australian Defence Force personnel. I will come back to the actions of the Labor Party both in government and in opposition.

I speak as I rise as a very proud member of the Defence family. I was a very modest junior officer years ago but I am the father of a combat officer who fought with distinction as a lieutenant in Iraq and equally with distinction as a captain in Afghanistan. I can assure you, as I can assure Senator Moore and those on the opposite side, that I did have and continue to have a very, very keen interest in aspects associated with Defence Force remuneration et cetera.

But because there has been so much confected confusion about rates and what people actually enjoy or the service facilities that they get, I thought there would be some value in the wider community understanding exactly what our Defence Force do receive—I will be the first one to say that I think they thoroughly deserve it. On top of a base pay, which is around $45,000 for someone who has been 12 months in the service, going up of course to a higher remuneration in the higher ranks, each person in the ADF uniform personnel receives a service allowance of some $13,118 per annum. On top of that, if they are in the field, under fairly harsh conditions, they get a further $57 a day or, if they are in reasonably generous camp conditions, $33.50. At the same time, for every 10 days in the field they get another day of leave.

Our uniformed personnel get a uniform-maintenance allowance. Those of them in the north of the country—for instance, in Darwin, Townsville, across the north and in the Pilbara—receive a district allowance of some $280 a fortnight. In remote areas they also get remote locality leave, travel allowance, which includes for the member of the ADF plus their partner and dependants an annual flight and which is a variable figure. One that was quoted to me from Darwin was about $1,170 a year. That is what ADF personnel receive when they are in Australia on service.

I turn now to the conditions that service personnel have when they are deployed overseas, because it is important that the wider community has this understanding. I repeat my comment that I believe they richly deserve it. First of all, they continue to receive all of the payments to which I have referred: base pay, service allowance, field allowance and uniform allowance. The only difference is that, because they are overseas, those allowances are tax-free. They are not taxed on those payments while they are away. Of course, all their leave continues to accrue, including the one day of leave for each 10 days in the field. Depending on where they are, according to the degree of risk associated with the combat zone or the overseas warlike area they might be in, they receive a further allowance. For example, in Operation Slipper in Afghanistan the allowance was $200 per day, tax free, or $6,000 per month, tax free. That figure goes down according to the level of risk.

I want the community to understand the conditions under which ADF personnel are employed and deployed. Those in the special forces get a higher allowance of about $40,000 a year. Those on submarines get a different allowance of about $17,000. If you are at sea you get an allowance of $11,000 and if you are a member of a boarding party—for example, in the Timor Sea at the moment—you get $63 a day. Paratroopers are paid a different daily rate as are others associated with deep diving or other activities.

The point that I make, as the Deputy Chief of the Defence Force has made, is that our forces are at least the highest, second-highest, or third-highest paid military personnel in the world. We will not listen to the nonsense that is being handled by Senator Conroy on behalf of the Labor Party about the role of our ADF or the respect with which the coalition deals with it.

On the question of Christmas stand-down and the day that is lost in these proposals, let me make very strongly the point that there is no day lost between Christmas and New Year in the proposed arrangement. No stand-down day is lost between Christmas and New Year. Let us debunk that lie if we can.

I turn to the circumstances associated with the Labor opposition. When Labor went into government in 2007 this country had a $20 billion surplus and no net debt. We had $50 billion in the bank earning interest. In the middle of September 2013 we had a debt that was galloping towards $600 billion, a debt that we are repaying at the rate of $1,000 million every month. We are borrowing that money not to repay the debt, not to try to pay down deficit and not to try to ensure that we have adequate funds for ADF personnel and other people. We are borrowing that billion dollars a month to pay the interest on the debt that the Labor government accrued. Senator Conroy comes in here and starts talking about the sorts of pay levels that the Labor government were able to offer at a time when they enjoyed that surplus, leaving us with the degree of deficit and debt they have. Indeed, Senator Conroy was the architect of so much of that debt with his failed NBN scheme. It is absolutely remarkable that Senator Conroy could have such poor understanding of the budgetary process that he could talk about percentage figures in the budget and have such a lack of understanding about what components go where from budget allocations. It is absolutely remarkable but not surprising to me, because it speaks to the failure of this man in so many areas, not least in his role as shadow defence minister.

Let me debunk another point in all the emails that I too have been getting in relation to parliamentarians' and senior civil servants' salaries. They were frozen, as we know, but I did not hear one word of objection from anybody in the parliament. Our salaries were frozen on 1 July 2014 for two years. On top of that, as I understand it, we have had a two per cent impost put on us. For those among my old friends and others who have said, 'What about you mob? What about politicians?', there is the answer. We have had our salaries frozen and we are paying a further two per cent for a couple of years to try to get on top of Labor's debt.

I ask the question, since Senator Conroy raised it: where was Labor when it came to military superannuation? This government introduced new indexation for all DFRB and DFRDB recipients aged 55 years and older. It was opposed by Labor in opposition. It came to government telling us it was going to maintain a generous military superannuation program, promising but failing to deliver a program for people older than 65 years of age. Let me go on about the generosity of this government on ADF family health care, which protects military personnel and their families. I hope that conditions return so that we too are out of debt and can return to those levels of generosity. (Time expired)