David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 5 July 2011:

For the period 1 January to 30 June 2011, what was the average cost in recruiting each new uniformed person into each of the service areas (i.e. army, navy and air force).

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

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

The simple average cost per recruit for the period 1 January to 30 June 2011 was $24,591 across Navy, Army and Air Force.

This is a simple average based on the total expenditure by Defence Force Recruiting in the period 1 January to 30 June 2011 ($86.854m) divided by the total number of uniformed personnel recruited to the Australian Defence Force through Defence Force Recruiting in this period (3,532).

While ceremonial activities and community based activities have an indirect benefit to recruitment, they are not classified as direct recruitment costs and as such are not included in these costs.