Federal Government pledges $600m to help flailing Australian Defence Force recruit and retain personnel

The Australian Defence Force will need to nearly double its yearly recruit inflow over the coming decade while also convincing existing personnel to serve an additional five years — an ambitious bid to be backed by a new $600m recruitment and retention package.

The Government will release the Defence Workforce Plan on Tuesday, which outlines the goal of reaching a permanent military workforce of 69,000 by the early 2030s, up from the 2024-25 budgeted workforce of 58,850.

A bolstered military will be critical to meet the growing military demands backed by a ballooning budget, set to increase from $51.4bn in 2023-24 to more than $100bn in 2033-34.

It’s likely to be a tough task, given at the end of June the average funded strength of the ADF was 7.1 per cent below its workforce growth requirement of 62,735. At the same time, the ADF achieved only 66 per cent of its recruitment target.

In order to meet the goal, and “stabilise, remediate and grow” the workforce, Defence will need to increase its annual inflow from 5500 personnel to 9000 over the coming decade, across the entire force.

It must concurrently increase the median service length from seven years to 12 years.

Defence Minister Richard Marles will announce that in order to meet the challenge, the Government will extend the Continuation Bonus until 2028.

It follows a “successful” pilot launched last July that had an almost 80 per cent uptake rate, and resulted in over 3100 junior ranking ADF personnel remaining in service beyond their minimum four-year service.

From next year, the payment will be reduced to $40,000, but the scheme will also be expanded to include a second cohort of permanent members – those who’ve served between seven and nine years.

The Government hopes opening up the program will encourage the continuation of service and career progression through the middle ranks.

Mr Marles said given ADF personnel were Australia’s “greatest capability”, it was “crucial the workforce has the people it needs to protect Australia’s strategic interests”.

“The 2024 Workforce Plan will help ensure Defence can recruit, retain and grow the highly specialised and skilled workforce required to meet its capability needs,” he said.

The plan will also outline the need to grow the operational Reserve force by an additional 1000 people by 2030.

The release of the plan comes as the Government confirms it spent a record $16.7bn last financial year on acquisition; the first time Defence fully expended its acquisition budget in five years.

It also follows confirmation from the government on Monday it would axe a $7bn satellite communications program announced 18 months ago, citing it no longer served Australia’s needs.

Meanwhile, Mr Marles will also announce on Tuesday additional support to Ukraine.

Australia will gift 14 rigid hull boats — support valued at $14m — to bolster Ukraine’s maritime and coastal defence.

Mr Marles said it was the “right thing to do”.

“Ukraine has demonstrated its ability to thwart Russia’s continued attacks from the Black Sea,” he said.

“We are proud to contribute to these vital maritime defences with this new package.”

To date, Australia has provided more than $1.3bn in military support since the start of Russia’s invasion.