Press Conference, Irwin Barracks, Western Australia

Subjects: new ADF Ready app, expansion of eligibility for ADF to Permanent Residents from Five Eyes nations, polling, fuel, grant programs

MATT KEOGH, MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL: As we reach the end of the year and as New Year fast approaches, many Australians are thinking about the year ahead they might be thinking about planning holidays, they might be thinking about fitness goals, or they may even be considering a new career. And indeed, a career in the Australian Defence Force brings together those ideas of a new career and being able to meet your fitness goals as well. And it's a very rewarding career that brings a sense of purpose and being able to support Australia's national security. And we want to make sure that we can support our Australian Defence Force, and people who are thinking about joining our Australian Defence Force and understanding how it can contribute to their fitness, but also how the fitness requirements are attainable for so many Australians. And that's why today, we're announcing that we'll be launching a new ADF Ready App. This will be an app that's available through Google or through the Apple App Store that will enable current serving Defence Force personnel to able to access a tailor made exercise program to meet their ongoing fitness requirements throughout their career, but importantly, also enables people considering a career in the Australian Defence Force to see what the fitness requirements are and get access to tailor made fitness programs to support their journey towards joining the Australian Defence Force. The ADF Ready app has been created using the expertise of our Defence force, PT trainers, and is evidence based, and enables people to see what the fitness requirements are for particular career areas in the defence force, but also to access an exercise training program so that they can meet those fitness requirements and understand what is required to be a member of our Australian Defence Force. 

This is an app that will firstly be launching with support for Navy careers, allowing people who are considering a career in Navy to see what different careers are available and what the fitness requirements are for those, as well as supporting people that are already members of the Royal Australian Navy in meeting the different testing requirements throughout their career, and having exercise programs that support that. Shortly thereafter, we'll be launching rehab modules through the app as well that will be targeted around different areas of rehabilitation, supporting Defence Force members. This will include things like postpartum rehabilitation, enabling those that have gone off to have a baby, to rejoin the Australian Defence Force and recommence their career and meeting the fitness goals and requirements that they have, as well as adding mental health support modules as well. And then towards the end of the year, we'll be adding modules to support recruitment into and supporting the members already in the Army and the Royal Australian Air Force. This will include the pre-enlistment fitness assessments, the requirements and exercise programs to support people on that journey. For pre enlistment fitness assessment, be able to do the exercises required and develop those fitness goals. 

Now this is just the latest of the initiatives that we are taking as a government to make sure that we are supporting the growth and the retention of the Australian Defence Force, making sure that we're able to deliver the Australian Defence Force that we need in the geo-strategic circumstances that we face. And this is because what we inherited when we came into government from the previous government, when Peter Dutton was the Defence Minister, was an Australian Defence Force that was in decline, and we were seeing numbers shrink in the Australian Defence Force under Peter Dutton's leadership. So we have been taking bold and innovative action to grow our Defence Force by recruiting more people to the Defence Force and retaining more people in service as well. 

And that's why, also, from the first of January 2025 we'll be allowing our Five Eyes nations, people that are in Australia, permanent residents, from the Five Eyes nations of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, to be able to apply to join the Australian Defence Force. They will need to meet the normal enlistment requirements in the ADF, including security vetting, they will need to have been a permanent resident in Australia for at least the last year and not been a member of a foreign defence force in the prior two years. They will join the New Zealand permanent residents that were able to join the Australian Defense Force from 1 July of this year, and already we see nearly 400 New Zealand permanent residents in the pipeline with applications to join our Defence Force right now. And for all these permanent residents from the Five Eyes nations, once they join our Australian Defence Force, they will then be expected to take out Australian citizenship, when they become eligible after three months of service. 

We're also streamlining our capacity to be able to recruit from foreign services into specialist roles to make sure that we're able to fill those roles as needed. Working with our partner nations around the world as well, these are bold and innovative steps that we're taking as a government, as we've been taking for some time now, as part of our workforce plan that was released in November to grow the size of our Australian Defence Force, to arrest the decline that happened under Peter Dutton's watch as Defence Minister under the previous government, to make sure that we can meet the needs in the current strategic circumstances that we face. 

JOURNALIST: Have you ruled out expanding to other non Five Eyes countries? 

KEOGH: So what we see it in the Workforce Plan that we launched in November is that we do have an eye to the Pacific in terms of further opportunities for recruitment, but there's processes and steps that we need to work through in Australia and with any other nations. 

JOURNALIST: Is it specific countries within the Pacific? 

KEOGH: So we're still working through how that might work. Our focus right now has been on the Five Eyes and so New Zealand recruitment from New Zealand permanent residents started in 1 July, and we're really happy to see that we now have nearly 400 people that are New Zealand permanent residents in the pipeline to join the Australian Defence Force. Indeed, we'll have the first of them enlisting in just a few months time, and then from 1 January 2025 will be opening up that opportunity to permanent residents from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. 

JOURNALIST: How many people would you expect from the Five Eyes to sign up?

KEOGH: So our expectation is that we will see around 350 personnel enlist across those Five Eyes nations in the course of this financial year, and already, in just the first six months of allowing New Zealand permanent residents to apply, we've got just under 400 in the pipeline.

JOURNALIST: So that's 350 would be New Zealand and future financial years... 

KEOGH: So the 350 would be across all Five Eyes nations this financial year. We currently have just under 400 from New Zealand in the pipeline right now. That's in first six months of New Zealand permanent residents being able to apply. And now we're opening that up to the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. 

JOURNALIST: How many would you need to address the shortfall?

KEOGH: So we're looking at 350 this financial year, and looking to see that over successive years following that. What we did in November was release the new Workforce Plan, and what that set out was a trajectory for Australia to have around 69,000 Australian Defence Force members by the early 2030s, meeting the needs, as we've identified in the National Defence Strategy that was released earlier this year. And we're on that trajectory now, and this is part of making sure that we meet that trajectory, which fits in with the other capability requirements that we identified as part of the National Defense Strategy. 

JOURNALIST: In February, the Defence Chief told Senate Estimates that we've got 4,500 short, so where are we at now in terms of that number? 

KEOGH: So our numbers are growing, and we're seeing that this financial year, we're expecting to see a 24 per cent increase in the number of people joining the Defence Force. Since the numbers that you spoke about, we've released the Defence Workforce Plan that sets out the trajectory going forward based on the National Defence Strategy, based on the new Integrated Investment Plan as well, which matches the numbers of personnel that we need to our physical capabilities, our machinery, our equipment, going forward. And that's why we have the target of reaching the 69,000 by the early 2030s going forward. 

JOURNALIST: And why do you think you're having such a hard time recruiting Australians to join the ADF that you've had to put initiatives like this out there?

KEOGH: So we're really happy to see that we're on track now for this financial year to see an increase in recruitment of some 24 per cent and that's turning around the problem that we saw over the prior years that we inherited from the previous Dutton, under the previous government, under Peter Dutton's leadership as Defence Minister, where the numbers joining the Defence Force were decreasing, that was presenting a huge problem. Now, we have been in an environment where we're competing against a number of industries, and it's why we've done important work like the new app we're releasing, like allowing permanent residents from Five Eyes nations to join. Like improving the attractiveness of joining the Defence Force through changes like the continuation bonus, support, better support for families through defence health, improving the defence housing offering, all of these are things that are improving the attractiveness of joining our defence force. But the key thing, of course, is that for many people, as they leave school or they're looking for a change in career, they are looking for an opportunity and a job and career that gives a real sense of purpose, and that is what a career in the Australian Defence Force provides, as well as those supports for medical, for dental, for housing, for education, study support as well. It's a broad and good package of support that people get when they join our defence force, but it is a highly competitive market. It's why the Australian Defence Force recruiting is one of the biggest spenders when it comes to advertising, to make sure that we are making sure as many people in Australia as possible are aware of that opportunity and joining the Australian Defence Force, we make no apologies for that, and the changes that we've made in that space are now paying the dividends where we're expecting to see a 24 per cent increase over this financial year in the number of people joining the Australian Defence Force.

JOURNALIST:  You’ve had a damning Royal Commission into the ADF, do you think that's going to put people from overseas, put them off wanting to join the ADF? 

KEOGH: I think certainly it is the case that not just the final report from the Royal Commission coming out at the end of this year, but also the reporting and the coverage of all of the issues that the Royal Commission went through and exposed don't create a great picture for people. But what's also true, and the Chair of the Royal Commission made this point very clearly himself at the National Press Club, is that for the vast majority of people that are in our Australian Defence Force, they have an amazing experience. They have very successful experience in the Australian Defence Force, and they go on to have very successful careers after they leave the Australian Defence Force as well. And that's the key message that I'd like people who are considering a career, or the parents of people that are considering a career in the Australian Defence Force, to take away from the work of the Royal Commission and to also understand that in the Government's response that we announced earlier this month to the Royal Commission's final report, that we have taken the message from the Royal Commission extremely seriously, and it's why we have agreed, or agreed in principle, to 117 [104 agreed or agreed in principle, 17 noted for further consideration] of those recommendations from the Royal Commission, and we've taken those other recommendations to be considered by the task force to be established in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to make sure that we are able to deliver on that Royal Commission. 

JOURNALIST: Will that be a focus of your advertising?

KEOGH: The focus of our Defence Force recruiting advertising is about explaining to people the great benefit of being a member of the Australian Defence Force across a whole range of areas, showing how people can contribute, whether it's in conflict, whether it's in humanitarian support, the opportunity to engage with and use leading edge technology, the teamwork and camaraderie that people are able to experience, the benefits that come from being able to access study and education support, housing and, of course, the very unique experience that is serving in our Australian Defence Force, different places people get to visit, the way in which they get to participate in team building exercises and have great leisure experiences as well the advertising campaign that we roll out and you'll be seeing on your TV screens right now, if you're watching the cricket, and you may even be seeing especially on social media, is about sharing the full gamut of positive experience that people have in the Australian Defence Force, and directing people to find out more at the ADF careers website. And I encourage everyone to do that. 

JOURNALIST: How and why did you come to that two year out of the foreign entity milestone for the Five Eyes recruitment?

KEOGH: So one of the things that we've done in developing this recruitment opportunity for permanent residents in Australia from our Five Eyes partners is to ensure that we're not doing anything that is removing capability from our Five Eyes partners as well, and so making sure that there is a gap between when somebody may have been serving in their defence force, and also that they are clearly intending to be Australians in Australia as permanent residents here is about making sure that we're not in any way undermining their capability and opportunities, as well. 

JOURNALIST: So those Five Eyes residents who do want to join, do they need to be if they've already served do they need to do retraining?

KEOGH: So the program runs the same for anybody that will be joining our Australian Defence Force. So firstly, they have to meet all of the usual requirements for anyone seeking to join, as well as being a permanent resident here in Australia for over the last year, and not having been a member of a foreign force in the previous two years. And of course, the security vetting is part of those usual requirements that we require. I would expect if any of them had had some previous, older military service in the US or the UK, Canada or New Zealand, that those skills would absolutely help them in being able to progress quickly through the training opportunities and requirements that we have here in Australia. But as you'll also appreciate, each Defence Force is different, and it's important that they go through the same program as everyone else. 

JOURNALIST: Resolve has Labor's primary vote dropping to 30 per cent in WA. Are you concerned that the Albanese Government have gone backwards in the state?

KEOGH: My primary concern, and the concern of the Albanese Labor Government is being about addressing cost of living pressure for Australian households. Everybody has been doing it extremely tough when it comes to being able to pay the bills, being able to pay mortgages and rent, making pay packets go further under pressure, and we've really understood that as a government. It's why we took on the tax cut changes to deliver a tax cut to every Australian taxpayer across Australia. It's why we delivered the energy bill relief for $300 from the Albanese Labor Government, together with the bill relief that was provided here in Western Australia by the Cook Government and other State Governments in some places. And I know when I move around my community and when I'm out door knocking and talking to people, they tell me that that bill relief has made a real difference to them, not just on their energy bills, but it's enabled them to be able to go that bit further with other things, especially at a time like now, when it's been the lead up at Christmas and they've had to buy presents for kids and everything else, those are the things we're focused on, and we've been doing that in an economically responsible way. We've delivered two Budget surpluses. This year, the Budget deficit will be much lower than it would have been under the previous government, and we've seen inflation that had a six in front of it and was growing under the last government now decline and only has a two in front of it and is and is continuing to go down. And we're hearing positive signs from the Reserve Bank about the level of inflation. I think that's something that all Australians, whether they're paying mortgages or they're paying rent, are really happy to be hearing about. 

JOURNALIST: The NRMA is calling on the ACCC to investigate fuel price cycles. Is that something the government will look at?

KEOGH: That's something that has been looked at by the ACCC a number of times, and I haven't seen what the NRMA has said, but we'll always give those things consideration. We obviously very much appreciate that the cost of fuel for people is a considerable one when it comes to the weekly expenses for any Australian household. We very much appreciate the impact that it can have. And what we see across the country and in different places is different sorts of fuel cycles that exist. I think we're all very familiar here in Western Australia on the fuel cycle and how it moves. And we always, and we're benefited by having the Fuel Watch website. People can see what the price of petrol is day to day, and that's something that the ACCC has looked at in the past, and we'll consider whatever the requests that are being made about in the future, we've been very much focused on making sure that we do use the force of the ACCC to put downward pressure on prices where that can be done, and that's why the work that we've been doing around the groceries code with the supermarkets making sure that Australian consumers are paying fair prices for what they buy in their supermarkets, but also that Australian farmers are getting a fair price for the produce that they provide has been a key focus of the work that we've done over the past year as well. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think the volunteer grants, grants round happening at the moment give incumbent MPs an unfair advantage, because it allows you to give up to $66,000 to community groups right before the election. 

KEOGH: So the grant program that you're talking about is operating in the same way that it operated over the previous government as well, in that it involves engagement with those local community groups, being able to submit an expression of interest and then be assessed independently by the Department, and that's an important part of the process, that there's been an independent assessment of those programs. But of course, MPs play an important role in encouraging the local community groups in the in their areas to make sure that they're aware of these grant opportunities and that they're putting in expressions of interest to be able to access those and that grant program, like some other similar programs, operates in the same way that has operated for many years under our government and the previous government as well. 

JOURNALIST: Must be handy, though, getting into elections be able to give out that money.

KEOGH: Well, governments run a number of different grant programs. That is one of the grant programs, and that'll flow out to organisations that are in need of that financial support. And I'm sure every organisation that receives that financial support through the volunteer grant program, no matter what electorate those organisations are based in or are undertaking their work, will be very grateful to receive that. And one of the things we've been very clear about as a Government when it comes to assessing these grant programs, that we do so in a fair and transparent and merit based way, and that's what you'll see is done by the department and the committee that works within the department to assess those and make sure that they are eligible grants, just as they do in every other government department as well for their grant programs.

JOURNALIST: So Patrick Gorman and staff have spent more than $25,000 essentially trying out those first direct flights to Paris. Do you think that passes the pub test?

KEOGH: I understand that the Assistant Minister undertook a very important trip that was around encouraging tourism to Australia through the direct flights that will now be available coming from France into Australia. That's an important part of the work of Government. We see that undertaken by State Governments as well as we see it undertaken by the Federal Government as well. One of the great things we know in Western Australia, here is the benefit that flows to our tourism community and our tourism economy when we have direct flights coming into Perth. It makes an incredible difference to the number of people that are able to travel here for tourism opportunities, for business opportunities to study whatever it is, those direct flights make a big impact. A difference to the Western Australian economy in particular, and I'm very grateful to see that Assistant Minister Gorman was able to fly the flag for Australia and for Western Australia as part of his journey supporting direct tourism and travel from Europe into Perth. 

JOURNALIST: On the app, said that it would help recruits, does that mean just anyone, any member of the public, can sign in to the app? 

KEOGH: That's right. So what the app will enable is any member of the public, anyone who's interested in seeing what are the fitness requirements for particular career types within our Australian Defence Force, remember, there's over 300 different career types in the Defence Force, and we're starting with Navy, because we're growing those career types right now. Of course, we've added a number of new career types to support the nuclear propelled submarine program, and so any member of the public will be able to sign in, create an account and get a tailor made exercise program to support how to reach those fitness goals required for those different careers, as well as Australian Defence members being able to sign in and be able to have an exercise program to support their fitness requirements through the course of their career. 

JOURNALIST: Are you beginning it with Navy because that's where there's the most acute need. 

KEOGH: We're starting with Navy because that's where we've seen the biggest growth in role types as well. So making sure that, because they're new role types and new career types that we want to start there making sure people are able to see that information and access that about what is required to reach those fitness requirements. And it's important with Navy that people are able to understand the different types of fitness requirements for different roles that they may seek to go into and see the exercise program that will support those different fitness regimes. One of the things that we are doing to enhance the opportunity for people to join the defence force is making sure that we're not just setting one baseline fitness requirement without having any sort of discernment for things like there is a difference between the role of someone in infantry and someone who is doing cyber ops in a basement. And so we want to make sure that we're opening the gates to as many people as possible who could do the different types of roles that we see in our modern, 21st century Defence Force. And that means there are different fitness requirements and different roles, so people will be able to see that and develop exercise programs to target those.

JOURNALIST: Just quickly on the authorised strength shortfall, do you have an updated number on that, or is that still the most likely estimate? 

KEOGH: I don't have an as at 30th of December number for you, but we have, what's important is to go look at the Workforce Plan that we announced in early November, which sets out the trajectory of growth from what our current numbers are through to the 69,000 by the early 2030s that's based on the capability requirements that we have established since the National Defence Strategy was released in April of this year, setting out how we will be meeting the geo strategic challenges that we now confront as a nation and that had not been properly addressed by the previous government under the leadership of Peter Dutton when he was Defence Minister. 

JOURNALIST: And is the aim still 80,000 for 2040?

KEOGH: We're still targeting around that number, but the critical part is around targeting towards 69,000 by the early 2030s and with the National Defence Strategy being reviewed and on a two year cycle, the workforce plan will also be reviewed on that two year cycle to keep us on the right trajectory to meet the targets that we have to.

ENDS