Is Defence Prioritising Desk Jobs Over Frontline Fighters?

The shiny generals at Defence headquarters have spent huge amounts of taxpayer money on recruitment, yet the number of people employed has declined.

I’m worried that the Defence Force is stocking their numbers with university educated desk jockeys rather than the fighters we need.

Let’s see how they respond to this on notice.

Transcript

Senator ROBERTS: The defence minister has proudly declared this week the Defence Force is growing again. I’ve read what I think is your statement, and I’ve certainly read the secretary’s statement. Is the official one—yes, it is your statement.  

Adm. Johnston: From this afternoon?  

Senator ROBERTS: Yes.  

Adm. Johnston: Yes, that’s my statement.  

Senator ROBERTS: The last time we heard that we were on a growth path, Senator Shoebridge pointed out you were actually on a shrink path going backwards in personnel. How many infantry sergeant positions do you have across the Army?  

Adm. Johnston: I might invite the Chief of Army to come up to better answer that question.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: While I’m looking for the specific numbers, I would offer to you that the sergeant rank is one of the areas where we are significantly under the requirement. I’ll have to come back to you with those numbers.  

Senator ROBERTS: In June, you confirmed you were deficient by 143 sergeants. You said that you were responding to this with ‘early promotion opportunities’. That just sounds like you may be skipping people ahead without the necessary experience. How many corporals have you early promoted?  

Lt Gen. Stuart: I don’t have that number on me. You’re correct that one of the ways of filling those supervisory gaps is to promote people earlier than we would otherwise do. But, in order to do that, we obviously have an obligation, and it makes sense to invest in those individuals in terms of their own development and then, through our collective training, make sure that we step up the rate of experience that they’re able to glean. For example—  

Senator ROBERTS: I think I understand what you’re getting at. They must have the necessary experience, and you want to promote them to give them more experience. I get that. How many corporals have you early promoted? Could you get that on notice, please?  

Lt Gen. Stuart: I can get you that on notice. I don’t have it with me.  

Senator ROBERTS: Also take on notice the number of infantry sergeant positions you have across the Army.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: Will do.  

Senator ROBERTS: What is your current headcount for ECN 343, the infantry soldiers?  

Lt Gen. Stuart: Again, I don’t have those figures to hand, but we’re doing quite well when it comes to ECN 343 privates.  

Senator ROBERTS: What has the headcount for ECN 343 been over previous periods? Could you put that on notice too?  

Lt Gen. Stuart: It’s been reasonably healthy. If I recall, it’s north of 90 per cent in terms of the fill rates. It’s not an area that’s on the—  

Senator ROBERTS: I’d like the actual headcount for the last five years, please, including the latest year.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: Sure.  

Senator ROBERTS: Are you padding out the Defence Force numbers with non-combat roles to look good on the headline number?  

Lt Gen. Stuart: No.  

Senator ROBERTS: Could you please provide on notice your headcount for combat versus non-combat roles over the previous five years?  

Lt Gen. Stuart: I just want to make sure I get you the right information here. Are you talking about across the entire Army or in infantry battalions?  

Senator ROBERTS: Infantry battalions and Army as well, please.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: So you want a breakdown from ECN 343, which is infantry. There are other infantry ECNs, as well, in our special operations. Would you like those included?  

Senator ROBERTS: I would like to know basically how many are actual fighting, operational people and how many are non-combat roles. I want to make sure that we’re not padding figures with non-combat people.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: I can assure you we’re not padding any figures—  

Senator ROBERTS: I’d like to see that.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: Of course, combat in terms of functions, is broader than just infantry. It includes armour, which includes tank and cavalry, combat engineers and artillery and air defence as well as field artillery.’  

Senator ROBERTS: You’re going beyond my capability at the moment  

Lt Gen. Stuart: I just want to make sure—  

Senator ROBERTS: I’d like to know how many are non-combat roles and how many are combat roles.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: Everyone in a formation is in a combat role. The function that they perform will differ across three functional lines: combat, combat support and combat services support. Obviously, each of those begins with ‘combat’ because we fight as teams but people fulfill different roles in those teams, if that makes sense.  

Senator ROBERTS: I’ll leave it, as a matter of trust, in your hands. I’d like to know how many are combat and how many are non-combat. I know you’ve just explained that to me, but it doesn’t have a lot of meaning in my mind. I’d like to know what the numbers are, combat and non-combat, if you can give me the flavour for that and explain it.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: We’ll endeavour to do our very best. I’ll give you a full breakdown across the Army in terms of combat, combat support and combat service support, and we’ll make sure that you get a breakdown in terms of core and the specifics in relation to ECN.  

Senator ROBERTS: And if you could define the terms, please.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: Yes, we will.  

Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. I’ve got no or minimal understanding of the Army, so treat me as completely ignorant.  

Lt Gen. Stuart: We’d be very happy to sit down with you and give you the army 101 brief, if that would be helpful, Senator.  

Senator ROBERTS: It may be, but let’s get the figures first. Thank you so much for the offer.