The ADF has 'ambitions to grow' but can it fix a 'terribly difficult' geo-strategic climate?

SBS Australia

3 days ago

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has reached its highest full-time personnel levels in 15 years as the federal government maintains "ambitions to grow" the number of recruits — though it still fell short of its target for that year. Data released on Monday shows the ADF's permanent workforce grew by 1,868 over the 2024–25 financial year, bringing the total number of full-time personnel to 61,189. Despite the growth, the defence force remains behind on its ambitious target to increase the permanent headcount to at least 69,000 by the early 2030s, a benchmark set by the Albanese government in response to escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Defence Minister Richard Marles described the recruitment drive as "great news for the nation".
"But as good as that news is, our challenge is not just about keeping the defence force at the numbers that we're at, as important as it is to steady the ship, we have ambitions to grow the defence force through the back-end of this decade and into the 2030s," he said on Monday.
"We know there is a lot more to do," Marles said.
Enrolments and retention rates are up While enrolments have risen significantly, and well ahead of the government's budget forecast of 59,373, the number has still fallen short of its annual recruitment target by approximately 1,000 members. In a positive sign for retention, the number of personnel leaving the service dropped by 7.9 per cent, marking the lowest exit rate in a decade. More than 75,000 people applied to join up over 2024-25, but enlistments totalled just 7,059, mostly due to stringent recruitment standards and long processing times. Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said the application process period has decreased from "over a year" down to an average of some 260 days.
"Importantly for our critical roles, those that we need to be accelerating, we're now getting that process down to around 150 days, and we'll keep working to make that work faster," he said on Monday.
Keogh also acknowledged some eligibility requirements were relaxed in 2024, allowing more people to apply for the ADF. "We've done things like changing eligibility criteria, making sure that our policies weren't just knocking people out of the system for no really valid reason," he said. "In the 21st century, it was in no way appropriate that just because someone had endometriosis that they could not be a member of our defence force or that because they'd had acne or a significant broken bone in their past."
The ADF also opened up to permanent residents from New Zealand last year, and to permanent residents from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States from the start of this year.
Keogh estimated there were over 500 current applications from these countries, as the government looks to increase its "most important capability". "We know that we've got terribly difficult geo-strategic circumstances that we face," he said.
"What we've been getting about over the last three years is making sure that we deliver on that increase in our most important capability. That is our people."
Over 300 different roles The ADF is recruiting personnel for over 300 different types of roles.
"Not just the things that people think about in terms of front-line army infantry or fighter pilots, but the diesel mechanics, the cyber operators, the new intake that we'll be bringing on of space operators, those people that are going to be engaged in our nuclear propelled submarine force," Keogh said.
Andrew Carr, an associate professor at the Australian National University's strategic and defence studies centre, said the ADF also has growing responsibilities domestically. "We've got a number of demands upon the ADF and a lot more of those are at home in terms of natural disasters, and supporting local governments through those crises," he told SBS News.
"We are starting to see a lot more of these happening at the same time. And the scale of potential problems means you need a lot more people."
A 'new era' for the ADF Carr said the ADF is navigating a "new era" as it adapts to contemporary challenges and expectations amid an "identity challenge". "Over the past few decades, the ADF has been a very small but very elite professional force, that's been its identity and what it's been required to do," he said.
"But now we are transitioning to a world where we need the ADF to be large, and it's not going to be as elite. And that's a real identity challenge for the ADF."
Carr said the growing numbers aren't a reflection of reduced standards but rather an adaptation to a "new era". "Hopefully, conflict in our region is decades away if it ever were to come, and the effort to deter regional tensions — whether that's with China or another neighbour — will be driven by people," he said. Maintaining strong relationships, particularly with the US and UK, will also be critical to stability in the Pacific, he said.