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With low unemployment making it difficult for the military to compete with the private sector,Campbell said the ADF was especially struggling to recruit and retain employees with technical expertise.
He said the ADF was exploring innovative ways to boost personnel numbers,including allowing “non-citizen enlistment on a pathway to citizenship”.
The Sydney Morning HeraldandThe Agereported last year that the federal opposition and leading military experts were calling for the federal government to allow foreigners to serve in the ADF.
Longstanding Defence policy states that only Australian citizens can serve,with exemptions granted only in “very rare and exceptional circumstances”.
A Defence spokeswoman said:“Defence is developing a range of options for government consideration including the potential to expand recruitment of non-Australian citizens.”
The ADF’s chief of personnel,Lieutenant General Natasha Fox,said it typically took 300 days to get a recruit into service,but the organisation wanted to slash that to 100 days with help from a new recruitment contractor.
Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said this week that recruits had been required to be fit enough to serve on the frontline even if they are “more likely to be wearing a hoodie in a basement doing cyber ops than holding a rifle”.
The ADF will drop its one-size-fits-all fitness test – which requires recruits to be able to complete dozens of sit-ups,push-ups and sprints in a set time – and make it easier for people with medical conditions to serve in the military,he said.
The government announced last year that ADF staff approaching the end of their service periods would receive a $50,000 bonus if they continue for three more years in a bid to improve retention.
Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said that the nation’s military was facing a “recruitment and retention crisis”.
“We need to do a much better job of getting young Australians into uniform if they want to serve,” he said.
“There are a lot of barriers at the moment.”
Hastie said he believed submariner numbers were especially low,raising fears about Australia’s ability to advance the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines pact.
The government should explore ways to allow citizens from the fellow “Five Eyes” nations – the United States,United Kingdom,New Zealand and Canada – to serve in the ADF,he said.
Campbell conceded there were flaws in the process that allowed Fijian colonel Penioni (Ben) Naliva to serve as deputy commander of the Australian Army’s 7th Brigade in Queensland.
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A United Nations special rapporteur named Penioni (Ben) Naliva as being involved in the savage beating of a Suva businessman that left him unable to walk,while former Fijian prime minister Laisenia Qarase made allegations of torture against Naliva in a memoir published in 2022.
Campbell said that Naliva was working at home while the Defence Force reviews his appointment,made under a scheme to improve military co-operation between Australia and key Pacific nations.
Describing the allegations against Naliva as “very disturbing”,Campbell said the appointment process “did not function as it should have”.
Greens senator David Shoebridge said:“I find it incredible you haven’t issued an apology and haven’t stood this man down.
“Every day you let this continue,it’s a stain on the ADF and a stain on the thousands of people who want to be part of an organisation that is ethical.”
Army Chief Simon Stuart said a lack of spare parts and a cost above $45,000 per flying hour meant the Taipan was not a suitable helicopter to provide to Ukraine.
Ukraine requested the choppers in December after they were retired from use in Australia following a deadly crash during military training exercises in the Whitsundays in July.
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