Fed: New fed govt program to recruit more to the army

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2006
Fed: New fed govt program to recruit more to the army

CANBERRA, Dec 15 AAP - The time it takes to apply to join the army will soon be slashed
by 80 per cent, under a $1 billion federal government plan to recruit more people.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) needs to recruit an extra 1,800 people every year
and to reduce the numbers leaving by at least 500 to meet its targets.

The federal government will today announce a 10-year program to tackle the recruitment
and retention problem.

Mr Howard said part of the problem was it currently took too long for new recruits
to be accepted into the ADF.

"Amazingly the average processing time for somebody from the moment they apply to when
the final decision is made and they are in is 30 weeks and we're going to reduce that
to six," the prime minister told ABC radio today.

Mr Howard said the government was also going to revise some of the ADF's entry standards.

"Just because somebody has had asthma, that is not necessarily a reason to keep them
out of the army," he said.

A military gap year scheme is another part of the plan, in which 1,000 young people
each year will have an opportunity to join the defence force.

In order to retain those already in the service, the government is planning to reward
skilled soldiers with paid bonuses and allowances.

Mr Howard said too many servicemen and women were being lured away from the army into
the private sector.

"The huge problem is that unemployment is now so low and the economy is now so strong
that it's increasingly hard to attract men and women to join the ADF and even harder to
keep them in," he said.

Mr Howard said family commitments were also forcing personnel to move on.

"The fact that wives and husbands want jobs and careers as well, unless both the wife
and the husband are members of the military - and there's an increasing incidence of that,
then they find movements around more difficult," he said.

Mr Howard said the government was also looking at ways to cut down the need to travel.

"We do tend to move people around a lot, some of that is unavoidable, but perhaps we
could over the years ahead reduce that," he said.

AAP kc/drp/de/jt/nf

KEYWORD: RECRUITS HOWARD

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