Budget Review 2015–16 Index

Dr Nathan Church

During 2015–16 the total size of the Department of Defence (Defence) workforce will continue to reduce for the fourth year in a row (see Table 1).[1] This is primarily due to a decline in Defence’s public service (APS) workforce, which has decreased by 2,458 personnel since 2012–13 and is expected to reduce by another 980 personnel in the coming financial year. This will represent a loss of 15 per cent of civilian staff over the last four years. Further cuts are projected into the forward estimates, bringing the APS workforce to a baseline of 17,800 personnel in 2016–17, down from its 2014–15 level of 19,360.[2] However, the recently published First Principles Review into Defence cautioned against continued cuts, and recommended that ‘the focus on public service reductions as the primary efficiency mechanism for Defence cease’. The report also noted that ‘whilst these arbitrary approaches are delivering results, the review team believes a more targeted approach would produce more control over the shape and skills of the workforce’.[3]

Table 1: Defence workforce data 2010–11 to 2018–19[4]

Average workforce full-time equivalents

*does not include employed contractors

Source: Parliamentary Library estimate based on data derived from Department of Defence, Annual Reports; Australian Government, Portfolio budget statements 2015–16: Defence portfolio, p. 25. 

In contrast to the APS reductions in Defence, the number of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel is expected to increase by almost 400 in 2015–16. This rise consolidates the substantial gain of over 1,200 members attained in the previous year, but even that is barely half of what was expected in the previous year’s budget papers.[5] The growth of the ADF is expected to continue out to 2017–18 where it is expected to peak at 59,559 personnel. These projections indicate a 5.2 per cent increase in the number of ADF personnel since the 2012–13 level of 56,607.[6] In terms of cost, the First Principles Review also notes that ADF personnel are 30 per cent more expensive for Defence to employ than APS staff.[7]

Within the ADF, the Army is expected to expand by an additional 1,585 personnel out to 2018–19 and remains more than double the size of either the Navy or Air Force. It is also anticipated that the Navy will overtake the Air Force in 2015–16 with the second largest number of serving personnel in the ADF, which is unprecedented in the past 40 years.[8] This shift is possibly the result of the increased capability requirements to crew two new Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs) and three new Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs). The first LHD, HMAS Canberra, has already been commissioned and the Navy expects to take delivery of all five new vessels by 2019.[9]      

[1].          The budget figures in this article have been taken from the following document unless otherwise sourced: Australian Government, Portfolio budget statements 2015–16: budget related paper no. 1.4A: Defence Portfolio, pp. 22–25.

[2].          Data derived from Department of Defence, Annual Reports; Australian Government, Portfolio budget statements 2015–16: Defence Portfolio, p. 25.

[3].          Department of Defence, ‘First Principles Review: creating one Defence’, 1 April 2015, p. 67.

[4].          Data derived from Department of Defence, Annual Reports; Australian Government, Portfolio budget statements 2015–16: Defence Portfolio, p. 25.

[5].          Australian Government, Portfolio budget statements 2014–15: budget related paper no. 1.4A: Defence Portfolio, p. 24.

[6].          Data derived from Department of Defence, Annual Reports; Portfolio budget statements 2015–16:Defence Portfolio, op. cit., p. 25.

[7].          ‘First Principles Review’, op. cit., p. 66.

[8].          Data derived from Department of Defence, Annual Reports; A Shephard, Trends in Australian Defence: a resources study, Australian Defence Studies Centre, 1999, p. 51.

[9].          Royal Australian Navy, ‘Amphibious Assault Ship (LHD)’, website; D Watt, The Air Warfare Destroyer program, Research paper series, 2014–15, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 10 November 2014.

All online articles accessed May 2015. 

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