Big foreign recruitment drive attracts three New Zealanders
A Federal Government initiative to recruit military personnel from selected overseas countries has been an extraordinary failure, with only three foreign nationals, all from New Zealand, joining up since this time last year.
Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman is highlighting the bungle to help draw attention to the fact the Labor government is pumping billions into the US military-industrial complex while neglecting our own ADF personnel.
Last year the government announced that New Zealanders living in Australia could join the ADF, with Canadians, British and Americans allowed to enlist from January this year.
In an answer to a Question on Notice put to the government by Senator Payman in March, it's now been revealed that only three people have been recruited so far, with all of them coming from New Zealand.
"It was with great fanfare that the government announced this new recruitment drive in June last year," Senator Payman said.
"But it has been a consummate disaster," she said.
"Is this mismanagement? Was it just an ill-conceived policy?"
"Or, like the Click to Cancel subscriptions issue I raised yesterday, is this just another Labor thought bubble."
"Whatever the case, the government's extremely poor performance on this issue raises innumerable questions about its effectiveness and its ability to defend our country," she said.
"At that time, the Defence Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said that the policy was necessary to grow the Australian Defence Force, adding that it was essential to meet the nation's security challenges through the next decade and beyond."
"Well, how's that going Mr Marles? Have you overcome our recruitment crisis yet?"
Senator Payman said that, as is often pointed out by Senator Lambie, this government neglects our veterans and our ADF personnel.
"The truth is: we don't have a recruitment crisis. We have a retention crisis," the Senator said.
"Until our brave men and women, who put their lives on the line to protect us all, are better treated; until they are better paid; better looked after when they leave; until they are treated with respect in a workplace free from discrimination, this crisis will continue. The responsibility falls squarely at the feet of Labor."
