Budget Review 2013–14 Index

Nathan Church

The 2013–14 Budget largely represents a continuation for Defence workforce planning. As Tables 1 and 2 demonstrate, the Government is proposing increases in Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel and cuts to Australian Public Service (APS) staff, supporting Defence’s ‘transition to a leaner model in support of the Government’s defence reform agenda’.[1]

ADF workforce levels

In his 2013–14 Budget Overview press release, the Defence Minister reinforced the Government’s commitment to ‘an ADF workforce of approximately 59,000 permanent members’.[2] However, this may be difficult to achieve, as the Budget itself cites improved labour market conditions as a catalyst for separations from the ADF—offsetting reportedly strong recruitment—as well as the potential for increased separations following the impending drawdown of multiple ADF operations.[3] But with new capabilities planned, as well as a renewed focus on partner engagement strategies, the 2013 White Paper clearly states that ‘the ADF … will play a critical part … to best position Australia for the strategic transformation occurring in the Indo-Pacific region’.[4]  

Table 1: Planned ADF workforce 2012–13 to 2016–17[5]

	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
ADF Permanent	56711	58235	58518	58664	58645
ADF Reserves	18956	19050	19300	19500	19700
Total	75667	77285	77818	78164	78345
Change (year on year)	—	+1618	+533	+346	+181

 

Within the ADF services, Army will see the biggest growth between 2012–13 and 2016–17—up from 28,955 to 30,298 personnel. This same period is also expected to see an increase of 844 personnel in the number of Army Reserves, with steady growth of some 200 members per year.[6]        

APS workforce levels

Between 2013–14 and 2016–17, the Government is forecasting a reduction of 741 APS Defence staff members, from 21,217 to 20,476.[7] This represents an even larger cut across the forward estimates than the previous Budget (which indicated cuts of 648 APS staff) and further demonstrates the Government’s resolve to trim APS staff across its various departments.[8] However, the APS workforce allocation of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) is not anticipated to be subject to the same level of cuts. Over the forward estimates within DMO, the removal of APS staff back-filling ADF positions in 2013–14 (363 personnel) will in turn be largely offset with increases in its APS staffing (276 personnel) and contractor (21 personnel) allocations.[9]

Table 2: Planned civilian workforce (not including contractors) 2012–13 to 2016–17[10]

	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
APS—Defence	15794	15547	15183	15001	14893
APS—DMO (inc. ADF backfill)	5750	5670	5529	5548	5583
Total	21544	21217	20712	20549	20476
Change (year on year)	—	-327	-505	-163	-73

 

According to the Defence Budget Portfolio Statement 2013–14, ‘the [APS staffing] savings have been made possible by continuing reforms to Defence’s business practices, in particular through the wider application of Shared Services reform’.[11] This rationale has been consistently used across the last three budgets, and has most recently been coupled with ongoing assurances from the Defence Minister (and the Budget itself) that support to operations and other priority services would not be negatively impacted by any measures contained within the Budget, including projected staffing cuts.[12]   

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