Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House recognises:

(1) the importance of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) cadets organisations in building the responsible citizens of tomorrow;

(2) that cadets:

(a) learn important life and work skills, team work, leadership, confidence and responsibility through participation in the Navy, Army and Air Force cadets organisations; and

(b) assist local communities through volunteer engagement, community services and fund raising, which is fostered and encouraged through the ADF cadets organisations; and

(3) the important role that ADF cadets play in contributing to our Defence Force of the future and building a stronger Australia.

Texas State High School on the south-west highland downs never had cadets. By the time I went to boarding school, I was out of that mould where we could have had cadets. But one of the very many good things about becoming a local member is the ability to go round to schools, and to go round to cadet corps and to see the type of people that are involved there—interacting with cadets, their tutors and their senior people in those organisations.

Townsville is blessed in being a great garrison city, among other things. We have a very strong and vibrant cadet force. You find that the things they have in common are great kids and great adults helping them out. The people who give their time—some of whom are paid, just a little bit—are paid back more than that in the attitude they get from their kids, the respect for the uniform and all that sort of stuff that goes with being a cadet.

The thing I like about the cadets is that it sets them on the road. I do not think there is anything untoward about saying that the cadets would probably be the nation's best youth leadership program. It bases its format on trust and respect, not only for yourself but for others, the uniform and the equipment. It also bases itself on discipline, getting opportunities and making the most of them. In an era where we have high youth unemployment and disengagement with society, the cadets fill that spot for so many kids. We are lucky in Townsville. As I said, the RAAF cadets that base themselves at Air Base Townsville at Garbutt have fantastic facilities. The Townville RAAF base does a great job of making sure that these kids have everything they need. Heatley state high school has a great band of cadets in Townville and is well disposed inside that high school.

Our Navy cadets, however, have a few issues, as well as our Army cadets at Lavarack Barracks. I would like to place on record my thanks to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, the member for Gippsland, for the way he has given me an open hearing and has been very abiding of his time and ideas around how we get a good result for my Navy cadets and Army cadets at Lavarack in Townsville. The Navy cadets are going to lose their premises, not because they have not been good tenants or anything like that but because the company is expanding and it will need the building back. Additionally, in the facilities that they had, there was some of those ridiculous things where, instead of bringing the petition to a certain level, they took it to the ceiling; it is now a fire risk and they cannot have sleepovers or camps. The Townsville Navy cadets base is probably the best space, but it goes basically from Bundaberg all the way through to the Torres Strait. The ability not to be able to have camps there is a real bane of their existence.

The Army cadets at Lavarack, who work in demountables, have an issue about getting on and off the base. Of course, it is an Army base; it is not lit for pedestrian traffic after hours. Quite often you will have kids going through, two cadets, and parents trying to find their way through there. It is not the most hospitable place to try and get all the way into the bowels of Lavarack Barracks. With the landing helicopter dock ship, we will be doing a lot of work in Townsville. The ADF will have a lot of organisation to do around Townsville port. There will have to be building facilities there with staging posts and so on. What if we could get a facility and add value to the defence investment in that space at that area in south Townville, which is easy and central for everyone to get to? You could co-locate your Navy cadets and all their equipment with your Lavarack based Army cadets and all their equipment. They could have a parade in which to march and all the facilities, as well as camping facilities for cadets overnight.

I finish by saying thank you, again, to all those people who get involved with cadets and all the adults who work so hard in trying to make sure that cadets have a great experience. They do not necessarily go through and join the ADF. Army cadets do not necessarily join the infantry. But it gives them the life skills of being able to work together as a team and understand the chain of command and the role they play in the organisation. It is a truly great organisation. It something which we as a parliament should foster and encourage much more. Again, I thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Darren Chester, for all his work in this space.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert. Is there a seconder for this motion?

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is nice to have a bit of bipartisanism, and I certainly congratulate the member for Herbert on bringing this motion to the chamber for our discussion. In particular, I have some memories of being an air cadet back in my youth at the air cadets based in Willaston, just near Gawler in my electorate. I went down there when I was in high school in Kapunda, my home town. I think it was on Wednesday nights that we used to meet. I have very fond memories of doing that. I think we did a couple of Anzac Day parades and helped out there as well. It was a very good experience. It certainly gave you a window into the life of what it might be like to pursue a career in the ADF, although, sadly, I did not do that; I went off in a different direction.

Mr Jones's motion to the House, in paragraph (b), talks about the assistance to local communities. I am certainly aware of that in a more recent example of the cadets, because I was recently at the 150th Clare Show. I was obviously there for the official lunch with President David Bond. The Clare Show managed to get the Governor-General, his Excellency Sir Peter Cosgrove, and Lady Cosgrove to open the 150th show. It was a great occasion. Obviously there is a lot of history in that show, and to have the Governor-General there was just terrific.

As the Governor-General moved around show, he was certainly very generous of his time with everybody. But one of the things that stuck in my mind of that particular day was when he talked to the local army cadets. You could see that they took a lot away from it as well. They were there both to participate in the opening of the show and also to have a stand—and I have no doubt they were doing a bit of recruitment while they were there. Obviously it is just great for everybody to see local cadets and the Governor-General at their local show. So I have seen firsthand the good work they do.

I am fortunate enough to have quite a good presence of cadets in my electorate. As I said before, I was part of 608 Squadron at Willaston. There is also the No. 613 Squadron and the No. 6 Wing headquarters at Edinburgh, the 411 Army cadet unit at Clare and the 49 ACU at Smithfield and, in terms of Navy cadets, we have the AMC training ship Stuart. I do have good cadet presence and I am certainly aware of the work that they do not just at shows and Anzac Days but also at all the local citizenship ceremonies. They do tend to assist in those events as well.

As the member for Herbert said, you do not always normally go on to serve in the defence forces, but cadetship does give young people a window into what life might be like if you pursue what is a very difficult vocation—and it is a vocation. Serving in our defence forces is not just a day job; it really does take up all of you, all of your professional life, and often it has an impact on your family as well. It is a very challenging career to pursue. Being involved in the cadets gives you a window into that and allows you to get some idea of whether or not you would like to pursue that as a vocation.

But, even if you do not go into the ADF, your time in cadets does serve you well. It gives you an opportunity to participate in the community. It gives you a chance to attend an Anzac Day ceremony in uniform. It teaches you a lot about marching and drill. All of those things are useful later on in life. I guess I can attest to that. I would certainly like to extend to the member for Herbert and the member for Banks some congratulations for bringing this motion to the House. It allows us to thank all of those involved—not just the young people who are cadets themselves and the parents who have to take them down to do the parades and the weekly drills, but also all those involved in the actual operation behind the cadets and the structures that keep that going. It is tremendously important for us to thank all of those individuals, all of those families and all of the cadets themselves. I commend the motion to the House.

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak in favour of this motion moved by the member for Herbert. This is a really important motion because it goes to the importance of cadets in our community. Cadets of course provide a really important stepping stone for a lot of young kids in our community to learn about the elements of a military life and to participate very constructively in our community. Although I have never served in the military, I have immense respect for those who have. Their efforts underwrite our security and enable us to enjoy the lives that we do.

The Australian Defence Force Cadets, as a stepping stone for some, is a very important institution. I can go right to the top, to our Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, for a testimonial about cadets. He served in the Waverley College Cadet Unit. He said:

Even as very young men, we understood that the privilege of wearing the uniform, being part of the tribe, was accompanied by a burden—more of an obligation to accept an ethos of decency, respect, cohesion and effort.

That was from his experience in the cadets. The only Australian to be appointed as a field marshal, Sir Thomas Blamey, was an Army cadet, as was Sir John Monash of the Scotch College Cadet Unit. Of course, he went on to command our forces in World War I and do many other things around our nation.

The cadets provide a really good way for young kids to find out more about the ADF and to participate in our community. There are exchanges available for cadets. We have arrangements in place with Canada, Germany, South Korea and the United States, where our cadets travel over there and similar organisations from those countries come to Australia. That exchange and informal learning about the culture—social and military—of other countries is a really important thing.

There are also cadet bands, which we see at so many of our different community events. I see them frequently in my electorate of Banks. Cadets also learn great skills through things like the Chief of Army Cadet Team Challenge, where groups of cadets from different regions participate against each other in a series of drill challenges, sporting challenges and other activities—all with that focus on learning more about oneself, which is such an important part of growing up, and learning how to be part of a team and how to make a contribution.

Cadets do a whole lot more too, including community services and fundraising activities. They assist across so many different elements of our community. It is a big commitment for young people to get involved in cadets—meeting about once a week after school and on weekends—learning those survival skills, bushcraft and so on and really becoming a more rounded person.

Not everyone who joins cadets goes on to the ADF—in fact, a minority do. But, regardless of whether or not people go on to serve in the military, they undoubtedly obtain fantastic experiences from it and contribute strongly to our society. We have over 25,000 cadets right across the country in 440 units and squadrons. This is one of the largest organisations for young people to get involved in anywhere in our nation and represents about 12 per cent of total enlistments in the Defence Force. So it is a really substantial group.

I am really delighted to be able to speak in favour of this important motion. I salute and honour our military. I congratulate our cadets on everything they do in our community. I thank the member for moving this motion.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Jones, I too would like to join with my colleagues to commend and congratulate you on this motion. I am an enormous fan of the Australian Defence Force Cadets. From my work as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and also from, prior to this life, having my own business and spending four years consulting with the Australian Defence Force Cadets, I know from close experience—not only from working with the staff who work with these young people and also from meeting these young people—that it is an extraordinary institution and these individuals are extraordinary individuals. So I do congratulate and commend you for moving this motion.

As I said, I am an enormous fan of this program. It is wonderful to hear the figures. When I was involved in it, I think there were about 20,000 young Australians involved in cadets and now we are up to 25,000. The fact that it is growing is just wonderful. Particularly in these challenging times where the youth are becoming disaffected and, in many ways, disengaged, the fact that we have a youth development organisation that is actually booming, that is growing, is just wonderful.

As has been mentioned by my colleagues, the great thing about cadets is that they learn so much. They learn leadership skills, team building skills and survival skills. They learn resilience, discipline and self-respect. They learn how to build their self-esteem. They learn public speaking skills and they learn teamwork skills. They get to train at barracks and eat at messes. They get to climb all over defence equipment, learn about communications, first aid and orienteering. And, depending on the service that they join—be it navy, army or air force—they can learn how to fly, glide, sail or learn bushcraft. So it does give them an enormous breadth of experience and it is just a sensational organisation.

Spending four years with cadets, I got to see a lot of cadet units right throughout the country. One that really stands in my mind was going up to the opening of TS Carpentaria in Thursday Island, where the cadets had embraced the local culture and the local way of doing things. One of the major activities that those kids were involved in was going out and fishing, as the community are great fishers. That was a core part of the cadet program there, in addition to the more generic cadet elements.

I also got to go to an Indigenous cadet unit in Nhulunbuy. That was also terrific. When I was in cadets they were introducing a program for Indigenous cadets. One was on Palm Island, and they were looking at broadening them throughout Australia—getting the young Indigenous communities focused on building self-esteem, building self-confidence and getting those resilience and leadership skills. It is a vitally important program, particularly in those remote and regional communities.

I also got to go to a parade of the newly built facility for the Army cadets down at Cowra. Again, that was a core part of the youth development culture and activity in that regional centre. It was an incredibly popular activity. But the thing that really stood out for me, apart from TS Carpentaria, was being involved in the cadet survey and the cadet staff survey. As a result of that, I got to visit a number of cadet units right throughout the country and spoke to the staff as well as the cadets. I remember going to Nowra on a Saturday afternoon and meeting a number of the cadets there. The effect that the cadets had had on those young people was absolutely overwhelming. Not only were a number of those young people who attended cadets kids who were underachieving before they went to cadets but they also acknowledged that fact and the fact that cadets had turned around their life. For a number of the kids I met, the meal that they had from the mess was the only hot meal that they had throughout their week. So they had come from some pretty tough environments. I remember one little guy who said to me that before cadets he was getting Ds and Es and then after going to cadets for a year and learning how to build up his self-esteem and confidence he was now getting Bs and As. It had just transformed this kid's life.

Member for Herbert, I cannot commend you enough for introducing this motion. Cadets is an extraordinary organisation and I do commend you. Finally, I want to acknowledge the cadets who were involved in my Anzac Centenary Board. I had two cadets from TS Canberra here. Leading Seaman Zoe Rule and Cadet Petty Officer Alexander Thurgar did a wonderful job in helping me make those decisions.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join in acknowledging the member for Herbert for bringing this most relevant topic to our House. My engagement with cadets is somewhat less indulgent and quite bizarre. When you think of cadets you think of the organisation that you would have had a link to—whether it be the Navy cadets, the Air Force cadets or the Army—and mine was the Army.

I was playing football for a Christian Brothers side and during winter the coach thought it would be a great idea if the whole side joined the cadets. His position was that there would be less damage done in training to hamstrings because, during cadet season, which overlapped football season, you were able to wear your greens, your camos, to school and so you were warm all day. Anything in Rockhampton under 22 degrees deserves a cardigan, and so we were in our full greens all day.

One of the by-products of being involved in cadets and aspiring to the dizzy ranks of corporal was the discipline that was instilled in you as a leader. Those extraordinary qualities and fundamental underlying principles on how to deliver a speech, command men and earn respect were all taught by and underpinned the ethos of the cadet movement Most importantly, the cadet movement taught you about respect. It taught you to respect rank. It taught you to respect the office of senior personnel. You may not necessarily have agreed with what they said or enjoyed the outcome of what they said, but nevertheless you were taught from a very young age to respect the office.

In the cadet movement in my electorate we are so blessed. The school cadets movement has shifted away from a very strong group of organisers through the reservists or paid school staff to now being a completely volunteer organisation. I want to acknowledge some of the outstanding people in my electorate who contribute to developing the lives of these young people in my electorate who will go on, I am sure, to be future leaders of their communities, their state and, hopefully, most impressively, their country.

I want to congratulate the Logan City Community Cadets, led by commanding officer Trevor Shulze, the entire Parents Support Group, led by Mrs Raelene Griffin and her vice-president Mrs Lynne Bell, and the individual company officers, Andrew Griffin and Brett McCreadie, for the stellar job they are doing in changing these kids' lives. We should never dull it down. That is exactly what they do. They are taking these children and instilling in them direction, ethos and purpose and spending an enormous amount of time with them.

Also, over in the western part of my electorate we have the Lockyer Valley Army cadets, known as the 139 Australian Army Cadet Unit, operating out of Gatton. This particular cadet unit is 21 years old and is a regular fixture at the local Anzac and Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Finally, I would like to recognise the work of Wing Commander Gordon French. Gordon is an exceptional gentleman whose posture, delivery and mode of communication can be described as nothing other than militant in its precision. Coming, as he does, from the Air Force, there is a poise and panache about the guy. Gordon has been an invaluable asset to my office in the selection of the Anzac Day Centenary grants. However, he is also heavily involved in the air cadet school of aviation. the school of aviation is an important step for air cadets who wish to join the RAAF and delivers a strong base of knowledge which best prepares the cadets for flying duty in the future. Gordon has been instrumental in raising capital. The air cadets at Amberley have an enormous asset base of aircraft. The catchment area from there comes as far as Rockhampton. I support this motion and commend the member for Herbert to bring it to the House.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am puffing a little because I have just run from the other chamber in time to be here for this very important debate and very important motion, moved, as I understand it, by the member for Herbert. I am sure that makes it a very important contribution. I had an opportunity to listen to some of the contributions of others, and I agree with every word spoken. As a former Minister for Defence, I have had a special opportunity to focus on the work of the Australian Defence Force Cadets, whether it be the Navy Cadets, the Army Cadets or indeed the Air Force Cadets.

All of us, I suspect, have some memory of some awareness of the cadets when we were younger. I was a student at Marist Brothers in Maitland, now called St Peter's, which had a strong cadet unit. I was not a member of the unit because my bus ride home to Cessnock was about 40 minutes in duration, and staying a little longer at night to be part of the cadets was not my first choice in those days. I can say that I lament that decision not to participate because, as a former defence minister in particular and as a regular observer of the work of the cadets at things like Remembrance Day and Anzac Day ceremonies, I now fully appreciate the contribution that they make.

The cadets are first and foremost a youth development organisation. Some people see it as a recruitment organisation. Certainly it does serve that purpose because many of the great experiences that young Australians have in the cadets lead them to have a keen interest in a career in the Australian Defence Force. Of course, in the cadets they learn leadership skills and they learn the art of discipline so important in this modern society, but also they learn to drill and to shoot and a whole range of things that we associate with the Australian Defence Force per se. They are not of course members of the Australian Defence Force but do receive firsthand experience in many of the areas in which our Australian Defence Force service men and women work.

Let me be, I suspect, the first person to say that the cadets have not always been perfect. It is an area not without its challenges. Whenever you are inviting 13- to 20-year-olds together as one, there are challenges, no matter how well intentioned and committed they might be to the cause. The cadets, like many other parts of the Australian Defence Force, have had their incidents over the years—incidents that have been challenging to those in charge of their units and to the Australian Defence Force more generally. That is why we need to be continually looking at and reforming the organisation to make sure it does keep pace with community standards and to ensure that the young people joining are benefiting from the experiences they expected to have as a result of joining the cadets. For example, there was a time—I hope it has changed, and I am confident it has changed—when the paperwork burden for the volunteers who were administering the scheme was so excessive that real-life experiences in camps and on rifle ranges et cetera became not necessarily the norm and gave way to too much theory and classroom teaching.

I am very proud that I was the minister in 2008, when I gave sanction to the then CDF's latest review into the cadets and therefore the reform of the cadets—reforms which I am confident have strengthened the administrative structure and the command structure and will ensure that the cadets continue to provide good experiences for young Australians. Of course our cadets do not just do good work within their units; they do good work out there in the community as well, including a number of community fundraising efforts—something they do in the name of the Australian Defence Force and therefore something which strengthens the branding and image of the Australian Defence Force.

So I pay tribute to those who are running the organisations at the moment, and I pay tribute and say thank you to all those who are participating. May many of them make the decision to join the Australian Defence Force in the future.

Debate adjourned.