Peter Hendy (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was very pleased to welcome the Prime Minister and the Defence minister to Headquarters Joint Operations Command in my electorate of Eden-Monaro yesterday. The Prime Minister and the Defence minister received a briefing on the preparation of a military force to contribute to a capacity-training mission in Iraq. While that was occurring, my parliamentary colleagues the member for Bass and Senator Reynolds and I received a brief on the Joint Operations Command itself.

The minister took the opportunity to announce at that venue that the government will ask the Chief of the Defence Force and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service to seek the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal's agreement to vary the terms of the current workplace remuneration agreement. This variation will see an increase in pay for ADF personnel of two per cent per annum over the life of the agreement. This means that ADF pay will rise above the current annual inflation rate of 1.7 per cent.

I was especially pleased to be present for this announcement. Eden-Monaro is a major Defence seat. We have over 2,000 Defence related workers who live in the electorate. We also have some 3½ thousand veterans who live in the seat. I have listened to the concerns of those Defence members and their families. I have listened to their views and I have represented those concerns to the Defence minister and the Prime Minister. I know that my colleagues the member for Bass and Senator Reynolds have made similar representations.

I recently met with the three service warrant officers at Defence headquarters, in Canberra, at Russell Hill. The service warrant officers are the senior non-commissioned officers in each service. They are an effective conduit between senior Defence leadership and Defence members and a valuable communication resource. They provide a voice for sailors, soldiers, airmen and airwomen and they have the ear of the service chiefs.

I held a candid and very valuable discussion with these three fine individuals. Amongst other things they impressed upon me the importance of wider conditions to our serving personnel. The incentives that motivate our Defence personnel to do the extraordinary things that they do are different from almost every other vocation. It has never been the crass dollars-and-cents transactions that those opposite have tried to exploit. Our Defence Force members are moved by different incentives. The ADF does not have a sense of entitlement; they have a sense of duty. It is a different calculus.

Basic recreational leave for someone who might spend six, nine or 12 months away from their loved ones, at times—indeed often—under dangerous and stressful circumstances, takes on a very different value. We understand this, and that is why we acted quickly to ensure that there would be no reduction of ADF leave. It is why we are acting now to ensure an appropriate and responsible pay outcome that does not add to the budget repair task. The coalition have always valued the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. The coalition has always understood the unique compact between the Australian people and those who serve and sacrifice in Australia's interests.