David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ask the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 5 July 2011:

For the period 1 January to 30 June 2011:

(1) (a) How many training days have been allocated to Reserves in each state and territory; and (b) what is the budget allocation to provide these training days.

(2) (a) How many training days were actually used by Reserves in each state and territory; and (b) what was the actual expenditure to provide these training days.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

Navy

For the period 1 July 2010 – 30 June 2011:

(1) (a) (b) Navy allocates training days to individual Funded Reserve Commitment (FRC) and Short Term Reserve Project (STRP) positions that are linked to Navy capability requirements. These positions are allocated to establishments, units and departments across Navy and non-Navy components. These days can be used anytime during the training (financial) year, and are not allocated on a half yearly basis. While just under $25m was allocated for Reserve salaries for Financial Year 2010/11, just under $20m was expended in the first half. The unused funds were re-allocated for use in the second half of the financial year, which coincided with a review of the allocation across Navy and non-Navy components. The subsequent re-allocation included changes to the rank levels of Navy Reserve personnel employed, with mainly higher ranks to be employed in the second half of the financial year, meaning that while spending would be maintained, the number of actual days used would reduce. A total of 93,169 training days were allocated used across Navy for the entire Financial Year 2010/11 as follows:

(2) (a) (b) Navy can only provide actual training day and budget expenditure on a national basis. A total of 83,412 training days and $22,674,177 were expended across Navy and non-Navy components for the entire Financial Year 2010/11.

Army

For the period 1 January to 30 June 2011:

(1) (a) (b) Army Reserve Training Days (ARTD) are not actually allocated by Army. An Army Reserve Training Salary (ARTS) budget is allocated. For Financial Year 2010/11, Army's total ARTS budget allocation was $125.567m. The amount remaining after the first half of the FY10/11 was $61,087m.

(2) (a) Approximately 366,119 ARTD were used by Army on a National basis in the second half of Financial Year 2010/11.

(b) An approximation, based upon a pro-rata calculation of the number of Active Reserve personnel in each state, as at 30 June 2011, and the actual expenditure to provide those ARTD, is as follows:

Air Force

For the period 1 January to 30 June 2011:

(1) (a) (b) and (2) (a) (b) The Air Force allocation and usage of Reserve training days by State and Territory

And the budget allocation and expenditure to provide these days is as follows: