SNAPSHOT: Data reveals issues facing ADF

A RARE insight into the Australian Defence Force, and their families has been revealed, with the 2019 Defence Census Public Report now available.

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A RARE insight into the Australian Defence Force, and their families has been revealed, with the 2019 Defence Census Public Report now available.

Released on Saturday, the report showed the size of the permanent force has remained basically static, falling by just 291 since 2011.

Defence Personnel Minister Darren Chester said the Census provided valuable data on the demographic profile of the Defence workforce.
He said it also assisted in the development of policies and conditions that keep pace with “contemporary changes” in Defence and Australian society.

“Providing a moment-in-time snapshot of the Defence workforce and their families, the Census highlights trends in areas such as education, work-life-balance and family circumstances,” Mr Chester said.

“Since 2015, female representation across the ADF has increased by 3.1 per cent, with Air Force seeing a 4 per cent increase during that time.

Similarly, ADF personnel who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander increased from 2.3 per cent in 2015 to 3.7 per cent in 2019.”

The Census also tracked data on the families of serving personnel, which showed that 79 per cent of all Defence spouses were employed, while 8 per cent were not employed and looking for work.

For the first time, Defence collected information about study and use of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) qualifications, to assist with the development of Defence STEM capability.

“Thirty-nine per cent of the overall Defence workforce have a STEM qualification, with the top STEM field of study being engineering,” Mr Chester said.

More than 50,000 ADF personnel and Defence Australian Public Service employees took part in the 2019 Defence Census.

ADF SNAPSHOT:

• The size of the permanent force has remained basically static, falling by just 291 since 2011.
• The army remains the largest permanent force with 29,968 compared to 14,369 in the air force and 14,139 in the navy.
• The force comprises 92,666 personnel with 58,476 permanent ADF members, 17,328 reservists and 16,862 public service employees.
• Woman make up 18.1 per cent of the permanent force and 17.2 per cent of reservists.
• 23,050 permanent ADF members were deployed, either nationally or internationally since the last census in 2015 with 22 per cent deployed within the past 12 months.
• Indigenous Australians account for 3.7 per cent of the permanent ADF and 2.6 per cent in the reserves.
• Of the permanent ADF, 66 per cent are married or in a relationship, while that rises to 74 per cent in the reserves.
• n the permanent ADF, 31 per cent have served for between one and five years, compared to 46 per cent of reservists.

Originally published as SNAPSHOT: Data reveals issues facing ADF