Would-be ADF recruits sound the retreat

Almost 90 per cent of applications to serve with the Australian ­Defence Force were withdrawn last year and the average processing time has blown out to more than eight months.

Australian Army and Indonesian Armed Forces soldiers conduct an assault during an amphibious assault serial on Exercise Keris Woomera at Banongan Beach in Indonesia. Picture: ADF

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Almost 90 per cent of applications to serve with the Australian ­Defence Force were withdrawn last year and the average processing time has blown out to more than eight months.

It comes after Defence Minister Richard Marles said that under the Albanese government, the “ADF is growing, separation rates are declining, and we have seen the highest application rates in over 20 years”.

Figures confirmed that while the number of applications had grown – a more than 28 per cent year-on-year increase – the rate at which applications had been withdrawn hit 89 per cent in 2024.

The Defence Department told Senate estimates that 69,821 people had applied to join the ADF in 2024, but 62,271 withdrew their applications.

It also revealed that the average processing time for applications – that is, the time between application and being booked to enlist – was 256 days by December 2024. This comes despite a government target of 100 days, which has subsequently been ­extended to 150 days.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said ADF recruitment under the Albanese government was a “shambolic disgrace”. “Under Labor’s weak leadership, nearly 90 per cent of last year’s applicants to the ADF withdrew,” he said. “Meanwhile, ­Defence Minister Richard Marles claims that the Albanese government has overseen the ‘highest application rates in 20 years’. It is shameful.

“The Albanese government’s weak leadership is driving defence morale into the ground, and keeping people out of Defence in their thousands.”

Mr Marles maintained the government had “begun to turn the crisis around”. He pointed to new figures that showed the ADF personnel count at the start of this month was 59,503 and that this marked the first year-on-year increase since 2020-21.

“The real shambolic disgrace here is the fact that Andrew Hastie still has not delivered any credible plan or funding to grow the ADF or retain our personnel,” Mr Marles said.

The Australian on Tuesday revealed that Adecco, a recruitment company hired to fix the ADF’s staffing crisis, was running almost 30 per cent behind target and had its performance period extended by six months.

A “key challenge” behind the delays was “shortfalls in psychologists and medical professionals to assess candidates”, the department said.

New documents showed that as at September 2024, the ADF had 87 permanent psychologists and 130 reserve psychologists for its entire force.