Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The figures the Leader of the Opposition is referring to include both military personnel and civilians; you cannot compare apples with oranges. Further, by 2017-18, Defence will employee 735 more military and 775 more reserve personnel. Furthermore, this government is reinstating the '1,000-person gap year' that that Labor government took away—that is, over 2½ thousand new people coming back in.

The PBS statement that the Leader of the Opposition referred to quite clearly makes the point that, after reaching a peak in 2010-11, the permanent force strength began to slowly decrease. Surprise surprise, under a Labor government the Defence Force started to shrink!

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

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