Federation Chamber
18 October 2021

I want to associate myself with the motion before the House today, where we recognise the importance of the membership of Australian Defence Force Cadets, and also recognise the incredible work of the many volunteers—many are parents but many serving members of the ADF support cadet programs in our nation.

The ADF cadet program provides challenging and educational military experience to Australia's young people. It is an invaluable initiative that gives kids purpose and self-esteem throughout their formative years. Currently, there are around 28,000 cadets enrolled in the three cadet programs—the Australian Army Cadets, the Australian Navy Cadets and the Australian Air Force Cadets. These cadets are supported by around 4,200 officers, instructors and approved helpers, who make everything possible by supervising and running the program. In the south-west suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich, which I proudly represent in this parliament, we have several cadet programs in the Springfield and greater Ipswich area.

I also want to recognise another organisation in my community, Air League Forest Lake, which does so much work in promoting interest in aviation amongst budding future pilots and, hopefully, people serving in our defence forces. I had the opportunity to present Australian flags to No. 230 Squadron based in Springfield and I was incredibly impressed by their dedication, discipline and attitude. I have witnessed this program produce true leaders for our next generation. I also heard about the fantastic opportunities offered to kids in the program, including developing survival skills, gaining first-hand aviation experience, first-aid training, training camps and so much more. Without the cadets program, many kids would not have access to these exciting, enriching opportunities.

While the ADF has an important role to play in the development of our young leaders, it's also an important tool to introduce young people to the possibilities provided by a career in the Defence Force and this makes the cadets program an important and effective source of Defence recruitment for the ADF, with many cadets going on to serve in the permanent ADF or Reserves. I understand from talking to many of the leaders and many of the parents involved just what a critical point this is in ensuring that our young people had a full understanding about the work of the ADF. We should be encouraging and doing everything we can to get more young people to put up their hand to serve their country and to take the many opportunities that comes from a wonderful career in the defence forces. The benefits of this program are clear, and I'm really pleased that today's motion is recognising the outstanding work.

A strong cadets program also means a strong ADF. The annual Defence report shows that, in 2019-20, 93 per cent of permanent force recruitment targets were met and we know that since the 2015-16 white paper we have been failing to meet some of these targets. So whilst it's important to talk about the Defence Force capability and procurement, it's also important to talk about what we can do as a national parliament and particularly a federal government to ensure there are more people joining the Australian defence forces. The values of mateship, camaraderie and honour have been part of the Australian Defence Force for generations. With a program like cadets, we can foster and encourage them to enter promising and fulfilling careers in our Army, Navy or Air Force. It seems we need an urgent focus to support a recruitment campaign within the ADF, particularly as we come out of the pandemic, to ensure that we see more people being encouraged and mentored to enter the ADF, and that's exactly what the cadets program does so well. We want to boost Defence jobs and ensure our defence forces have the personnel they need to do the incredible important job of keeping Australians safe and defending our national interest. The cadet program is the perfect platform to increase ADF recruitment, expand the experiences and capabilities of our nation's young people and create the leaders of tomorrow. I commend the Australian Defence Force cadet program.