Record recruitment into the Australian armed forces has delivered the biggest single-year military personnel increase Down Under in 15 years, figures released Wednesday show.
Official data shows the Australian Defence Force (ADF) permanent workforce grew by 1,868 over the 2024–25 financial year, bringing the total number of full-time personnel to 61,189.
Year-on-year, it reflects a 17 percent increase in the number of people joining the ADF.
The boost comes in a strained geo-political climate riven by Beijing’s continued false claim to the entire South China Sea in clear defiance of U.N. ruling there is “no legal basis” to the territory grab.
Defence Minister Richard Marles described the recruitment drive as “great news for the nation,” SBS reports.
“But as good as that news is, our challenge is not just about keeping the defence force at the numbers that we’re at, as important as it is to steady the ship, we have ambitions to grow the defence force through the back-end of this decade and into the 2030s,” he said.
In another positive sign for ADF retention, the number of personnel leaving the service dropped by 7.9 percent, marking the lowest exit rate in a decade.
More than 75,000 people applied to join up over 2024-25, but enlistments totalled just 7,059, mostly due to stringent recruitment standards and long processing times.
Of the more than 7,000 people who joined the ADF, around half were in the Army (3,442). This took its headcount to a four-year high.
Enlistment in the Navy (1,524) and Air Force (2,093) saw their respective overall headcounts reach their highest levels since 2006.
The ABC reports a year ago, Canberra announced foreign nationals would be able to serve in the ADF in a bid to boost recruitment.
Initially starting with New Zealanders, Australian permanent residents from the UK, US and Canada (members of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence sharing network) are now eligible to apply to join the ADF.
News of the recruitment boost comes in the same week Australia confirmed it is spending billions of dollars upgrading its navy with 11 new-build Mogami-class frigates from Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, as Breitbart News reported.
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade and acquiring one of the world’s most hi-tech warships is now a crucial part of that scheme.
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