Cash bonuses for Australian troops to recruit mates

Veterans have criticised a plan to give Australian troops a $1000 cash bonus if they recruit a friend into the military.

The two-year trial will begin within the next month to help grow the size of the Australian Defence Force and retain people.

The federal budget handed down in May showed the forecast workforce at 58,600 personnel by June 30 2025, against a requirement of more than 63,000.

The Defence department outlined the initiative to encourage members to refer people to join the military.

“This scheme provides a $1000 payment to an ADF member who refers a person to join the ADF who then completes 12 months of service as a member of the permanent forces,” the direction reads.

Veterans reacted in disbelief to the scheme on social media, with many deeming it misinformation.

Decorated Afghanistan veteran Justin Huggett said it was not a “digger’s job” to recruit people, and criticised the Albanese government.

Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said the scheme’s design had been based on programs operated by the US and the UK.

“We know that around 80 per cent of people that join the Australian Defence Force have a close connection to somebody that is currently or has previously served in the defence force,” he said.

“This initiative is an important step recognising how our ADF personnel can contribute to our recruitment efforts in showcasing their experiences and skills to people that they know and to assist them on the journey of not just joining our defence force, but also starting their career in the defence force.”

Australian National University expert associate Jennifer Parker said the initiative was positive.

“It gets Defence members out there with an incentive to be talking to their friends about their career and why there’s a benefit joining,” she told AAP.

“We do know from all sorts of analysis that people in uniform who have gone through those experiences are normally the best people at actually selling the job.”

Ms Parker said checks and balances were needed to ensure there were no instances of fraud, as there had been overseas.

“To really get the most out of this initiative, Defence recruiting are going to have to address their backlogs, they’re going to have to address call-back times, people who want to join getting medicals in the appropriate time frames,” she said.

Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge said the military had failed to meet its recruitment goals because of “deep cultural issues”.

“Turning serving soldiers into freelance recruiters with the promise of some cash is another in a long line of doomed attempts to plug the fundamental issues with staffing in Defence,” he said.

“The Albanese government’s response to failures by Defence leadership is to sign more cheques.”