Key events
ADF members to be offered $50,000 retention bonus
Daniel Hurst
The Albanese government will offer Australian defence force members a $50,000 bonus if they commit to stay for three years beyond their initial period of service.
The continuation bonus, to be announced today at a $400m cost to the budget over four years, aims to deal with what the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has labelled “a defence personnel crisis”. Marles said:
When it comes to defence, our people are our greatest asset. We know defence is facing greater challenges to recruit, retain and grow its workforce than it has for decades.
The measure is forecast to benefit about 3,400 ADF personnel in its first three years. Last week’s defence strategic review warned: “Defence is facing significant workforce challenges … Without creative and flexible responses, the workforce situation in Defence will continue to deteriorate.”
Under the government’s proposal, permanent ADF members will be able to receive a $50,000 bonus near the completion of their initial period of service, if they commit to serve for another three years.
The government says this aims to address a problem with junior ranking members leaving the ADF, resulting in hollow structures within middle ranks – seven to nine years of service – “where the workforce is now at greatest risk”.
The measure will begin in 2024 but be reviewed after two years to check it is working.
According to government figures, the ADF’s permanent workforce strength increased from 56,000 in 2012-13 to 59,000 in 2021-22 – meaning growth on average of 300 per year during the life of the Coalition government. But both major parties have committed to ambitious plans for an additional 18,500 defence personnel by 2040.
The government will also announce today a $2m review into defence housing policies and benefits, conceding that “current Defence home ownership benefits are struggling to keep pace with the Australian property market and meet the changing needs of our service personnel and their families”.
Mark Butler calls vaping a ‘public menace’ ahead of crackdown
Stephanie Convery
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, will today announce a $234m boost in next week’s budget for tougher regulation of e-cigarettes, including new controls on their importation and packaging.
Speaking on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, Butler, said that the tobacco industry was trying to create a “new generation of nicotine addicts” through vaping and that he was “determined to stamp out this public health menace”.
Vapes were sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to get long-term smokers to quit, to help them quit. It was not sold as a recreational product targeted at our kids, but that’s what it has become.
This is a deliberate strategy by the tobacco industry to create a new generation of nicotine addicts and far from being a pathway out of cigarettes, which is what it was promoted to us as, it is becoming a pathway into cigarettes for younger people. You’re three times more likely to take up smoking if you’ve vaped than if you haven’t. So I’m determined to stamp out this public health menace, because that’s what I think it genuinely is.
We’ve already got a full story up on this which you can read here.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Morning everyone and welcome to our news blog. I’m Martin Farrer and here are some of the top breaking stories to get your head around before your regular blogger comes along to guide you through the day.
The big political story is that the government appears about to increase jobseeker for people aged over 55 as part of a suit of measures to reduce poverty. There was an expectation that ministers were trying to resist a rise after they poured cold water on a recommendation from poverty experts calling for a “substantial” increase in the “seriously inadequate” payment. But the government has decided to bump up payments to those over-55 and our Essential poll this morning shows support for more generous payments. There’s a lot more movement around the budget and we’ll have some more updates for you very soon.
In another big move by the Albanese government, the importation of nonprescription vaping products – including those that do not contain nicotine – will be banned in the most significant tobacco and vaping control measures for a decade. Speaking on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, the health minister, Mark Butler, said that the tobacco industry was trying to create a “new generation of nicotine addicts” through vaping and that he was “determined to stamp out this public health menace”.
The budget is bringing a lot of focus on the economy and today the Reserve Bank board meets to make its monthly decision about monetary policy – aka, whether to increase the cash rate or leave on hold for another month. Analysts we have spoken to reckon it will be the second, which will be welcome news for mortgage holders on variable rates who have seen a steady increase in the cost of servicing their home loans. More on this to come in the run-up to the decision at 2.30pm.
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