Defence campaign targets women

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon; Pic by: Ray Strange

Women should have equal opportunities at every level of the nation's armed forces and all positions should be based on merit and not gender, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says.

Women currently make up just 13 per cent of the permanent defence force despite making up more than half of Australia's population, the minister said today.

Women are being targeted in a new marketing campaign aimed at boosting recruitment.

"We're not going to be successful in meeting our recruitment targets if we don't further broaden our potential pool," Mr Fitzgibbon told ABC Radio.

There needed to be more women throughout the forces, including in leadership roles.

"We seem to send this quiet message to women - come and join us but don't expect to rise to the top. I think that has to change," he said.

"All positions should be based on merit and women should have equal opportunity."

Mr Fitzgibbon didn't rule out women serving on the front line, but said there could be physical limitations.

"Women are never going to form the front row in a National Rugby League team - there are some things women will never do in the military, that is true.

" ...But I don't think that we should put particular road blocks in their way - they should be able to try."

Retaining current troops was also an important aspect of boosting defence forces, he said.

"We need to find new and innovative ways of encouraging people to stay in the defence force.

"We can never really hope to compete on the remuneration front with industries like the mining industry."

One possibility was extending free health care to defence families, he said.

While the Government is keen to boost troop numbers it wants to take an axe to the civilian component of the defence department by forecasting $10 billion in savings during the next 10 years.

This would be achieved by targeting civilian numbers which had grown by 20 per cent since 2001.

"It's very, very clear that we have a fair bit of fat on the civilian side of the defence department," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

"So I'm very keen to make sure we're running as lean as we possibly can to ensure that the real money is going where it is most needed and that is (to) supply the troops with the training and capability and protection they need to adequately do their job."

The Australian, March 25, 2008