Foreign citizens with permanent residency in Australia will soon be able to serve in Australia’s armed forces, as part of an effort to boost sluggish recruitment.
But the government has been forced to clarify confusion around its plans after different ministers spelled out differing policies on exactly who was eligible, prompting heavy criticism from the opposition.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is facing a shortage of about 4,400 workers.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said expanding applications to include eligible permanent residents was “essential” to meeting Australia’s security challenges in the years ahead.
From July, New Zealanders who are permanent residents and have been living in Australia for at least a year before applying will be able to join the ADF.
Applicants must also not have served in a foreign military in the preceding two years, and be able to attain citizenship.
From January next year, citizens from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada who meet the same criteria will be eligible, so long as they meet required security checks.
Those three countries, along with Australia and New Zealand, make up the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing network.
Earlier, Minister for Defence Personnel Matt Keogh laid out a different plan, saying recruitment would be opened to all countries from January.
That left his senior minister, Richard Marles, to clear up the confusion in parliament, suggesting expansion to other countries was a possibility in future — but not an immediate prospect.
“We are, in walking down this path, doing so in a careful, slow and calibrated way,” he said.
“From the 1st of July, with those conditions in place … if you are from New Zealand you’ll be able to join the defence force.
“From the 1st of January, that will be extended to other ‘Five Eyes’ countries. In the future, we are having an eye to the Pacific. That is what we are doing.”
Once people had served in the ADF for at least 90 days they would be eligible for Australian citizenship, and would be expected to apply to become Australian citizens.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton slammed the new policy and the confusion surrounding it, labelling it the “biggest change” to defence recruitment in Australian history.
“We’ve got Minister Marles at odds with Minister Keogh, we don’t know the detail,” he said.
“We know from the director-general of ASIO that we operate in an environment where there is an incredibly high level of foreign interference — that’s the case in Five Eyes countries more generally.
“We don’t know the full detail of how many people … it’s a dog’s breakfast.”
Other countries still a possibility
In a later interview, Matt Keogh sought to clarify when and how the scheme might be expanded to other countries beyond the ‘Five Eyes’.
He made clear the immediate focus would be the Pacific, but left open the possibility of expansion to other countries, provided those citizens can meet the criteria that is being set out.
“That’s something that may evolve over time,” he said.
“Crucially what we’re saying here, though, is the way we’re doing that is looking at permanent residents. They’ve already made a commitment to Australia.
“They would still need to meet all the normal security requirements, they would go through normal ADF obligations in terms of return of service, all of those things.
“And they’re required to become Australian citizens. That’s also crucial.”
Mr Keogh also suggested that if the scheme were to expand in future, security vetting processes would likely rule out many recent arrivals from non-Five Eyes countries.
The government’s intention is to at first lift recruitment by around 350 people a year.
Mr Keogh said the government remains committed to the goal of lifting the number of permanent ADF members to 80,000 by 2040, up from roughly 57,000 members last year.
“It is what we’re trying to do and it is a big challenge and it’s why we’ve made changes,” he said.
New Zealand Defence Force not worried about poaching soldiers
Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham said the move highlighted the government’s “failure” to recruit and retain personnel.
“We should be seeing more Australians have the confidence to sign up,” Senator Birmingham said.
“Why don’t people have the confidence to sign up and wear the uniform with pride? Because of a dysfunction in defence policy that has been mired in review after review after review.”
New Zealand’s Defence Minister Judith Collins said she did not expect the move to affect their own ranks.
“Given the eligibility criteria the Australian Defence Force has put in place for New Zealanders to join, including that people have to have lived in Australia for at least a year and cannot have served in a foreign military for at least the two previous years, I do not see this as having a direct impact on current NZDF,” she said in a statement to ABC News.
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