Air Force News :: Your Career

.Your Career

Efforts to update leave records

As you plan your next holiday, PMKeyS is working to address issues relating to leave.

Online Career Guidance

BY the end of 2003 you will have direct access to a comprehensive array of career management information and guidance through what will be known as People Central, an interactive personalised web portal.

People Central is one of the initiatives being put in place by the Directorate of Personnel Strategy Implementation to provide Air Force people with the opportunity to plan their careers up to six years into the future.

You will no longer have to contact DPA, DPO, or DPR direct, nor search through various Defence publications to assess your options for career progression or broadening.

Guidance will be available on People Central, covering career development opportunities such as training and posting opportunities, commissioning or ANYA/ANYO employment.

Since PMKeyS went live for Air Force in February 2002, one area that has experienced a difficult transition is leave administration, which has been the focus of much remedial effort.

Few leave issues have stand-alone solutions, and most affect the various components of environmental leave. Re-running the end-of-year Environmental Leave Update (ELU) has been a crucial step in improving leave records.

The ELU is normally an annual process that credits members with additional leave components such as Remote Locality Leave (RLL), Field Leave (FLD), Flying Leave (FLY), Extra Recreation Leave (ERL), and War Service Leave (WSL).

Technical difficulties and other issues prevented last year’s scheduled ELU. However, re-running the July 1, 2002, ELU was carried out last fortnight and the positive affect can be seen on the PMKeyS system.

The following elements of leave have now been updated:

WSL: Missing July 1, 2002, accrual rows were created and existing accruals for the same date that were incorrect have been corrected.

FLY and RLL: Entries for the leave year July 1, 2002-June 20, 2002, that were not entered until after July 1, 2002, have been processed.

SEA and RLL: The rules used for calculating leave entitlement, based on position and location data, have been corrected.

Trainee Acquittals: The trainee leave acquittal process has now been corrected.

Others Items: Other late entered Activity Log transactions related to ELU and the 2001-2002 leave year have been processed.

It must be stressed that the re-run of the ELU does not fix all leave issues associated with PMKeyS, and only addresses those components listed. Considerable work continues to address remaining issues. Your continued patience and understanding is appreciated by the RAAF PMKeyS cell.

Unit administrative areas that have additional queries regarding leave balances following the re-run of the ELU are encouraged to contact the PCSC Help Desk on 1800 68 202 or pmkeys.support@ defence.gov.au

It’s in the regulations
PERSONNEL are reminded that the Air Force Regulations were replaced by the tri-service Defence (Personnel) Regulations – D(P)R – on December 1, 2002.

The major changes brought about by the introduction of the D(P)R will go unnoticed by the majority of personnel as they mainly affect the level of delegations and some changes to the wording of the instruments for enacting the regulations.

However, some of the significant changes that affect every Reserve member and some potential Reserve members serving in the Permanent Air Force are:

Standby Reserve: What used to be known as the General Reserve is now known as the Standby Reserve (STR). This element of the Reserves is still made up of inactive members and also those in the Reserve Staff Group. The primary reason for its existence is to provide a pool of personnel who can be called on at short notice (in the event of a call-out by the Governor-General) to serve on continuous full time service. Personnel who join the PAF or Active Reserve from July 1 will be required to transfer to the STR for five years upon completion of their PAF or Active Reserve service.
Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA): As from December 1, 2002, all Reserve members will reach their CRA at age 60. CRA for PAF members will remain at 55, but on transfer to the STR their CRA is automatically extended to the new limit. There is still the facility for Reserve personnel to extend their CRA up to 65, but these will be the exception rather than the rule.
Chaplains: Chaplains will also reach their CRA at age 60, but may be extended to age 75.

Reserve jobs
THE Directorate of Personnel Reserves (DPR-AF) receives numerous requests for Reserve personnel to undertake tasks on continuous full-time service – AFA 4J(3) – as well as undertaking special tasks and projects.

To assist those seeking employment and those who wish to employ a Reserve member, DPR-AF has set up a Job Search page on its intranet web site.

If you are a Reserve member, or soon to be one, or are looking for a Reserve member to undertake that special task, log on to http://intranet.defence.gov.au/raaf web/Sites/DPRAF – hit the Job Search button and see what or who is available. To place your details on the page, e-mail DPR-AF@ defence.gov.au or telephone Squadron Leader Mike Warby on (02) 6265 2364.