Reserve Staff Group to fill PAF vacancies

MANY Permanent Air Force (PAF) members have deployed on recent operations and there have been either no available RAAF Active Reserve (RAAFAR) members or insufficient AFA 4J(3) funding to fill the vacancy left by the deployed members.

As a consequence, several Air Force units have had to continue their peacetime tasks without sufficient manpower to effectively undertake their roles.

Reserve Staff Group (RSG) personnel are now able to backfill PAF vacancies left by a deployed member on a part-time basis, with pay given on a daily basis, where there are no other suitable PAF or RAAFAR members available.

This does not apply to command positions (such as commanding officers), however, should an RSG officer be the only suitable and available officer to fulfil a command position left vacant by a deploying officer, then the RSG officer will have to meet full individual readiness requirements before he or she will be considered for the position.

This change in policy only relates to vacancies that arise from members deploying on operations. RSG personnel will not be able to be employed against PAF vacancies that have arisen for any other reason.

Specialist officers
THE Directorate of Personnel Strategy Implementation is introducing an officer sub-specialisation project.

The initiative will be of interest to experienced officers who have completed all primary specialisation training, consolidated that training in demanding specialisation specific postings and are looking to develop new skills and undertake advanced training.

By mid-2004, many officers will have the chance to apply to be a member of an officer sub-specialisation. Sub-specialisations are identified areas of employment outside the normal officer specialisation structure recognised as requiring specific skills, training and experience. Sub-specialisations are likely to include personnel, materiel and operations support. For details contact Squadron Leader David Turner on (02) 6266 5300.

Vital data
IT is important that all members update their personal data, held in PMKeyS, at least annually or as their circumstances change. Personal data includes residential address, after hours contact details, work location, emergency contact details and dependant details.

Emergency contact and after hours contact details are very important to keep up to date because if the situation arises where you or a family member need to be contacted, then the information contained within PMKeyS is used as the source data for contacting members or family.

Form AD150 – ADF Personal Data – PMKeyS, is the form which is used as the source document for updating a member’s personal data on PMKeyS. (Of importance in this form are details of the emergency contact, who by definition, is a member’s next of kin.) If you want a family member to be contacted in an emergency then that family member should be recorded on the form as the primary emergency contact.

Form AD150 can be collected from unit orderly rooms or from your administering unit or it can be downloaded via Web Forms. Completed forms should be sent back to your administering unit where they will be checked for accuracy and then entered on to the PMKeyS system.

Have your say
THE Air Force People Capability web site enables personnel to provide comments and feedback and ask questions about issues that affect Air Force people today and for the future.

The web site is designed to facilitate communication across Air Force by generating thought, discussion and innovation. It is also used to host information and to provide links to documents and other relevant web sites.

So log on to the web site at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/raafweb/sites/AFPC/, have a look at what people are saying and you might want to contribute something yourself. For feedback, e-mail afpc@cbr.defence.gov.au or simply click on any of the e-mail links to the AFPC mailbox, which can be found throughout the web site.

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