Top 3 issues on Federation’s agenda
In its first column for the year, the Armed Forces Federation of Australia summarises its meeting with Minister Mal Brough

FEDERATION officials met with new Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence Mal Brough late last year to introduce ourselves and draw his attention to some hot issues that have been or will be raised with the CDF.

As time was limited, we restricted ourselves to three main topics: (1) Phase 2 of the Remuneration Reform Program (RRP); (2) the introduction of free choice to Members With Dependants (MWD) in regard to Rental Allowance (RA); and (3) the provision of improved Living-In Accommodation (LIA) for MWOD.

RRP: Phase 2 of the RRP proposes to isolate the Q&S component of selected environmental allowances such as Special Action Forces Allowance, Submarine Service Allowance and Specialist Operations Allowance and make them superannuable before rolling those Q&S components into salary under Phase 3 of the program. The Federation sees this as fundamental to completing the RRP process and we support Phase 2 being implemented at the earliest opportunity.

We suggested that the recent decision of the Defence Minister not to progress Phase 2 outside the umbrella of the Nunn Review recommendations (whenever that may be) contradicts pre-election undertakings by the Government in regard to ADF superannuation arrangements. We also believe this decision to be detrimental to members in receipt of the allowances under consideration and seriously jeopardises the successful conclusion of the RRP.

Free Choice on Rental Allowance for MWD: The Government intends to introduce free choice for MWD between Rental Allowance (RA) and a Service Residence (SR) provided by DHA. In effect this will mean there will no longer be any compulsion for MWD to accept a suitable SR offer. The only catch is the introduction of free choice must be cost-neutral for Defence. The Federation asked Minister Brough if the same consideration would be given to Members Without Dependants (MWOD) by removing the current five-year rule and providing them with free choice between Living-In Accommodation (LIA) and RA.

About 50 per cent of ADF personnel are single and while the Federation has no objections to free choice being provided to MWD, that same free choice must flow on to MWOD. It is simply a question of equity. Not to do this would be discriminatory and likely to become a serious morale (and retention) issue for MWOD. We then asked questions about the long-awaited accommodation upgrades for LIA.

To sum up, the Minister gave no assurances in regard to the RRP, but he undertook to examine the accommodation arrangements for MWOD, including the provision of information in regard to barrack accommodation upgrades. The Federation thanks Minister Brough for taking time out of his hectic schedule to meet with us. We look forward to some positive and timely outcomes.

.