RAN Two Months Xmas Leave
Hmmm, hands up who thinks MOD will follow suit? Didn't think so.......
New York Times: Australian Navy Sets 2-Month Leave
Published: November 18, 2008
SYDNEY, Australia — Australian sailors have received an early Christmas gift with the announcement that all non-essential naval staff will be placed on two months’ paid leave over the holidays.
Instead of swabbing the decks and polishing the brass, most of Australia’s roughly 13,000 naval personnel will be allowed to enjoy the lazy days of their southern hemisphere summer break, which begins Dec. 3. The initiative, announced Tuesday by Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, is part of reforms designed to make Australia’s navy a more family-friendly employer.
Australia’s defense forces, like many industries, have suffered from a shortage of skilled workers over the past 15 years as the local economy boomed. Competition from the mining sector and a shift in workers’ attitudes away from lifetime careers have made recruiters’ jobs more difficult. But a new program, known as New Generation Navy, is looking at ways to make the navy a kinder, gentler place to work, with better child care services and flexible conditions for working parents.
Of course, the husbands and wives of the Australian Navy will still have to endure long separations at sea, but they may soon be better rewarded for their sacrifices.
Mr. Fitzgibbon said the government plans additional benefits for navy staff next year.
The government regards the recruitment and retention of staff as “the single biggest challenge” facing its defense forces over the next decade. Eleven percent of navy staff quit each year and only 73 percent of annual recruitment targets are met, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Tuesday.
“We can invest billions in capability — warships and fast jets, et cetera — but they’re not much use to us if we don’t have the people to man them,” Mr. Fitzgibbon told national radio. The extended Christmas break is an “interim” measure designed to relieve staff exhausted from covering a 2,020 personnel shortfall, but may become a permanent fixture, Mr. Fitzgibbon said. “There’s no reason why we can’t have a longer stand-down period each Christmas,” he said. “We’re looking at all sorts of ways of encouraging people to stay.”
Navy ships will continue to patrol Australia’s 10,000-plus kilometers of coastline, and around 500 sailors and officers will remain on active duty in the Persian Gulf and other parts of the Middle East, helping with the U.S.-led mission in Iraq.
“Australia’s national security remains our first priority,” Australia’s deputy naval chief, Rear Adm. Davyd Thomas, said in a statement. “Our ships will continue to undertake border protection duties and meet our commitments in the Middle East.”