I do seem to remember serving at a Northern maritime airfield in the UK in the 90's, and being told we had an extra week off at Christmas because the station was shutting for all but essential flying and SAR. The not so secret rumour was that it was to save the leccky bill for heating and lighting.
Over here we also have a major crisis at the moment with childcare, the biggest provider of which has just gone to the wall with some majot debts. This provider is also the company which has the contract to run child care centres on all military bases.
While I'm not suggesting this has a bearing on the RAN decision, it was mooted in the national press that lack of childcare facilities was a major issue with regard to service personel leaving. This stand down will hopefully ease the burden a little.
Ogre