Strategic Review of the ADF Reserves
The 2023 Defence Strategic review recommended that a subsequent Strategic Review of the ADF Reserves be undertaken and this was presented to the Government in May 2024.
The DRA now welcomes the release of the Strategic Review of the ADF Reserves (published 18 December 2024), and provides the following summary of the Review’s important findings and recommendations in the attached files - to view the factsheet summary please click here.
The DRA is acknowledged in the full report, and, as you know we were the only organisation external to Defence to provide a submission and be engaged in this way. We look forward to continuing to be consulted through 2025 as further consideration of developing the recommendations and their implementation proceeds. (An overview of the DRA submission as printed in the United Service 75 (2) June 2024 Pages 24 & 25, can be found here)
The report made 14 recommendations of which 13 were accepted by Government and one was noted for future consideration. This one, Recommendation 6, was to: "Expand the Contingent reserve workforce available to the ADF for call out by extending the active commitment period for former permanent ADF personnel from five to ten years." The Government noted the recommendation which will be further considered as part of the National Defence Strategy cycle.
The full report is available at this link and makes for thought provoking reading.
The implementation of the Report’s recommendations will be the primary focus of the 2025 DRA National Conference, to be held in Canberra on Saturday 23 August 2025. More details to follow.