Advertising on computer games and social media platforms like TikTok has helped drive the biggest surge in Defence Force recruitment in 15 years, a major turnaround that the federal government says has put the military on track to achieve ambitious growth targets.
The Australian Defence Force has been plagued by a recruitment and retention crisis in recent years, but in the past financial year, the military enlisted 7059 permanent personnel, the highest annual intake since 2009.
The Australian Defence Force has been plagued by a recruitment and retention crisis in recent years.
The full-time ADF workforce has now reached 61,189, slightly below its authorised strength of 62,700 permanent members but significantly up on previous estimates.
More than 75,000 people applied to join the ADF in the past year, the highest number in five years and a 28 per cent increase on the previous year.
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Defence Minister Richard Marles said the military was now on track to reach a target of 69,000 personnel by the early 2030s.
“In 2025, the ADF is now growing again for the first time in almost four years,” Marles said.
“While there is much more work to do, we are confident these positive trends will continue.”
Under the previous Coalition government, the ADF grew by 2000 people over nine years in office, he said.
Staff retention had also improved: the rate of people leaving the military has dropped to its lowest levels in a decade.
Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said smarter advertising – including through computer games and video-sharing app TikTok – was a key reason for the growing number of young people deciding to enlist.
Another top reason was the decision to relax strict health and fitness requirements for non-combat roles.
“We had a situation before where medical conditions like acne could automatically exclude someone from being able to enlist. Clearly, that’s stupid in the 21st century,” Keogh said.
“If you’re doing something like cyber ops, you know, you’re working out of a basement, you’re never leaving Australia, we don’t need to have as strict requirements as might be required [of] someone who’s going to be in an infantry force that’s going to be deployable outside of Australia.“
Expanded access to the Defence Housing Ownership Scheme and rent assistance had also helped attract new recruits, he said, and a $40,000 continuation bonus had helped boost retention.
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Then defence chief Angus Campbell last year said the military was falling thousands of people short of its staffing targets, putting the ADF under intense strain.
A workforce plan released by the government last year said the ADF was “experiencing a crisis
in recruitment and retention at a time when national unemployment is low” and competition from the private sector is intense.
Only three foreigners have so far enlisted under the move to allow permanent residents from Australia’s fellow Five Eyes nations – the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – to join the ADF, but 520 active applications are in the pipeline under the scheme.
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