Recent reporting on the dire situation of ADF recruitment. One wonders if we need to scrap this absurd idea that hiring private companies to run military recruitment is a better option than having people in uniform do it. (article via subscription) :
Recruitment rates 'wholly deficient': minister
By Connor Pearce,The Canberra Times
Wednesday 19 March 2025
Performance notices issued under $1.4b Defence recruiting contract.
THE company in charge of turning around Australia's moribund Defence recruitment rates was told by the responsible minister its performance was "not satisfactory" and targeted recruitment rates were "wholly deficient", less than a year from taking on the $1.4 billion contract.
The Canberra Times has obtained correspondence between Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh and Swiss recruitment giant Adecco, exposing the depths to which the relationship had sunk.
"As we approach the completion of a full year of recruiting operations in support of the ADF, I am deeply disappointed with Adecco's performance," Minister for Defence Personnel Matt Keogh wrote in a letter dated May 30, 2024.
The letter details the deep misgivings Mr Keogh had about Adecco's performance, with the company failing to meet targets, requiring uniformed ADF personnel to support its operations and feedback from candidates about poor communication by Adecco.
Mr Keogh closes the letter with a withering assessment of Addecco's underperformance so far.
"In contracting with Adecco, Defence sought a partnership with an entity who could transform Defence's recruiting process to deliver a modern and scalable recruiting solution,' Mr Keogh writes.
"Adecco's current performance and actions to remediate deficiencies do not convince me that Adecco understands the seriousness of a failure to deliver against ADF need. I require assurance from the highest level that Adecco are taking all practical measures to rapidly improve recruiting results."
'Do better' notice
Within days from Adecco taking on the mammoth task of raising Australia's sub-par recruitment figures, there were already signs that recruitment figures were not going to meet targets.
On July 13, 2023 Adecco was issued its first performance notice, requesting it improve psychological assessment rates.
A month later, Adecco submitted a plan to recruit more psychologists, but this had to be revised after initial actions to improve the pace of psychological screenings had little impact.
A second performance notice in November 2023 required improvements in medical screening rates.
In Adecco's remediation plan, the company proposed using military doctors for medical screenings.
The correspondence reveals how these issues were resolved.
'Not acceptable'
On April 3, 2024, a letter from a senior Adecco executive in Zurich, Switzerland, was sent to Mr Keogh's office.
In the letter, the author, whose name is redacted, attempts to assure Mr Keogh that Adecco was taking significant action to rectify the slow rate of recruitment.
"I want to assure you that we understand the national significance of what we are delivering for Australia and the urgency with which we must act," the executive wrote.
The Adecco executive goes on to outline that Adecco Group CEO Denis Machuel was taking a direct interest in the performance of the contract, including travelling to Australia on a "regular basis".
"We believe we have come a long way in the nine months since we assumed responsibility on 1 July 2023, however we acknowledge we have much more to do and we need to do it faster," the author writes.
"Our CEO [redacted] will be in Australia in during [sic] the week of 15 July and would appreciate a meeting with you, if you have availability."
Mr Keogh wrote back on May 30.
"The understandings and explanations set out in your letter are not acceptable to me and I remain unconvinced that Adecco comprehends the gravity of its current circumstance. Indeed, assurances in your letter have already not been delivered," Mr Keogh wrote back.
Mr Keogh writes that the forecast result against the recruitment target for the 2023-24 year is "wholly deficient" and Adecco's performance to date "has not been satisfactory".
"The government has directed the ADF to grow significant by 2040 and current ADF recruiting performance, underpinned by Adecco's efforts, will not achieve this critical national security outcome."
A few days after Mr Keogh sent the scathing letter back to Adecco headquarters, Defence officials appeared at Senate estimates and were quizzed on current recruitment rates.
Secretary Greg Moriarty said the department was having issues with recruitment and retention.
"We are in a very challenging environment, and we are working hard to grow the numbers."
Officials listed COVID, low unemployment rates and increased numbers of people leaving the Defence force as reasons for missing its recruitment targets, but did not mention Adecco by name.
Hints at Adecco's poor performance and Defence's frustration with the contractor would only come out in a separate committee hearing in March 2024, when Lieutenant General Natasha Fox told the committee Adecco was on notice.
"The performance notice has been issued in relation to that and the remediation plans are in place."
Greens Senator David Shoebridge said Defence was not giving the public a full picture of the challenges in recruitment.
"The minister's letter is refreshingly, even if uncharacteristically, honest for Defence but it is in stark contrast to the public communications on recruitment. It turns out that Defence has been trying to paint roses on a binfire," Senator Shoebridge told this masthead.
"One obvious concern is that the minister wrote this caustic letter in May 2024, just nine months into the contract's operation, and now we are almost another year down the road with none of the targets being met."
In a statement to this masthead, Mr Keogh said figures since mid-2024 had improved.
"I'm pleased to say we have seen an increase in the number of people applying to join the Australian Defence Force and project that by the end of this financial year we are projected to enlist or appoint the highest number of full-time personnel in the past 15 years," Mr Keogh said.
What now?
Last month, chief of the ADF Admiral David Johnston told senators that 69,000 people applied to join the ADF in the past 12 month, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year.
Senator Shoebridge asked Lieutenant General Fox directly whether Adecco was meeting its targets.
"In terms of getting people in, they've blown out their targets on speed by more than a hundred per cent and they've missed the numbers by 28 per cent," Senator Shoebridge summarised.
Mr Keogh said the range of initiatives undertaken by Adecco was leading to more candidates making their way through the process, but if there continued to be slippage, there could be further actions.
"These initiatives indicate an anticipated uplift in the performance and achievement of Adecco in the next financial year," he said.
"I am taking an active interest in Adecco's performance of their contract and all options remain on the table if Adecco does not meet their obligations in future."
Senator Shoebridge said he remained pessimistic about whether Australia's recruitment targets would be met. "It's a case study in the deeply ingrained culture of secrecy and cover-up inside Defence," he said. "Until these issues are addressed, we can throw endless buckets of money at Defence and outsource projects across the portfolio, but the results will not change."
