The Australian Defence Force has conceded that a quarter of its personnel are not medically fit for deployment, in a stunning admission made during Senate Estimates hearings on Thursday.
Defence officials confirmed that more than 75 per cent of ADF members are in a deployable military employment classification, meaning one in four are not ready to be sent overseas or into active service.
The revelation came after independent Senator David Pocock pressed defence officials on claims a growing number of ADF personnel are unfit for deployment.
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“We have over 75 per cent of the ADF are actually in a deployable military employment classification. So up to 25 per cent are not,” Defence Chief of Personnel Lieutenant General Natasha Fox told the hearing.
The admission comes as Defence grapples with another pressing security concern — how to better protect soldiers and bases in Australia from potential attack.
In recent months, swarms of apparently unidentified drones have repeatedly breached airspace restrictions at Williamtown, north of Newcastle, which serves as Australia’s main RAAF base for the F-35 fighter jet.
This week, the Albanese Government introduced legislation to establish exclusion zones around Australia’s approximately 170 military bases.
The new laws would authorise those bases to shoot down incoming drones if necessary.
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