Most of Australia’s navy has been given two month's leave over the Christmas period in a bid to make naval life appear more family friendly and boost recruitment.
All ships that are not on overseas operations have been ordered to return to port and crews onboard will be reduced to a skeleton staff, from December 3 until February 2. Navy Deputy Chief Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas said: "The stand-down will not impact operations and is to ensure that our people who are not required on operations are able to take a meaningful period of time off and spend time their families."
The navy currently has 12,000 sailors but needs to recruit an extra 2,000 sailors. It faces serious staff shortages, with a 27% annual recruitment shortfall exacerbated by more than one-in-10 personnel leaving the service each year.
Australia’s Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, said: “We are doing a lot of work trying to find new and innovative ways both to retain skilled people and recruit new people.”