Why the Australian navy is struggling to recruit

News Snapshot:

“The big thing with recruitment is the navy is not doing things people join the navy to do,” said Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge, a former Defence Department official. “We’ve got sailors in pictures doing debris clean-up after floods but we can’t send a ship to the Red Sea. Well, they’re not going to join up to pick up debris in North Queensland.” The navy is not alone with recruitment and retention challenges – the army has shed almost 1700 soldiers over the past two years, while the RAAF has trod water. This is despite a 2040 target to...