Defence census shows increase in female, Aboriginal participation

Participation in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) by women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has increased in the last four years, according to the the 2019 Defence Census Public Report. Minister for Defence Personnel Darren Chester said the census provided valuable data on the demographic profile of the Defence workforce and assisted in the development of policies and conditions that keep pace with contemporary changes in Defence and Australian society. “Providing a moment-in-time snapshot of the Defence workforce and their families, the Census highlights trends in areas such as education, work-life-balance and family circumstances,” Chester said. “Since 2015, female representation across the ADF has increased by 3.1 percent, with Air Force seeing a 4 percent increase during that time. Similarly, ADF personnel who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander increased from 2.3 percent in 2015 to 3.7 percent in 2019. This is great to see as it highlights that we are attracting a diverse range of people, which only makes our ADF better.” The census also tracks data on the families of serving personnel, which showed that 79 percent of all Defence spouses were employed, while 8 percent were not employed and looking for work. For the first time, Defence collected information about study and use of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) qualifications, to assist with the development of Defence STEM capability. “Thirty-nine percent of the overall Defence workforce have a STEM qualification, with the top STEM field of study being engineering,” Chester said. More than 50,000 ADF personnel and Defence Australian Public Service employees took part in the 2019 Defence Census. The 2019 Defence Census Public Report is available here. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]