'Field allowance' cut: Diggers' pay to be trimmed in push to save budget millions of dollars

Updated

Thousands of Defence personnel serving in the Middle East will have their allowances cut, in a move that will save the federal budget millions of dollars.

The Government says the changes have been made because of Australia's withdrawal from Afghanistan and a broader reorganisation of Defence deployments in the region.

The daily "field allowance", which is given to Defence personnel serving in arduous conditions and worth up to $56 per day, will no longer be paid to all troops in Afghanistan, but rather decided on a case by case basis.

Other allowances, worth $200 per day for troops in Afghanistan and $125 per day for those deployed in the Gulf States and anti-piracy operations, are also in line to be scaled back.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the decision to cut back the payments was made by the military top brass, but it has his support.

"The nature of service in Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East has changed," he told Macquarie Radio this morning.

"Until the end of last year, a lot of our forces in Afghanistan were in the field - they were engaged in regular combat.

If you're no longer in the field, then it's pretty hard to put up a good case that you should receive field allowance. Neil James, Australia Defence Association

"And that's quite different from the kind of training and support roles that they will be in this year and subsequently."

Neil James, from the Australia Defence Association, has backed the changes to allowances although he has acknowledged some within Defence are likely to be disappointed.

"They're fairly logical in the case of the field allowance - we no longer have any soldiers in forward operating bases living in reasonably primitive conditions in mud brick huts, for example," Mr James told ABC Newsradio.

"If you're no longer in the field, then it's pretty hard to put up a good case that you should receive field allowance."

He says the main concerns he has relate to how the changes will affect sailors engaged in anti-piracy operations in the Middle East.

"Obviously aspects of that operation continue to remain hazardous, and we'll just have to see how that's sorted out."

Allowance cut will 'punish serving personnel'

Labor's defence spokesman Stephen Conroy shares those concerns and has accused the Government of "penny-pinching".

"Mr Abbott is hiding behind the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan to cut the pay of people who are involved in anti-piracy, who are protecting the waterways," Senator Conroy told reporters in Perth.

"(This will) punish and penalise serving ADF personnel by up to $19,000.

"This is 1,000 personnel who are still serving there, who are still doing the same jobs that they were before."

As part of the changes, Operation Slipper - which has previously covered Australia's Middle East deployments - will be split into three separate operations from July 1.

The military commitment in Afghanistan will continue to work under the title of Operation Slipper, but the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden will be conducted under Operation Manitou.

Those deployed in supporting roles in neighbouring Gulf States will work under Operation Accordion.

The bulk of Australia's troops have now left Afghanistan, but there will be an ongoing support and training role for a smaller number of Defence personnel.

The Government says those who remain will not automatically qualify for the "field allowance", given the improved infrastructure and living conditions.

Special Forces personnel do not receive the "field allowance", but rather a different payment which will be unaffected by today's announcement.

Topics: defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia, afghanistan

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