WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Australia temporarily shuts down navy for two months
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-18 15:21

CANBERRA, Australia -- Most of Australia's navy will take two months paid leave over Christmas as part of a new strategy to cope with crew shortages and make sailors' jobs more family friendly, the defense minister said Tuesday. 

A man is seen reading a newspaper next to Australian navy ships at a navy base in Sydney Harbour in this September 10, 2008 file photo. [Agencies]

With the navy short 2,020 personnel, Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the shut-down, which begins December 3, will enable overworked sailors to rest while new recruitment options are examined.

All navy ships not on operational deployments have been ordered home for Christmas, and the number of sailors who stay aboard docked ships as sentries will be reduced to skeleton crews, he said. The navy has about 13,000 personnel in total.

"We're doing a lot of work trying to find new and innovative ways both to retain skilled people and recruit new people," Fitzgibbon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The two-month break is "just a way of saying thank you and encouraging them to stay in the service," he added.

Fitzgibbon said a shortage of troops was the biggest challenge facing the Australian Defense Force and making their jobs more family friendly was part of the solution.

"The family-work balance is a very, very important part of the equation," Fitzgibbon said.

Although Australia faces no apparent security threat, the opposition attacked the extended leave.

Opposition spokesman on defense issues, David Johnston, described the strategy as a government admission that it had failed to recruit sufficient sailors.

"I've never seen a defense force charged with the protection of Australia saying we're going to have six-to-eight weeks off over Christmas because we think it's a good thing for the moms and dads," Johnston told ABC.

Navy Deputy Chief Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas said in a statement Tuesday that the break will not adversely impact national security.

"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 with their families," he said. "This is about nurturing our people and working smarter, not harder."

He said 500 navy personnel will remain on active duty in the Middle East and patrolling Australian waters.

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