ABSTRACT
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is small by world standards but, like other all-volunteer forces, must ensure adequate recruitment and retention, provide reasonable pay and conditions on a limited budget, and balance the needs of individual members and families against service requirements. In the past such matters were largely left to military leaders and to governments. Since adoption of the all-volunteer force in 1972, however, this paternalist approach has been much diminished by a variety of factors, including the emergence of more complex and institutionalised processes for determining pay and conditions, organisational change in the ADF, shifting attitudes on the part of service personnel, and broader political, social and strategic developments.
