From today, ADF personnel will get a 1.5 per cent pay rise.
The Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal signed off on the three-year pay deal yesterday.
While full-time uniformed personnel and reservists will gain a 1.5 per cent pay hike, they will lose some leave days and allowances.
Labor has branded the below inflation pay increase as disgraceful, and the Defence Force Welfare Association called it insultingly low.
In answer to criticism, Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert said he lamented not being able to provide a higher increase to Australian defence employees.
‘We would love to pay our fighting men and women more, but I can’t give what I simply don’t have’, Mr Robert told Sky News.
Under the agreement handed down on Monday by the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal, defence personnel will also give up six days of Christmas and recreational leave.
A first-year private will receive $44,422 a year, a lieutenant $64,803 and a colonel $138,556.
AAP
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