Defence spent $60m on recruitment ads but failed to track impact: audit

The findings come from an audit report tabled on Monday, June 24, which delved into the tens of millions forked out each year on Australian Defence Force (ADF) recruitment campaigns in the midst of "significant workforce challenges".

The $60.2 million spend in 2022-23 made up one-third of federal government expenditure on campaigns that year, while Defence recruitment campaigns have averaged 25 per cent of the government's total advertising expenditure over the last 10 years.

While the Australian National Audit Office judged Defence's management of three campaigns in the 2022-23 financial year to be compliant with federal government rules, it revealed the department did not know the campaigns' actual impact on recruitment.

"Defence uses quarterly communications tracking reports to monitor the performance of its active campaigns," the audit office concluded.

"Defence does not evaluate the overall effectiveness of its recruitment advertising campaigns after they have ended.

"The extent to which Defence's recruitment advertising activities have contributed towards increasing the number of applications to join the ADF has therefore not been assessed by Defence."

Analysis by The Canberra Times shows the overall size of the ADF has largely stayed the same over the last 10 financial years, as expenditure on advertising has crept up.

The ADF had just 310 more personnel at the end of the 2022-23 financial year than it did at the end of 2013-14, yet Defence spent $17.3 million more in the last financial year than it did a decade ago.

However, the reserves have grown significantly from 24,028 in 2013-14, to 32,049 in 2022-23.

While Defence accepted all three recommendations from the audit, including findings it should evaluate its advertising campaigns, the department said it undertook "rigorous and comprehensive quarterly evaluations".

"Defence notes that each of its campaigns are subject to rigorous and comprehensive quarterly evaluations over the life of a campaign, a period of typically four to six years, to regularly assess the audience's resonance with, recollection of, and reaction to, the subject campaign," the department's response reads.

"However, Defence accepts the finding that it has not conducted a final evaluation of campaigns it has elected to remove from market."

These quarterly evaluations - conducted by a contracted third party - measure the "reach, response and impact" of the campaigns, rather than their impact on applications to the Defence Force.

The three campaigns scrutinised in the audit included; Where It All Begins, which promoted the Australian Defence Force Academy to 15- to 24-year-olds, Take A Closer Look, which advertised ADF jobs more broadly, and Live a Story Worth Telling, which captured navy jobs.

The report found each of the campaigns had a documented justification, and passed other requirements, including political impartiality, relevance to government responsibilities and legal compliance.

Defence campaigns are signed off by several teams and figures, including the Defence Minister for Personnel, secretary of Defence, an independent committee, and a cabinet subcommittee.

Defence Minister Richard Marles was contacted for comment, but a department spokesperson responded instead.

"Defence conducts comprehensive quarterly reviews of individual ADF careers campaigns to evaluate their ongoing effectiveness regarding how audiences recognise, recall and react to the advertising material," the spokesperson said.

"These reviews in turn directly inform the longevity of each campaign."