A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy

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THE WAY FORWARD
Advantages
20. The advantages of a permanent detachment of the Royal Australian Navy Band in Western
Australia are significant to Navy, and reinforce Chief of Navy’s Goal 6 and the band’s mission,
Promote the Navy. 11 One advantage is the weekday availability of the band to perform at schools,
colleges, universities, and out-door public performance venues—this is not possible as the reserve
detachment is only available on weekends. There is no permanent Australian Defence Force Band
presence in Western Australia and that could be a major factor in the traditionally poor recruiting in
the west across all target groups. 12
21. A permanent detachment would also be available for fleet support activities and major fleet
ceremonial mid-week tasks such as departures, arrivals, divisions, mess functions, open days and
family days. Presently, detachments are flown in from the East Coast to meet most of these
activities. Such additional opportunities—particularly those with youth and community groups—help
promote Navy as good corporate citizens. 13
22. For the musician category, which is experiencing only moderate recruiting success, 14
Western Australia would create additional posting opportunities outside of Sydney and Melbourne
and expose musicians to the wider naval community. These extended opportunities and challenges
will assist in job satisfaction and thereby, retention. 15 A permanent detachment in the west should
also assist with geographically based musician recruiting.
23. This proposal adds value to the existing arrangement by both reinforcing the reserve
detachment when required, while simultaneously expanding capability within Western
Australia. 16 Ship movements at HMAS Stirling between October 2000 and October 2001 that could not
be supported by the current reserve detachment included 30 requests from fleet units and 20
additional international ship arrivals.
24. For the year 2001, the Australian Defence Force Recruitment Unit in Perth undertook the
following activities that could not be supported by the reserve detachment:
• 30 expositions,
• 23 colleges,
• 57 schools, and
• seven tours.
OTHER KEY CONSIDERATIONS
Personnel
25. The current 105 permanent positions 17 are:
• RAN Band-Sydney (62); 18
11 Establishment of a band in Western Australia is consistent with a strategic approach to planning and supports the
RAN organisation goals. See Meredith, J.R. and Mantel, S.J.Jr. (2000) Project Management: A Managerial Approach.
4 th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p 183.
12
Australian Defence Force Recruiting has supplied figures, which indicate that recruit enquiries in Perth are
substantially lower than in other states.
13 It also supports Chief of Navy’s Goal 6.
14 According to Navy’s General Recruiting Brief given to Senate Legislative Committee Hearing Winter Session 2002,
current recruiting targets for musicians is 63 % for FY 01/02.
15 Discharge rate for FY 01/02 was 10.17 % with figure supplied by Navy Workforce Planners.
16 Using the FY 00/01 year as a comparison of output, the Sydney detachment completed 160 tasks while the WANB
completed 48. This clearly demonstrates the PR potential of a permanent presence in the west.
17 This figure does not include the current officer allowance of one Lieutenant Commander and four Lieutenants.
Also, a proposal for an additional allowance for two officers has been endorsed by Navy Workforce Planners and is
separate to this proposal.
18 This figure includes a Members Required in Uniform allowance of five personnel.
Royal Australian Navy Band: A Musical Voyage