Federal Member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon, and Labor Candidate for Port Stephens, Kate Washington, have today joined the Federal Labor Party Leader, Bill Shorten, in calling for Tony Abbott to urgently reconsider his Government’s unfair pay offer to uniformed Australian Defence Force Personnel, which will see real wages for servicemen and women fall over the next twelve months.

The Abbott Liberal Government has asked the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal to approve an unfair pay offer of only 1.5 per cent and to give up some recreational leave and Christmas leave.

This offer is well under inflation and will be a cut to the real wages of ADF personnel, including the thousands of men and women at RAAF Williamtown Base.

The Abbott Liberal Government should be ensuring a better deal for our ADF personnel, especially at a time when many from Newcastle and the Hunter are deployed overseas away from their families and loved ones.

Australia asks our ADF personnel to defend our country and protect our national security – the Government has an obligation to pay them properly and give them proper leave.

The Defence Force Welfare Association have conducted an online survey on the pay offer – since Friday, nearly 8,000 personnel have responded, with around 90 per cent of respondents dissatisfied with the proposal.

The Returned Services League of Australia has today joined the chorus of opposition to this unfair proposal and said that they cannot support it.

This cut to the ADF’s pay and conditions should be redressed immediately.