2012 is the politically magical year where the government will return to surplus. Indeed the headline figure is a $1.5 billion surplus. But cuts had to come from somewhere and Defence has most definitely played its part. DEFENCE barely rated a mention in the Budget speech from Treasurer Wayne Swan except towards the very end where he talked of a balanced budget where Defence had deferred expenditure and prioritising support for operations. And there are actually 1,000 cuts in Defence this year; they come in the form of Australian Public Service (APS) jobs. These 1,000 APS jobs are on top of the 1,000 APS job cuts from last year. However, the cuts from the previous year came from Defence merely not filling positions for the most part. This financial year may see more people in roles leaving the organisation rather than never actually joining.
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