Mr. Speaker, either the minister does not understand the problem or he just does not care about our men and women in the forces.
In May of this year, before we had committed the 2,000 people to this latest cause, the war on terrorism, Admiral Maddison, head of the navy, said “At the moment, I'm about 400 people short. Almost all of those are technicians, highly skilled”.
The CISS and the CDA report that the navy is already robbing technical staff from the army and the army is short as well.
How can the minister be so out of touch with the military when it is his area of responsibility?