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Thursday, 9 February 2012
Page: 708

Defence

(Question No. 1448)

Senator Humphries asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 9 November 2011:

Have the defects reported with the Australian soldier Multicam pattern clothing, as reported in the Daily Telegraph of 19 September 2011, 'Exposed:

Diggers Fighting Unholey War', been rectified as directed by the Minister for Defence Materiel in September 2011;

if so, when was this completed and was the correction of these problems covered under warranty and if not under warranty, was an additional cost incurred and how much.

Senator Chris Evans: The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

Defence is working with the uniform manufacturer to incorporate feedback from the operational trial to enhance both the effectiveness and durability of these uniforms. These changes include moving to a slightly heavier but more durable fabric, as well as modifying some of the pockets to improve access and reduce the likelihood of the uniforms catching when moving through heavy undergrowth and confined spaces. All of these changes have been incorporated into the baseline design and will be included in the next order of uniforms, which will start arriving from the United States in January 2012.

Deployed soldiers have also been issued an extra set of uniforms (an increase from two sets to three) from the attrition stock held in theatre to ensure they have sufficient uniforms readily accessible if any garments do rip. Future deployments will be issued four sets per soldier.

The work that has been done by the contractor to incorporate the feedback from the operational trial and the testing that was conducted to support the decision to move to the more durable fabric was all done at nil cost to the Commonwealth. The unit cost for the uniforms has also remained unchanged.

The final configuration for the Australian made uniforms that are due to be delivered from mid-2012 will incorporate the feedback from the operational trial. As the uniforms will be made in Australia, they will not be made from the same fabric as the trial uniforms, but will be made from the cotton/polyester fabric used in the Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform.