Defence recruitment has reached its highest level in 15 years after the federal government poured millions of dollars into cash bonuses, benefits and loosening eligibility to deal with the rising threat of China.

The number of permanent full-time personnel across the army, navy and air force rose to 61,189 as of July 1, boosted by 7059 enlistments in the latest financial year.

The new recruits were the highest annual intake since the 2014-15 financial year and a 17 per cent rise from the previous year. 

About 48 per cent of those intakes went to the army, 29 per cent went to the air force, and 21 per cent went to the navy. 

While the enlistments were a 17 per cent rise from the previous year, there were more than 67,900 potential recruits who applied but were either rejected or lost interest.

Retention improved in that time as the separation rate fell to a decade-low of 7.9 per cent across all of defence.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the figures were “very good news” considering the government had inherited a “shrinking” defence force.

“We were seeing recruitment down. We saw the separation rate at about 11.2 per cent, which was very high,” he said.

Today’s rise in recruitment numbers has been attributed to social media campaigns targeting young people, the continuation bonus program, expanded housing and health benefits, and opening up applications to permanent residents from New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said broadening recruitment to people from our partner countries has been “incredibly successful”.

“We’ve got about 70 that are in the pre-enlistment phase, just waiting for a course to start so that we can enlist them… and we’ve got over 500 applications from those countries now that are working their way through the system,” he said.

Keogh added that changing eligibility criteria for non-combat roles has helped boost numbers.

“Making sure that our policies weren’t just knocking people out of the system for no really valid reason,” he said.

“In the 21st century, it was in no way appropriate that just because someone had endometriosis, that they could not be a member of our defence force, or that because they had acne or significant broken bone in their past.”

The government is hoping to reach its target of 69,000 permanent full-time personnel by the early 2030s, as recommended in the 2023 defence strategic review which noted the looming threat of China.

“We know that we’ve got terribly difficult geo-strategic circumstances that we face,” Keogh said.

“There is a lot more to do,” Marles said.