Publication:Sea Talk Autumn 2008/The Warrant Officer of the Navy

Welcome to first edition of SeaTalk for 2008. I trust that the 2007/2008 reduced activity period provided an opportunity for a large number of you to take some much earned leave following a busy 2007.

This year is quickly shaping up to be another busy year for our Navy and I am excited by this prospect. I am confident that our uniform personnel are up to the challenge, however I ask you to take a moment to recognise the additional burden that our families bear in supporting us.

New recruits

I am pleased to report that a record number of recruits have passed through our Recruit Training School in 2007 and are currently under training and will in due course be entering the fleet.

I remind all personnel of the importance of training our shipmates at each and every rank in our workplaces, either through continuation training or induction support to newly posted members, and that it is essential to the future of our Navy, and vital to the retention of our members.

A question you might like to ask yourself in considering this point is: ‘What training and support of our people can I contribute to?’ - you might be surprised by your own response!

Honours and awards

Congratulations to all those people who were recognised in the Australia Day 2008 Honours list this year.

In particular congratulations to Chief Petty Officers Penny Stone and Peter Strzelecki on the award of the Order of Australia Medal, Leading Seaman Anthony Wessling, on award of a Commendation for Distinguished Service, and Warrant Officer Simon Kelly, Petty Officer Shane Nesbitt and Leading Seaman Sean Cryer, on award of the Conspicuous Service Medal. Well done to all!

Pay case – your say

Phase four, stage two of the Remuneration Reform Project (RRP) is scheduled to occur this year. For those that have not heard of this, the intent is to adjust the pay scales from chief petty officers through to seaman, from 16 pay groups to either 8 or 10 pay groups.

It is important to point out that this phase of the RRP is a further restructuring and is not intended as an across the board pay rise. An enormous but important task and I ask that if you are called upon to assist in the preparation of the Navy’s case for this tri-service submission to the Defence Remuneration Tribunal that you give your upmost support to the team from the Navy pay case team. This submission is your chance to be involved in shaping part of our Navy and the Australian Defence Force’s future in the remuneration arena.

First Senior Sailors’ Symposium - Auckland

On a different tack, I had the honour of representing our Navy’s sailors at the inaugural Senior Sailors Symposium in Auckland in early November.

Warrant Officer of the New Zealand Navy, Warrant Officer Neil Roberts, hosted this symposium which was attended by 29 foreign delegates, representing 13 maritime forces from around the world.

The theme was Senior Sailors Making a Difference which generated a number of beneficial and rewarding presentations and syndicate discussions. This was a great opportunity to inform our allied navies of the great work that our sailors achieve each and everyday. Additionally, it was enlightening to hear of initiatives being applied by our neighbouring navies to similar personnel issues that we are currently experiencing.

RAN Symposium at Watson

Later in the month, our Chief of Navy hosted the RAN Symposium at HMAS Watson. On November 22, 200 Navy personnel repesenting all commands and ranks attended the symposium, and the event was telecast to a number of locations throughout Australia.

This annual event is a great opportunity for our people to be exposed to the accomplishments of our Navy over the last 12 months, and to see the future course that CN has set for the next 12 months.

Thanks for Christmas

I thank the ship’s company of HMAS Arunta for their hospitality on Christmas Day during a recent visit in-company with the Chief of Navy whilst on station in the Middle East Area of Operations.

Arunta currently remains on station in support of Operations Catalyst and Slipper in the MEAO and continues to uphold the world class reputation of our Navy established by the number of our units that have seen active service in that region.

On my 6th operational MEAO visit I was again extremely humbled of the continual and unrelenting display of professionalism, dedication and the positive attitude from all our people – in at times tiring and arduous conditions.

In addition I would like to thank the men and women of the Logistic Support Element Bahrain and Commander Task Force 158 for their hospitality and frank discussions.

In closing I, like all of you, am extremely proud of the Navy that I serve in and continue to be impressed by the openness and candid observations of our sailors, and I look forward to meeting with more of you this year in my role as Warrant Officer of the Navy.

Navy – the team works.

James Levay

Warrant Officer of the Navy

E-mail: james.levay@defence.gov.au

Tel: 02 626 54905