De­fence Min­is­ter Wayne Sturge says the Mil­i­tary-Led Aca­d­e­m­ic Train­ing (Mi­LAT) Pro­gramme has not been closed but tem­porar­i­ly sus­pend­ed as the Gov­ern­ment re­views its fu­ture, amid mount­ing crit­i­cism that the move could leave vul­ner­a­ble young men with­out a crit­i­cal sup­port sys­tem.

The pro­gramme’s sus­pen­sion has sparked con­cern over the fu­ture of al­most 200 trainees and ap­prox­i­mate­ly 50 staff mem­bers, with re­ports that fa­cil­i­ta­tors have been told their con­tracts will not be re­newed.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia to­day, Sturge in­sist­ed the pro­gramme re­mained un­der re­view.