Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert for his question and for his very strong support of defence families in Townsville—who will, I can assure him, enjoy the budget. Yesterday the Prime Minister announced on behalf of the government that a further 240 Australian troops will be deployed to Afghanistan. They will be in the central southern part of Uruzgan province in Afghanistan. They will be drawn from the 1st Combat Engineers in Darwin and also from elements of the 1st Brigade, particularly for logistics. Bushmasters and ASLAVS, and their supporting crews, will come from 6th RAR in Brisbane. In addition to that the Australian government has also announced that the two Chinook helicopters, both of which have undergone a $25 million upgrade for their electronic warfare self-protection systems and avionics, will remain in Afghanistan until April.

The Australian troops will be working with the Dutch. The Dutch will have 1,400 troops deployed in this North Atlantic Treaty Organisation led activity. It is very important that Australians appreciate that, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, this is a potentially quite dangerous mission. But it is one that is also very important. Of the 240 troops, about half will be tradies and engineers and about half will be protective forces for our own troops. They will also be working in very close partnership with the Dutch forces, which will include F16s and Apache helicopters.

I can inform the House that the troops will be based in Tirin Kot. The reconstruction activities will take place at two sites and will include restoration and building of roads and culverts, of water reticulation, of sewerage programs and of basic infrastructure and will also include trade training.

I notice that there has been some commentary in the Australian media today that perhaps Australia should not be in Afghanistan. Whilst to some extent that is understandable, it is important that all of us appreciate that, if we do not take up the cause against the Taliban and terrorist elements in Afghanistan—while it is in some ways quite remote from Australia—we will leave the next generation of Australians and other people throughout the world hostage to the kind of ideological insanity that killed innocent Australians in Bali. It is extremely important that we undertake our international obligations. For that reason, the government has committed these forces.

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