Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I rise today to ask the Minister for Defence about the significance of Defence in the first round of the Rudd Labor government’s budget. The Defence presence in Solomon is significant. Well over 5,000 ADF men and women are based in Solomon. Their presence includes the HMAS Coonawarra, the Darwin Naval Base and Headquarters Northern Command, located at Larrakeyah Barracks. The Australian Army has a large presence at Robinson Barracks and, with NORFORCE, at Larrakeyah Barracks, and there is a large Royal Australian Air Force presence at RAAF Base Darwin.

In Solomon we have several thousand service men and women and their families who actively go about their daily business of going to work, spending time with their families, shopping at local shopping centres, going to school, playing sport and going fishing on the weekends. It is not until you stop and think about it that you realise how integral defence personnel and their families are to our vibrant city in the north. Both during the campaign and since being elected, I have been fortunate to meet and socialise with many members of our Australian Defence Force community—people like the young mums and dads who catch up with me at the local shops or at barbecues and tell me how life is in the Defence Force and how it is going for them. I have had the pleasure of coaching young men in the combined services Australian Rules football side up there, who are a truly magnificent group of young guys from the triservices.

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