Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The Minister for Foreign Affairs and I recently had the opportunity to discuss security sector issues in East Timor with the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Dr Atul Khare. We discussed the importance of security and stability to international development efforts in East Timor. We agreed that the ongoing strong role of the UN police will be vital to ensure that the East Timorese police have sufficient support to carry out their duties and increasingly assume the mantle of law and order in their own country. Dr Khare and I also shared the view that any future drawdown of the UN mission in East Timor needs to be based on the achievement of performance benchmarks by the East Timorese police. When these benchmarks are met, any drawdown would then be managed modestly, cautiously and in consultation with Australia.

East Timor is an enduring security interest for Australia. As one of our nearest neighbours, we have a strategic and humanitarian interest in assisting East Timor to develop and grow as a secure, stable and democratic nation. Like so many new nations, East Timor has faced struggles and challenges as it has emerged in the world. As a country with evolving state structures and political conventions and facing many challenges relating to poverty, unemployment and a lack of infrastructure, East Timor has grappled with instability and violence for much of its brief independent life.

Dealing with such instability and creating the conditions for growth, security and development are long-term tasks. The Australian government is committed to a whole-of-government approach to East Timor’s development. Defence is committed to working with other Australian government agencies and the international community to provide the conditions and institutions necessary to create the stability and security that development activities need in order to take hold.

My view of East Timor is one of optimism. This optimism is not merely borne from hope but rather it is the optimism borne from the knowledge that the Australian Defence Force is working hard and working smart to build a stable East Timor through effective operations and targeted assistance. Defence has been approaching this in two ways. Firstly in response to specific security incidents in April 2006 Australia has deployed and leads the International Stabilisation Force known as the ISF. The ISF is a joint force of around 750 Australians and 170 New Zealanders who are there to provide meaningful backup to the United Nations and East Timorese police. This force has been remarkably successful in calming the situation and giving the police the support they need to enforce and promote the rule of law.

The attacks on President Horta and Prime Minister Gusmao by disaffected former East Timorese soldiers earlier this year were a setback for the country but a setback I now believe we have overcome. Australia’s rapid response to these attacks and the prevention of follow-up violence is a testament to the professionalism of the ADF and their knowledge and expertise in East Timor. Since these attacks, outbreaks of violence have been avoided and significant progress has been made by the East Timorese government in addressing and resolving the issues of the disaffected former soldiers. The Australian Defence Force’s contribution to the International Stabilisation Force will continue to work with the East Timorese authorities and the United Nations to provide the assurance they need to do their work.

The second way that Defence is assisting to create stability is by building the East Timorese security institutions, in particular the East Timorese Defence Force, known as the F-FDTL. Through the Defence Cooperation Program, Australia is working hard to build the core skills necessary for a modern and effective defence force. Under the Defence Cooperation Program, Australia has embedded advisers in key areas to assist in the capability development of the F-FDTL and the ministry of defence. There are currently 18 Australian Defence advisers, both military and civilian, in East Timor. These advisers include specialists in communications, medical, logistics, engineering, finance and strategic policy. We will also be deploying an additional 14 advisers to further build the capacity of the F-FDTL.

The Defence Cooperation Program is also funding projects including a specialist training wing to develop soldiers with engineering, communications and medical skills as well as improving the communications fit-out of F-FDTL bases. In addition East Timorese soldiers receive English language training and general education courses so that they can undertake complex military instruction in Australia at places like the Royal Military College at Duntroon.

Recently the Australian government has approved an enhanced package of defence cooperation for East Timor that will build local capacity to undertake nation-building engineering tasks, improve maritime security capabilities and develop a peace-keeping role. We are also undertaking the building of armouries to ensure that the East Timorese weapons are held securely and reduce the risk of weapons falling into the wrong hands as has occurred in the past.

Building the capability of the defence force is only part of improving the security sector in East Timor. Defence maintains extensive links with the United Nations and the Australian Federal Police to ensure that programs such as the Police Development Program and the other security sector reform initiatives marry up with the work we are doing on the military front.

All of this effort can only happen in an environment of cooperation. Australia works closely with New Zealand, the United Nations and the government of East Timor to ensure that the assistance we are providing is targeted, welcomed and appropriate to the broader development goals for the country. In turn my department works hard to make sure that the defence component of Australia’s assistance complements the efforts of the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, AusAID and other Australian government agencies. This effective application of civil-military cooperation underscores the important work that will be undertaken by the Asia Pacific Centre for Civil-Military Cooperation that is being established in Queanbeyan under the guidance of my parliamentary secretary, the member for Eden-Monaro.

As I discussed with my East Timorese colleague Dr Julio Tomas Pinto at the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore late last month, Australia stands ready to assist East Timor to develop in any way we can. Helping to build a solid, well-trained and apolitical defence force for East Timor is one way that my department can create the conditions necessary for stability to take hold and for democracy and prosperity to flourish.

Let me close by taking the opportunity to pay tribute to three men who have played an important role in our success in East Timor and operations elsewhere. On 3 July Vice Admiral Russ Shalders, Lieutenant General Peter Leahy and Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd will retire as chiefs of their respective services. On behalf of the government, the parliament and the Australian people I pay tribute to these three service chiefs for their professionalism, their dedication and their very strong leadership. I thank them for their service and I wish them all the very best for the future. I thank the House.

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