Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Hinkler for putting forward this motion and the member for Gellibrand for seconding it. The ADF Parliamentary Program has been a particularly significant initiative since 2001 and is an initiative which both sides of the House absolutely support. I certainly encourage all members of parliament to avail themselves of the opportunities that the program presents.

The genesis of this program was very much a sense that the modern parliamentarian, because of the nature of our defence activities over the last 20 or30 years, often were less likely than previous generations to actually have an in-depth understanding of the Defence Force. In previous generations, often many members of parliament had in fact served. Although we do have some members who have served, the fact is that that is true. Providing people with an opportunity to actually see what our Defence forces do on our behalf is an opportunity that I have cherished in the time that I have been a member of parliament. My only regret is that I was somewhat a late convert to being involved in this program; I think I went on my first ADF program in 2006 or 2007, but I have been going every year I could ever since.

I have been to places like Afghanistan, the gulf, the Solomon Islands, the fleet air base down at Nowra and, last week, Williamtown air base in Newcastle and off the coast of Queensland during a war game such as Talisman Sabre. This has given me an opportunity to get a small insight, an understanding of what our Defence forces are doing, whether it be Army, Navy or Air Force. It has given me an opportunity to speak to the many outstanding men and women both young and old who serve us in the Defence Force. It has provided me with a degree of understanding of the sorts of complexities that those involvements require and the sort of professionalism and courage which is on display on a daily basis by those who wear uniforms on our behalf across the services. It has also provided me an opportunity, as a host on a number of occasions, to do the reverse, which is to come to Parliament House and try to make sense of what we do in this place and where it fits with respect to what we then ask them to do in their place of work. That in itself has been fascinating.

I have found invaluable that personal aspect of being able to talk to people in the Defence Force and have a bit of time to get an appreciation of what we and they do. I certainly say that this is a program which has many people on both sides of the House who are incredibly encouraging and supportive of it, but I say that there are more members of parliament that ought to be involved and more MPs—particularly newer MPs—who should avail themselves of those opportunities in order to ensure that they do understand better what is done through the Defence forces with respect to our needs as a grateful nation.

I mentioned the complexity, the courage and the professionalism. They are on display across all three services, and you really do feel extremely proud when you visit some of these bases, see the activities that they undertake and get that understanding. I found it particularly useful, as a member of parliament who has had ministerial responsibility in the defence field, to help enhance my understanding of those issues and my involvement on things like the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and also to better appreciate what has to be done. I have certainly also found it very useful in talking to constituents. There is often a situation with the Defence Force where a lot of people in the general community think: 'Do we really need this capability? Is it really something that we're ever going to use?' I can tell members of this House that I find it very useful to be able to say: ' I've been where these people go. I've seen what they do. I understand not only the threat but also the importance of having the ability to meet threats and to provide support in humanitarian circumstances when it is required.'

I tell people every chance I get: they ought to be very proud of our defence forces for the work they do. They ought to be very proud of their professionalism, their courage and their decency, and they should know that they serve us in a very, very important way.

Debate interrupted.

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