Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for her question and note her commitment to the Defence community in her electorate of Capricornia. The member for Capricornia knows the value of having local communities involved in joint exercises between Australian and US forces. Her electorate plays host to the Exercise Talisman Sabre at the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area and would also be the beneficiary of $2 billion in investment from joint Australian-Singaporean exercises.

Any change in the Australian-US relationship puts at risk the unique capabilities that benefit Australian Defence Force personnel. For example, the Force Posture Agreement, which will see up to 2,500 US Marines rotate through the Northern Territory, is a key enabler of our future security in the Northern Territory. The Force Posture Agreement was signed in 2014 and came into force in 2015. Australia and the US will share the costs for more than $2 billion in infrastructure investment in northern Australia, as well as the ongoing costs of the initiative over the 25-year life of the agreement.

This initiative is bringing a large amount of money into the Territory. It not only provides training for ADF personnel but stimulates the local economy. The member for Lingiari understands this. When US Marines first started exercises in the Northern Territory, he said:

We have unique attributes which can now be shared in a more formal way with our comrades from the United States, and it's a very important part that we are playing as a community in that relationship and we should be very proud of it.

Yet it seems the shadow foreign affairs minister underestimates the extraordinary benefit of these links and the importance of our current relationship with the US. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs noted, the shadow minister wants to, sadly, downgrade our relationship with the US. The local member, the member for Lingiari, is right to point out how important that relationship is, but what we want to know is: what does the Leader of the Opposition think? The Leader of the Opposition has a problem. His side of politics is divided when it comes to the most important alliance relationship we have. We need to know from the Leader of the Opposition: whose side is he taking? Is he backing his shadow foreign affairs minister or is he backing sensible people like the member for Lingiari? It is time the Leader of the Opposition owned up to his problem and told us where he stands. (Time expired)

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