Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor supports the Defence Amendment (Call Out of the Australian Defence Force) Bill 2018. As the House has heard from previous speakers, it's important that our national security arrangements are kept up to date, to be ready to respond to possible threats—terrorism being one of those threats. We have seen, unfortunately, the terrible consequences of terrorism, both here and around the world. As the Attorney-General said when he gave his second reading speech on this bill, as a nation 'we must remain agile and flexible in the face of the evolving terrorist threat'.

The current call-out powers for the Australian Defence Force were enacted in 2000 in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics. In the time I've got remaining before this debate adjourns, I just want to acknowledge some of those members of our Defence Force who were involved in the joint task forces during the Sydney Olympics, before I go on, at a later stage, to make some commentary on the bill.

I remember well those laws that were enacted around the 2000 Olympics and the implications of those laws. I was working at that time in Sydney as a special forces liaison officer with the joint task force. That involved working in the police operations centre. It was at the interface between the civilian authorities and first responders. Intelligence was being analysed and actions and strategies were being managed from that police operations centre. Importantly, the special forces element were busy keeping eyes and ears on the situation as it evolved around those very successful Olympic Games. There were a number of joint task forces working concurrently.

The support that was given to the civil security apparatus around the Sydney Olympics was an absolute credit to the Australian Defence Force. It was known as Operation Gold and it employed, all up, 5,622 ADF personnel, including a lot of reservists. There were two joint task forces. Joint Task Force 112 provided a wide range of support, including transport and general security roles. There was uniformed service personnel providing those services. They were important. They may not have been doing the preparedness, or kicking in doors and taking out terrorists, but they were doing the important work on the street, where things can be picked up that can lead to the tracking of threats and the neutralisation of threats. Everyone who participated in Operation Gold played an essential role in keeping those Olympics safe.

At the same time—not as public as the members of JTF 112—were those soldiers, primarily of the special forces, but others as well, commanded by Brigadier Phil McNamara, now retired, who I was working for at the time. I was with the 1st Commando Regiment, but I had the absolute privilege of watching the preparations and operations conducted by the 2nd SAS Squadron and the Black Hawk helicopter forces from 5th Aviation Regiment. Of course, 4RAR Commando were also in readiness as the response company. Together, the tactical assault group, TAG, was collectively known as JTF 643. It's difficult to explain how important the roles of that JTF played, because we saw it in the fact that it was a safe and secure Olympics. I just want to commend all the members of that JTF. When you see operators like that working together, they're highly trained, they've made lots of sacrifices—time away from family, blood, sweat and tears—preparing themselves for that moment when they're called on to enact that power in support of the civilian security agencies. It was a real privilege to be part of that joint task force and to see those consummate professionals at work.

Can I just say that, to my mind, from the police special operations centre, the military and the civilian agencies such as the police and other intelligence services worked together incredibly well. I thought there was a deep level of respect from the ADF to the job that the civilian agencies were doing, and vice versa.

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