Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was very pleased to hear about this motion and have the opportunity today to make comments on reflection. I note first of all that the motion talks about recognising the importance of working with our Pacific neighbours to deliver a region that is secure and that is sovereign. I would like to add a little to that and say that I believe that the principles of friendship and of collaboration are also inherently fundamental and important in delivering these outcomes. Indeed, through the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, and the Defence subcommittee, we are inquiring at the moment into the Pacific step-up program the Australian government has. We are listening to the region about what is working well and what else the region would like to see. Some of the feedback we're getting is that the idea of working collaboratively together as partners in the region is foremost in our regional neighbours' minds.

I will start with a personal reflection. While I was still a young Army officer, I was in command of an infantry company at the Townsville based 2nd Battalion. I was part of the online company of the online unit of the Australian Defence Force. It was incredibly exciting when we got what's called a warning order, which basically says, 'You're going somewhere; start packing your bags.' This was a warning order to deploy to Solomon Islands as part of Operation ANODE, which sought to restore law and order to, effectively, cordon and search and catch criminals, round up weapons and restore peace and stability to this absolutely beautiful region.

It was exciting, then, to deploy as the very first company on the ground. We flew into the famed island of Guadalcanal and the capital, Honiara, a place which saw immense and fierce fighting in the Second World War but one that has a deep history and natural beauty. We were joined, there, by partners from the region. We served alongside platoons from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and quite a few of our other Pacific neighbour nations.

Moving towards the Pacific Maritime Security Program, this program has three essential elements. It includes 21 Guardian Class Patrol Boats, air surveillance and improved regional cooperation. What this program will deliver is infrastructure, but it will also deliver sustainment and training. For these 21 Guardian Class Patrol Boats, it will include crews being trained. They will be brought to Australia and trained and deployed with those vessels back to their home countries. There will remain in country the ability to sustain them and access resources to help continue their effective use.

I was really pleased to visit the Austal shipyard in Henderson, in my home state of Western Australia. Here I was able to see two of these Guardian Class Patrol Boats, there on the dock, all shiny and ready to roll out the door—I should say, sail out the door. Really exciting. I should admit there is a bit of a slowdown because of COVID, so the crews who were coming from Pacific islands to accept those boats, to be trained and then sail home, haven't yet been able to arrive. But, rest assured, that is high on the radar, and I'm sure those vessels will be very welcome back in their home countries.

I also note the significance of the humanitarian and disaster relief program, which will be housed at the Blackrock Camp in Fiji. This will be a wonderful regional capability. We know and have seen the importance of being able to rapidly deploy medical equipment, supplies, emergency food relief and, of course, essentials like water and medicines when natural disasters hit within our region.

It goes almost without saying and across all sides of politics, in this place, that the Pacific Step-up, our engagement with our neighbours, remains one of the very highest priorities of our Australian foreign policy. Whilst we have seen some impacts around COVID, we've seen that collaboration and working together. We've deployed some 21 tonnes of PPE and other emergency relief equipment into our region and, indeed, as we heard earlier, our region has supported us, including through the bushfires, where we had Fijians and Papua New Guineans fighting fires alongside Australians. This is the sort of region we want to become, and it is how we will achieve that strength, that stability and that security.

See this speech in context