Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I know that, as of this week, there are currently 2,200 defence personnel deployed as part of Operation COVID-19 Assist, and I really want to pay tribute to the 9,000 personnel with the Australian Defence Force who have been deployed in total throughout the pandemic. It makes every Australian proud to see those men and women in uniform, providing reassurance to people in very difficult circumstances. It follows on, of course, from the work that thousands of men and women of the ADF undertook during the bushfire season—the support that they provided to communities to help those communities rebuild and to provide, as I say, the logistics and expertise that many other organisations, NGOs et cetera, just can't bring to the table.

Over many years the ADF has been trained to an exceptionally high standard. We've been able to invest in the ADF because we have put a lot of effort into getting our budget in order over recent years. We went into this pandemic having really dealt with the difficult situation budget-wise that we inherited from the Labor Party in 2013, and we have worked every day since then, including in the most recent budget—given that we do have a strong budget position—to provide support to Australians not just through JobKeeper and JobSeeker but by putting extra investment into the Australian Defence Force so that they can support their personnel to help Australia move beyond the devastation of COVID-19.

I commend the Chief of the Defence Force and all of the personnel. They should be very proud, as we are, of their efforts that have really made a significant difference to Australia's effort to combat the pandemic.

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