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

I want to thank the honourable member for his question and thank him for his support of the Australian Defence Force.

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, I just want to make the House aware that there are media reports—I haven't received confirmation as yet—that tragically two soldiers have died in a vehicle rollover near Townsville. I'm waiting for further details on that, but, of course, we have significant personnel and assets around Lavarack Barracks in the north of our country. There are movements on the road every day, and it is a very dangerous task that our troops are involved in, even during training exercises and the movement of equipment up and down our national highways. That's very sad news for our country to learn, and our condolences and thoughts are with their friends and their family. We'll have more to say on that during the day.

What we've seen in Afghanistan over the course of the last couple of weeks is that our relationship with the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, is absolutely invaluable. We wouldn't have had the intelligence in relation to the terrorist attack without our relationship with the United States within the Five Eyes compact that we have. We wouldn't have received that information which ultimately contributed to us making a decision for our troops not to be at Abbey gate, and we are very grateful for that support. We wouldn't have been able, without the 1,000 British troops who were at Hamid Karzai airport, providing the security there along with the 4,000 American troops, to lift any of the 4,100 people that we have brought back to our country or those who are on their way back to our country now. The relationship with those two countries is absolutely crucial to the future security of our country, but it doesn't stop there.

Our relationships with India and with Japan in the Quad, with Vietnam, with Indonesia, with South Korea and with many other countries in the region are absolutely essential, and more so than ever. We know that we have a deteriorating security situation in the Indo-Pacific, and it's why we have countries like Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and others—France included—who are focusing their attention on the Indo-Pacific. We know that NATO has taken a particular interest in what is taking place in the Indo-Pacific.

We are concerned about the militarisation of areas in the South China Sea. We are worried about coercion and we are worried about activities otherwise that would seek to undermine the sovereignty of our near and dear neighbours. Our country will always stand up for not only our own values but the values that are represented in our Five Eyes relationship. Those values and that sovereignty of our neighbours is absolutely paramount to us also.

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