Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Last week the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I had the absolute privilege of meeting Australian Defence Force personnel who were providing training to new recruits of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of a UK initiative in England.

On many occasions, the Leader of the Opposition and I have seen our own Defence Force personnel being put through their paces, and it's always impressive. They are training to build their skills and their capabilities for a range of scenarios that they might face in the future, but there is a certain distance between the training that is done and what the training is for. Here, it was completely immediate. Everyone knew where these recruits were going.

We watched a drill where the recruits walked through a field. In this scenario one stood on a mine, and immediately the rest froze because where there is one mine there might be another. They pulled out a small metal rod and started probing the ground around them to establish a safe perimeter. Then there was artillery fire. They immediately hit the ground in the prone position, adopting the smallest profile. We were advised that this is exactly what's going on in Ukraine right now.

I watched one of them, face down on his stomach with one foot over the other, with the kind of shaking, nervous twitch that you might see with a student who was deeply engrossed in doing an exam. These people could not have been more engaged in this activity. They were absorbing this knowledge as though their lives depended on it, because, of course, their lives do.

I spoke to a number of the Australian trainers who do this kind of training each and every day back home but had never done training like this. They absolutely understood the seriousness of this moment and the consequence of what they were doing. All of us should feel proud.

I had the enormous honour of speaking to a number of these Ukrainian recruits. On New Year's Day this year—think about what we were doing on that day, just a few weeks ago—they were a builder, a driver, a clerk, with about as much military experience as me, and yet here they all were, wearing their nation's uniform, ready to fight on behalf of their family, on behalf of their country and, in many respects, on behalf of us. What's at issue in Ukraine is the very sanctity of the global rules based order which is the foundation of our security. They were completely aware of the brutality of the conflict in which they were about to engage, which resembles World War I more than World War II. The appalling thought that we all had, which they all knew, was that if you applied the casualty rates the Ukrainian forces have experienced of the last few months to the cohort we were looking at, a significant number of them were about to meet their maker in the coming months, and yet they were there.

This was one of the most poignant scenes I have ever witnessed. It was completely inspirational. I know that, whatever those people are about to face in the months ahead, they do so with the complete and total support of every member of this House.

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