John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I am sure that all honourable members will agree that Australia has a vital national interest in the promotion and maintenance of stability in our region. Yesterday the government received a formal request from the government of East Timor for military assistance to help that country in the restoration of security, confidence and peace. The government has agreed in principle to this request and, subject to the final agreement of East Timor to the conditions of the mission, Australia is preparing to send an Australian Defence Force battalion group of approximately 1,300 personnel to help our near neighbour. Earlier today the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Griffith and the member for Barton were briefed by senior government officials on this matter.

It is worth pointing out to the House that we are in a position to respond quickly because of the decision taken by the government on 11 May to pre-deploy our forces in a state of readiness to respond to any requests that might be forthcoming from the East Timorese. Later this afternoon, 150 members of a commando company group will arrive in East Timor accompanied by Black Hawk helicopters and a C130 Hercules aircraft. These Australian forces will take immediate action to secure the perimeter of Dili international airport. It is our expectation that this will ensure that the airport remains open and functioning normally. This forward deployment has the express approval of the government of East Timor.

This action follows a significant deterioration in the security situation in East Timor, especially in and around Dili. After initial riots at the end of April, recent days have seen the outbreak of sustained fighting between elements of the East Timorese military and a breakaway rebel group. The violence escalated yesterday with reports of a number of casualties. It is not my purpose today to go into detail on the causes of the current violence, though I want to reinforce the Australian government’s firm view that respect for democracy and the rule of law will be crucial to any sustainable resolution to the current situation.

The Australian force will provide assistance to East Timor fully respectful of that country’s sovereignty and in the spirit of offering a helping hand to a friend in a time of need. New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia have received similar requests for assistance. Australia’s mission in New York has informed the United Nations of the request and the disposition of the Australian government to respond in the manner that I have outlined.

The exact nature of the Australian deployment is, of course, subject to discussion and agreement with the East Timorese government, though I can stress that at all times Australian troops will be under Australian command. An Australian delegation led by the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General Gillespie, is travelling to Dili today to define the terms and conditions of assistance and to discuss cooperation with the East Timorese Defence Force. What I can say now is that it is our intention that our personnel will have a number of specific tasks. They include (1) facilitating the evacuation of Australian and other foreign nationals as is appropriate and necessary; (2) stabilising the situation and facilitating the concentration of the various conflicting groups into safe and secure locations; (3) auditing and accounting for the location of weapons that belong to each group; and (4) creating a secure environment for the conduct of a successful dialogue to resolve the current crisis. The duration of this ADF support is subject to further consultation and negotiation as well as, of course, to events on the ground.

The government is very conscious of the danger the current situation presents to Australians in East Timor. As of 24 May, 656 Australians were registered with our mission, but we estimate that the total number living in East Timor is likely to be approximately 800. Given the security situation, we are obviously advising Australians not to travel to East Timor at this time. Australians there should consider departing, and those who do not intend to do so should remain in a secure location indoors, follow the media and follow the instructions of security authorities. I am advised that commercial flights are still operating. However, the government will continue to monitor that situation and provide assistance to those planning to depart.

The Australian government has also directed that its non-essential staff and dependants should leave East Timor because of the increased violence. Accordingly, three embassy staff members and 23 dependants will return to Australia as soon as the situation allows. Their departure will not affect the delivery of the full range of consular and passport services by the embassy in Dili. Australia takes this deterioration in East Timor’s security situation very seriously. Having played a decisive role in the birth of the nation of East Timor, we recognise that Australia has a particular obligation to assist what is a small and poor country in its struggle for a stable, democratic future.

This deployment also reflects what I have said on many occasions: that Australia—a large, stable and prosperous country—has a special responsibility to act as a force for peace and order in our immediate region. I want to reaffirm in the strongest terms that this action is in our national interest, because the world we live in is one where the problems of weak and fragile states, especially ones on our doorstep, can very quickly become our problems. At the same time, I want to underscore the importance of states accepting their own responsibility for improving governance and reducing corruption, as the path to a better future.

It is always a solemn responsibility of any government to place the men and women who defend our country in danger. This is a dangerous mission and a dangerous situation and we must not walk away from the possibility that casualties could be suffered by the forces that will go to East Timor. I know that I speak on behalf of all members when I say that our forces undertake this mission with our admiration and with our hopes and prayers for their safe return.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, with your indulgence, I wish to speak on the same matter. I want to say at the outset that the Labor Party gives its strong and unqualified support to the deployment of Australian troops to East Timor. We understand that this will follow detailed discussions on missions and associated matters, producing a clear mission statement after the Vice Chief of the Defence Force has concluded those discussions with the Timorese government. At that point in time, the Prime Minister has stated his intention that what is an in principle approval will move to being a definite approval and troops will be deployed. We support that, as we supported the pre-positioning of troops and mechanisms for transport when the government chose to do that some days ago by sending amphibious ships to both Townsville and Darwin. It was obvious at that time that the government was anticipating the possibility of a request being forthcoming from the East Timorese authorities. As we in the opposition saw the situation developing, we thought that it was important that Australia should respond positively to that. So we understand it.

As the Prime Minister has said, the deployment is in response to a formal request received from President Gusmao, Prime Minister Alkatiri and the parliamentary president. I noted, at least on news broadcasts this morning, that the person who apparently is leading the dissident forces also expressed a desire that Australian troops should be moved in to keep the peace. If that is the case, that is good news indeed. As the Prime Minister says, the circumstances into which our troops will go have already produced a not insubstantial number of deaths and injuries. Our troops are going into a definitely dangerous situation. I am sure that the Prime Minister, as he indicated to us all, has this weighing heavily on his heart, as it must weigh heavily on the hearts of all members of this parliament. We wish our troops well. We strongly support them in the activities they will now engage in when this situation shifts from in principle approval to actual deployment. We want the troops going into Timor in this situation to comprehend that they have the wholehearted support of all elements of the parliament in this very difficult situation.

To some extent, the Prime Minister in his remarks was able to cover off the matters that are being deliberated on between the Vice Chief of the Defence Force and the Timorese authorities in the clear issue of a mission statement. It is very necessary that that should be put in place. It ought to incorporate, as the Prime Minister states, a reference to securing Australian and other foreign personnel who may be placed in danger in the region, to its primary function being to stabilise the situation in which they find themselves and to creating a secure environment for a negotiated resolution of these matters. I think it is very important that the Timorese people understand that this is the purpose of this deployment and that the troops are there for the peace and good order of the totality of the society and there to engage with the goodwill of all the relevant authorities. We do have special responsibilities now placed upon our shoulders in East Timor. Those responsibilities grew out of the role that was played by Australia in the processes that midwifed the birth of the East Timorese nation. A substantial number of Australian serving personnel have spent some considerable time in East Timor.

It has to be noted that, in the course of the last few weeks, the disagreements that have emerged in the police and defence forces involve troops who were trained by Australians and who are led by an individual who was trained by Australians. That does impose special responsibilities on us. It is important that we get these things right. I hope that, as a result of the years of contact between Australian serving personnel and those who are engaged in the acts of dissidence at the moment, there will be a level of trust established that will ensure that the mission comes to a successful conclusion.

Once you are involved in these situations, you can never walk away from them. The situation we now experience with this arc of instability in the region to the north of us is the most substantial foreign-policy national-security problem that confronts our nation and this is where we must focus our attention. This is a backdoor which is our backdoor and therefore not one from which we exit. There will be, I think, over the years, substantial burdens assumed by Australia and the Australian military in this area.

I conclude with these thoughts. It is the case now that in the Solomons, Afghanistan and Timor we have found ourselves obliged to go back in after a settlement had been reached which we believed permitted us to exit. This imposes upon all of us who have some responsibility for the development of Australian foreign policy and national security strategies the need to think through the character of our commitments at the time when those commitments are made, to learn from any errors that may have been made and to see how things can be done better.

It is not a critical statement that I am making here today and I am not at all attempting to diminish the bipartisan character of this, but I simply point out the obvious. When circumstances are that you are obliged to go back in with the level of regularity that we now see, then there clearly is a requirement on us to start to think these things through in some detail. There are other areas of the South Pacific in that arc of instability where it is conceivable that Australian assistance may at some point be sought. East Timor is clearly an immediate area of national security deliberation and, as I said, is currently the most important area of concern for us.

Finally, our troops. It is necessary that our troops should have the best possible support that we can provide them. They need to be assured that they have the support of all Australians as they go into this very difficult situation. Our prayers are with them. We expect the best of them. They have always delivered for us; we expect that they will deliver again. Our thoughts will remain with their families, their friends and their loved ones as their deployment proceeds and, hopefully, comes in a brief period of time to a successful conclusion.