David Jull (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence. What is the latest role for the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan and what contribution is this making to the war on terror?

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fadden for his question and for his very long commitment to defence and foreign policy. Every Australian should be proud of the fact that we have just over 500 Australian troops in Afghanistan at the moment, predominantly in Uruzgan, in central southern Afghanistan. They are there for two reasons. The first is to see that we contribute to fighting the global war against terror. No Australian should forget that the 88 Australians who were murdered in Bali were murdered by people who trained in Afghanistan—Muklas, Samudra and Hambali amongst others. The second reason that we are there is to support the Afghan people in their drive for democracy—something which goes hand in hand with stability and freedom for people.

Over the last year we have had a special operations task group in Afghanistan of some 200 soldiers—commandos and members of the Special Air Service Regiment. They have done an outstanding job. In fact, 395 days of active service for those soldiers saw them undertake more than 100 missions and 139 contacts—or fights, if you like—with the anticoalition militia. There are many outstanding stories of gallantry and heroism which will be further told over the next few months and for which appropriate military recognition will be given to them.

Uruzgan today is relatively stable, thanks to the hard work and bravery of those Australian soldiers. We now have 500 Australian soldiers, 270 in a reconstruction task force, working alongside 1,400 Dutch military personnel, under NATO. About half of them are tradies and engineers and the other half are ground force protection. They are in command, construction, intelligence, protection and logistics. They are involved in a range of projects: not only trade training for Afghans but also flood mitigation projects, building roads and culverts, reticulated water programs and a variety of things that are essential for the wellbeing of the people of Uruzgan. In addition to that, the government has deployed another company of 120 soldiers to provide ground force protection to them. We are very confident of the professionalism, leadership and equipment that our soldiers have. We know this is an important task. It is about protecting not only Afghan people but also Australia, our people, our interests and our values.