Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories, I present the committee's report entitled The strategic importance of Australia's Indian Ocean Territories, together with minutes of proceedings.

I have to say: without any hint of bias, we have some of the most spectacular coastlines along Western Australia.

It may be a common perception that Australia's western boundary is the beautiful coast of Western Australia.

In actual fact, the westernmost reaches of Australia are the boundaries created by the Indian Ocean Territories, that are closer to our Indonesian neighbours than they are to the Australian mainland.

Despite the distance, the small sun-drenched communities of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands remain uniquely Australian.

The deep connection of the local communities to their diverse ethnic and cultural heritage complements their Australian way of life.

As part of the inquiry, I was fortunate to join my committee colleagues meeting with local communities on Christmas Island, West Island and Home Island to see this beautiful corner of our nation.

While many Australians may associate the region as a key plank of Australia's defence and border protection activities, the committee's inquiry also highlighted vibrant communities, deeply committed to Australian values.

The present inquiry and report is quite different to those carried out previously by this committee.

While several previous inquiries have examined economic and governance issues in the Indian Ocean Territories, the purpose of our inquiry has been to take a step back and to consider these territories from a broader, strategic perspective.

In this process, the committee has affirmed that the recommendations of previous reports remain as relevant as ever.

The present inquiry reinforces and builds on the work of earlier committees.

This inquiry, referred by the Minister for Local Government and Territories in November last year, considered a number of issues.

The inquiry canvassed the changing regional security environment and security contingencies in the Indian Ocean region—home to growing economies and an important trade route for Australia. The region is witnessing growing competition among major powers and these rapidly expanding interests in the region require a deeper understanding of this dynamic strategic environment.

Heightened activity in the region brings both opportunities and challenges for Australia.

In hearing evidence, the committee concluded that Australia's Indian Ocean Territories play a vital role in Australia's engagement with the broader Indo-Pacific region, extending our strategic reach well beyond the Australian mainland.

We heard that this dynamic region is undergoing significant changes.

To ensure that the parliament continues to engage with the Indian Ocean Territories from a strategic perspective, the committee has been keen to ensure that this committee conducts a similar inquiry on a regular basis—and in our report we have suggested five years as an appropriate time frame.

The committee considered Australia's strategic infrastructure assets on the islands, particularly those that further Australia's defence capabilities. In particular, the upgrade of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport runway, and the development of medium- and long-term solutions for the Christmas Island Warf.

The committee's report also recognises the importance of continued and strengthened engagement with regional partners through bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional partners. Such operations will ensure Australia continues to contribute to broader regional stability.

Noting the strategic importance of the islands, the committee recommended that the Australian government consider extending these capabilities in the Indian Ocean Territories, potentially through activities including surveillance, naval patrols, a military reserve or cadet unit, and training exercises.

The committee recommended that, where possible, the Australian government and its agencies engage with the local community, businesses and suppliers of goods and services, considering proposals for funding and planning on the islands.

Through its inquiry, the committee had the opportunity to hear from a wide variety of stakeholders.

These included Australian government agencies and analysts with a deep understanding of the defence and strategic considerations that underpin Australia's commitment to the Indian Ocean Territories.

On behalf of the committee, I thank all organisations and individuals who contributed to the inquiry by making written submissions or appearing at our hearings and roundtable discussions.

I wish to also thank my committee colleagues, who in engaging with the inquiry brought a range of perspectives and experiences to the report and the inquiry process more broadly.

In particular, I would like to thank the member for Berowra and Senator McCarthy who also took part in the committee's visit to the Indian Ocean Territories.

Finally, the committee thanks the residents of the Indian Ocean Territories who provided an important local perspective to this inquiry.

Their warm hospitality and candour provided the committee with a vital understanding of the region along with the challenges and opportunities that it presents.

The committee has a renewed understanding of the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Territories, which we convey to the parliament and to the Australian government through this report.

I commend the report to the House.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, can I thank the member for Tangney for chairing the committee in the latter stages and for taking the committee to visit the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Can I also thank his predecessor, the member for Canning, who initiated the inquiry and terms of reference and who left to go to a another committee. The member for Tangney replaced him and did it very adequately, and I thank him for the work he has done. I also thank the committee secretariat, who are sitting here in the parliament, for the work they have done. I also thank my committee colleagues, including my comrade to my left, the member for Canberra—she is not always on my left, but in this particular instance she is on my left. I want to thank her for her encouragement and engagement with the process, as a person with long-term and longstanding interests in territory matters generally, but particularly, of course, in the ACT. She has a longstanding interest in the Indian Ocean Territories.

The Indian Ocean Territories I'm familiar very familiar with, having been their member in this place since I first got elected here in 1987. I'm very familiar with the issues raised in this report. Of course, it is not the first time that issues to do with strategic matters relating to the Indian Ocean Territories have been discussed—not in this place but elsewhere. There have been elements of white papers previously, of course. We know that, historically, the First World War saw the sinking of the Emden by the mighty Australian Sydney off the Cocos Islands. The remains of that magnificent ship, the Emden, rest on the bottom near North Keeling Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. We know that both territories were occupied by the Japanese during the last war.

They have been places where those we have fought have seen opportunity, and they are important to us now because we've used them, for some time now, as transit points. During the respective Gulf Wars we had our major heavy lift aircraft fly through Cocos Islands on a regular basis. We know that the P-3 Orions fly through Cocos and, to a lesser extent, Christmas Island, and are stationed at Cocos regularly. So they are seen as important in terms of our strategic interests, and that will be the case in the future. When we went through this inquiry, we heard a great deal from people with expertise in the areas of strategic and defence matters—including the Department of Defence—all of whom said that these island territories were of importance to Australia's strategic interests.

The recommendations of the report bear some consideration—and I'm sure they will be considered by the government and, hopefully, adopted—but I want to make a point about a couple of them, one of which concerns the development of infrastructure on the island territories. Certainly, in the case of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, there is a need to extend the runway and harden the runway. That needs to be done, but it needs to be done in consultation with the local communities. As other investment, where it happens, needs to be done on Christmas Island for similar purposes, there needs to be contemplation of engagement with the local community, where possible providing local community members with job opportunities and small-business opportunities. There's clearly a need for significant investment on the Cocos islands in particular, and to a lesser extent on Christmas Island.

We know that they are both important for Australia's surveillance of its territories. We now have naval vessels in and around those territories on a regular basis for our own border protection purposes. The people on the islands are very receptive to Defence Force personnel and to engaging with Defence Force personnel. Indeed, some argued for the development of a cadet unit on Christmas Island and on the Cocos islands. That's potentially going to be difficult, I suspect, but nevertheless it shows the level of interest from people on the island territories around accepting their role as part of the broader Australian community and as Australian citizens, and they need to be commended for that.

They are a wonderful people, and it's in our strategic interests to make sure that those two communities remain viable in the long term. That means that other investments, not directly to do with defence, are undertaken. We need to make sure that the long-term economic interests and economic development of those two island communities are at the forefront of our thinking when we're talking about our strategic interest, because, if we don't invest and don't continue to invest in their economic and social development, then we'll soon lose the vision which they have for themselves and we currently have for them also.