Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the defence minister outline to the House how the men and women of the Australian Defence Force are continuing to bring back Australians and Australian visa holders from Afghanistan?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question and I thank him too for his time as defence minister and his contribution to supporting our Australian Defence Force personnel. That has been a long-term pursuit of his, and it's a great credit to him. All Australians should be incredibly proud of the work that is being done in Kabul at the moment by Australian Defence Force personnel. They're joined, of course, by DFAT staff, home affairs staff and people from other agencies. I also want to pay tribute, and say thank you most sincerely, to the United Kingdom and the United States, New Zealand and our other partners who are working seamlessly to get our nationals off the ground and also to provide support to uplift those Afghan nationals and people who are deserving of our support. There are many in that category.

The work of the Australian Defence Force, of course, has continued over a long period of time, and we have looked at the situation. There has been a surge of activity, in particular since April this year, but Australians would be interested to know that over the last eight years we have issued visas to 8½ thousand Afghan nationals and provided support to those people to resettle in our country. We have provided support to the interpreters and those who have helped us over the course of the campaign in Afghanistan. In particular, since April, we've been bringing people on regular commercial flights most days to resettle in Australia, and that has been a great credit to the staff at the Australian Defence Force and also at home affairs and the other agencies.

I want to recognise the work of the Royal Australian Air Force—one of the most recognised and capable forces in the world. They have been exceptional in their work in Kabul in this their 100th year of service to our country. We've had five flights overnight. The KC-30A, the midair refueller, is providing support to our allied partners. That is an invaluable asset and a great credit to the men and women of the Royal Australian Air Force. I want to pay tribute also to the officers within the special forces, the commandos, the SAS—an incredible asset to our country. Those men and women who serve in the SAS and their family members should be incredibly proud, now more than ever, of the work that they are doing in Afghanistan.

We have lifted now 2,650 people since Wednesday alone. This includes, as the Prime Minister pointed out earlier, 955 people on those five flights in the last 24 hours. There is more work to be done, but of course we know that the security threats on the ground continue to increase, and we take the advice of the CDF as to how long it is possible for us to stay in that country to keep our own people safe and to help those who have helped us.