Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I can, and I thank the senator for his question. The men and women of the ADF are making a very significant difference in Iraq and in Syria every day. Three weeks ago I visited the Middle East and met with many of the deployed members and task force commanders, as well as the Iraqi defence minister and Prime Minister al-Abadi.

From my visit, it is clear that the support that the ADF provides as part of the international coalition in the battle against this violent extremism is absolutely essential, whether they are from the building partner capacity mission, from the Special Operations Task Group or the Air Task Group. Daesh is not the fighting force it once was—it has lost close to half of its territory in Iraq and about 20 per cent in Syria, and its number of fighters has been very significantly cut—so our contribution to the fight is working. But the task of security and stability in Iraq remains a continuing and very important one.