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

In this debate on the address-in-reply, allow me to acknowledge His Excellency the Governor-General and his address to the parliament on its first sitting following the recent election. Let me also thank the people of New South Wales for the honour and the privilege to continue to serve and to represent them here in this very important chamber.

Every day in this job is different. Every day in this job gives us an opportunity to help or support our fellow Australians in one way or another within our constituencies. It is a great responsibility and one which I take very seriously many years after I first began it. As part of my address-in-reply speech, I want to speak in particular about my visit in August to the Middle East, where I was privileged to meet with deployed members of the Australian Defence Force, whose commitment and sacrifice are central to ensuring Australia's national security. This is an important part of this government's agenda for this parliament—a continuing strong commitment to our national security.

Firstly, in Afghanistan, where Australia has a vital presence as part of the Resolute Support Mission, it was a great pleasure to meet with so many of those men and women, and an honour to acknowledge their service and the important work that they are doing. But, more importantly, I heard directly from them about the roles that they play and the jobs that they do in Afghanistan at the moment—on this occasion, in Kabul.

There are currently about 270 ADF personnel deployed in Afghanistan, and they are providing training, advice and assistance to the Afghan security forces. That includes 12 ADF mentors who are developing Afghanistan's future military leaders at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy. The academy is a critical institution for the future of the Afghan army and, therefore, the security of Afghanistan. We work with Britain and other partners, ably led by a British officer, Brigadier Ian Rigden, in the operation and training aspects of the ANAOA. It is one of the key leadership institutes in the Afghani military. Our involvement will contribute to the strengthening of the Afghan military over the long term. Our ADF mentors have been critical to the early success of the academy. We now have a total number of graduates exceeding 1,400, which includes over 40 female officers. It is true that there is much more to be done in the recruitment of women to participate in the Afghan National Army, particularly at a leadership level. I particularly valued the insights of the young men and women I met in this context. It is fair to say that—as you would expect from representatives of the ADF—they were typically frank and open in their observations and left nothing to the imagination about the sort of work that they do and the important role they play. Enabling them to play that role depends on the diligent work of the ADF force protection element and combat support personnel, in addition to the mentors themselves. We also have ADF personnel embedded in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission headquarters, as well as in critical force protection in medical and other enabling roles. Without them, these tasks would not be performed.

I met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the recently appointed defence minister, Lieutenant General Abdullah Khan Habibi, to discuss some of the tremendous challenges they face in rebuilding their nation while defending it against the Taliban and terrorist groups. Both underlined the importance of Australia's ongoing commitment to the long-term security of Afghanistan. I was left with absolutely no doubts as to how valuable the ADF contribution is to the future of their nation and to our interests in a stable global order. Our purpose in Afghanistan remains, as it has for the past decade and a half, to prevent that nation from ever again becoming a safe haven for terrorism that threatens Australia and the wider world. Australia is committed to working as part of the international community to provide long-term support to the government of Afghanistan as it seeks to consolidate hard-won security gains. That is why this government announced on 8 July that it will continue to support the Afghanistan security forces through our ADF contribution into 2017—the continuing contribution of 270 troops. Our annual commitment of US$100 million will continue to build the capability of the Afghan security forces for the future security and stability of Afghanistan.

There are a number of projects funded by Australia, including: the provision of Australian developed and manufactured equipment to counter improvised explosive devices through project Redwing, which is well known to those interested in the defence industry in Brisbane; the refurbishment of Afghanistan's MI-17 helicopters; and initiatives to support increased female participation in the Afghan security and defence forces, including through new facilities and training.

It is fair to say that, following the Afghan security forces assuming the lead responsibility for security at the start of 2015, there will be setbacks along the way. This is a massive undertaking. However, they continue to build their capacity and remain committed to working with the international community. Overall, and faced with enormous challenges, the Afghan security forces are continuing to strengthen their capacity and capability to counter threats to security and to make Afghanistan a safer place for the Afghani people. As I said, there will be setbacks, and we have seen reports about issues in the past couple of weeks in a number of provinces. But recognising the challenges in bringing the Afghan national defence force on line is an important part of the growth of their capacity, as well as an important part of our work there.

In relation to our deployment in Operation OKRA, more than two years after declaring the establishment of its so-called caliphate, Daesh is no longer the fighting force that swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014. That is not to say we do not have enormous continuing challenges. Daesh is estimated to have lost almost 50 per cent of the territory it once held in Iraq and around 20 per cent in Syria, and the men and women of the ADF played no small part in these military successes. Through the support and training provided by the coalition, including Australia, Iraq security forces have worked to turn the tide against our Daesh opponents.

I saw first hand in Baghdad and elsewhere the critical role that ADF personnel have played in ensuring the Iraqi security forces are able to take the fight to Daesh. In Baghdad, I met with our special operations task group, which has been playing an important role in supporting the Iraqi counterterrorism service in key areas as part of their advise and assist mission. Since late 2014 the expertise, skill and dedication of Australia's special forces and the members of the SOTG team have been invaluable in assisting the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service on the front line. Their work has been essential in enabling the Iraqi government to regain control of its sovereign territory while the Iraqi CTS continues to play a critical role in counteroffensive operations under some very difficult circumstances. Our advise and assist support mission includes advanced combat tactics, combat casualty care, explosive hazard awareness identification and neutralisation, as well as canine dog training.

The support to all of our partner to Iraqi forces also includes mentoring and training in professional military conduct including the principles of the law of armed conflict, human rights obligations and the use of force. Additionally, our special forces personnel are providing the Iraqi security forces with access to coalition air power that supports ground manoeuvre. Indeed to date, our SOTG has qualified over 836 members of the CTS and provided specialist training to more than 439 other soldiers. The importance of this mission has been clearly demonstrated in the work of the Iraqi CTS operations in a number of locations where territory has been retaken by the Iraqi security forces, by the government itself.

At Taji, which is about 40 kilometres north of Baghdad, I met many members of the ADF personnel contributing to our building partner capacity mission. Around 300 ADF personnel and 100 New Zealand Defence Force colleagues are deployed to that mission. The BPC is making a very important contribution to rebuilding the Iraqi army so that it can conduct successful counter offensive operations against Daesh and ultimately assume responsibility for Iraq's security themselves. The training undertaking that they have put in since only April last year is very considerable. The joint Australia-New Zealand task group has provided training to more than 8,094 trainees and currently has 2,622 undertaking training now. So this is a very important aspect of the development and growth of the Iraqi army itself.

The government has also recently announced the expansion of the mandate of this important mission to include Iraqi law enforcement agencies. In fact as we move towards the Mosul offensive and more areas are liberated from Daesh, strong and effective policing and enforcement are also required to maintain ongoing security and stability. It is Australia's trainers with their New Zealand colleagues which will provide these forces with military skills to enable them to do better defend territory from Daesh attacks and to provide security for local civilian populations so they are able to return to their homes to begin rebuilding their lives and communities.

During my time in Iraq, I was particularly struck by the development of very close ties and a real and deep understanding between our ADF personnel and their Iraqi counterparts. There is not only weapons training in self-protection and the basics of their participation in the Iraqi army but there is also a real friendship and a real engagement. In fact there is a very instructive Facebook post on the Australian Army Facebook page from 31 August, which references the night before the Australia-Iraq World Cup qualifier in Perth, which I think was played on 1 September. To precede that game, Iraqi and Australian soldiers decided they would play each other at Taji in similar form. The Facebook post goes on to report that the Australians were confident that they would be able to teach their Iraqi counterparts a little about football. Unfortunately, in the old phraseology of watching the footy every weekend, 'look at the scoreboard' really was the outcome of that—Iraq 5, Australia 2. It was a very friendly and positive engagement.

On a serious and important note though, these ties, the real ties, between two military forces—and the friendly ones as well—have not gone unnoticed in Iraq. In my meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, and his then defence minister, the Iraqi Prime Minister directly and personally thanked Australia for the important contribution that we are making, with many coalition partners also engaged in training through this process.

In the Middle East, I also met with our ADF personnel who are contributing to Australia's Air Task Group. The ATG has been conducting air operations against Daesh targets in Iraq and in Syria and has been providing critical airborne command and control and refuelling support to the broader coalition. Since October 2014, there has been a total of 857 ADF air strike missions over Iraq and Syria. Our efforts have made a very real contribution in the fight to halt the advance of Daesh and in the continuing mission to degrade and destroy their terrorist threat. All of that work is supported, has to be supported, in this case by around 400 personnel under Operation Accordion, which sustains our military operations throughout the Middle East. I was very proud to meet with these professional men and women from a range of roles across the ADF who play a vital and much needed role to support Australian operations in the region. Frankly, our operations would not be possible without their immense professionalism and dedication.

The international coalition has made considerable progress in the fight against Daesh but there is still, as I have said, more to be done to ensure that this threat is defeated once and for all. Prior to my visit to the Middle East, I attended the Counter-Daesh Defence Ministers’ meeting and the joint defence and foreign ministers meeting in Washington in July. These meetings focused on how the coalition could accelerate and better coordinate efforts in the defeat of Daesh in Iraq and in Syria and of course how to address the metastasising of their insidious networks and to address our own domestic challenges in this important counter-terrorism work. It was also a timely opportunity for coalition members to consider the need for contemporaneous planning with respect to the military, the humanitarian and the stabilisation efforts in the lead up to the liberation of, in this case, Mosul.

The liberation of Daesh strongholds in Mosul and in Raqqa will be vital to pushing towards the eventual collapse of Daesh's so-called 'state'. The importance of that task cannot be underestimated. The ongoing challenge will be the security and stabilisation of the territory as it returns to Iraqi responsibility.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to playing our part in defeating the Daesh terrorist threat wherever it appears in our own country, in supporting other nations if it appears as a metastasised version elsewhere, and in this case in Iraq and in Syria.

I also want to briefly mention Operation MANITOU, our contribution to the maritime security operation in the Middle East. On this occasion I did not have the opportunity to meet the men and women deployed to Operation MANITOU, but it is fair to say that their work is key to protecting Australia's interests—including, of course, our vital maritime trade routes. Under that operation we contribute both personnel and a major fleet unit, which is currently HMAS Perth, to the Combined Maritime Forces, or CMF. They operate across more than eight million square kilometres of international waters, and in that role Australian ships have conducted highly successful narcotics interdictions, counterpiracy patrols and seizures of illegal weapons. Since July 2014 the Australian ships deployed under Operation MANITOU have seized in excess of four tonnes of heroin and 1½ tonnes of hashish. These seizures have deprived terrorist organisations of vital funds and arms, and removed those products from the streets of countries and cities around the world.

In my final remarks I want to thank all the members of the ADF and the Defence civilians—public servants, whether they are from our Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, our Defence Science and Technology group or countless others—who are working across the Middle East. As we know, we have had military personnel and civilians serving in the Middle East since the First World War. They are difficult and demanding jobs in tough conditions. It was 50 degrees Celsius in the shade in Baghdad in August alone, and it is significantly hotter than that when you are working on a plane on the tarmac in the middle-day heat anywhere in the Middle East.

Our ongoing commitments to the Middle East region are important to Australia's national security, and I want to thank every Australian who has served for their dedication and for the dedication of their families. Whether it is in Afghanistan, Iraq or the waters of the Arabian Gulf, the men and women of the ADF are making a real difference. It is their commitment, their dedication, their professionalism, their skill and their sacrifice which do that. We should be very proud of the important work that they are doing in our name and we should keep them in our thoughts.