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

The effectiveness of our regional cooperation is absolutely vital to addressing the threat of foreign fighters returning to our region. We are seeing the impact that, in part, is being made by such individuals in Marawi, in the Philippines, at the moment. We have built strong counterterrorism relationships with our regional partners. The ADF undertakes an extensive program of counterterrorism engagement and capacity-building activities, including special forces training with Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and India, to name some.

Whilst at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Five Power Defence Arrangements group came together to discuss this very dynamic security environment. Since 1971 the FPDA has fostered practical defence cooperation and interoperability between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK. The FPDA made a significant change to our focus during that meeting, with an agreement and an intention to work together more closely on terrorism related issues that affect Singapore and Malaysia. (Time expired)