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

I thank Senator Macdonald for his question and his interest in this issue. I want to, first and foremost, express my most sincere sympathies to the families and to the members of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force who have been affected by the very tragic events surrounding the downing of the MV-22 Osprey helicopter on Saturday off the coast of Shoalwater Bay in Queensland. On being advised of the incident, Mr President, I briefed the Prime Minister and spoke directly with my United States counterpart, the defence secretary Jim Mattis, to offer Australia's assistance in any way that we could.

Australia has been able to assist the United States' 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in key roles as part of the US-led recovery operations. HMAS Melville, a Royal Australian Navy survey vessel based in Cairns, was deployed on Sunday. HMAS Melville commenced survey operations in the area on Sunday evening and, shortly thereafter, located the submerged aircraft relatively quickly. The positional information and associated hydrographic information has been passed to the United States to assist with further recovery planning. A navy clearance diver team also departed Richmond via a Royal Australian Air Force C-130J Hercules around midnight on Sunday night as well. The diving team transferred to HMAS Melville via a US navy landing craft. I can confirm that that team commenced operations with a remotely operated underwater vehicle late yesterday. The imagery from the underwater recovery vehicle assists with the dive planning for the recovery of the three missing marines.

These recovery operations are very complex in nature. They're affected by a range of factors including weather conditions, depth, sea state, debris, water current and a number of others. I particularly want to thank the ADF personnel who are involved in this process for their very swift response and their professionalism.