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

This year of course marks 100 years of mateship between the United States and Australia—100 years, which shows our working together to promote regional and global security. Australia is one of the largest contributors to the US-led international coalition to defeat ISIS in the Middle East, and we also continue to work very closely with the United States through the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. I met the US leaders of both of those missions in the Middle East recently in Kabul and Baghdad. In our region the presence of United States military forces also plays a vital role in ensuring security across the Indo-Pacific. Across the Indo-Pacific we both continue to work with our regional partners and our allies to support the rules based order, which has helped to underpin the economic development that has benefited the growth of our region. Both of our nations support the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus as part of that process. (Time expired)