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

(—) (): I thank Senator Reynolds for her question. Australia is of course very committed to supporting a secure and stable Pacific. We are strengthening our engagement through a number of initiatives, as I know the Minister for International Development and the Pacific is well aware. From a defence perspective, our Joint Task Group Indo-Pacific Endeavour 18 is a current major maritime activity that reflects our commitment to deepen our engagement and our partnerships with regional security forces in the Pacific through both dialogue and practical activities. The backbone of IPE 2018 is HMAS Adelaide, our LHD, the frigates HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Toowoomba and the supply ship HMAS Success. As well as those ships' companies we also have embarked on the ships an Australian Army team from 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and other support personnel from Navy and Air Force, which is a total of around 1,200 members. In addition, there are a number of international defence members, including marines from Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, and Sri Lankan marines as well. So far, IPE 2018 has visited Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu and they have undertaken some very practical activities with their counterparts. To give a couple of examples, in Vanuatu the task force delivered supplies to meet the needs of people who had been displaced by volcanic activity on Ambae Island. The electrical and marine technical sailors supported the Vanuatu police force maritime wing with maintenance on RVS Tukoro, which is one of the Pacific patrol boats from Australia, and members conducted a disaster-response-themed training activity. Last week I was in Tonga on board HMAS Adelaide. I saw firsthand the excellent work of the task group, including the handover of five Unimog trucks to assist Tonga's capacity to respond to natural disasters, in particular. (Time expired)