Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Operation MANITOU is Australia's contribution to the combined maritime forces. This is a US-led, 33-nation partnership, focused on countering terrorism, preventing piracy and encouraging regional cooperation, and also on promoting a safe marine environment. Since 2014, Royal Australian Navy vessels, including the recently returned HMAS Ballarat, which returned home after a nine-month deployment to the region, have seized nearly 10 tonnes of heroin and 58 tonnes of hashish, equating to an estimated street value of over A$6 billion.

Our ships have also interdicted vessels carrying illicit weapons and ammunition destined for battlefields in such places as Yemen and also Syria. The HMAS Ballarat alone, during a nine-month deployment, seized nearly 20 tonnes of illicit drugs, nearly half a million rounds of small arms ammunition and several hundred bags of chemical fertiliser, likely destined for use in the manufacture of improvised explosives. (Time expired)