Sandy Macdonald (NSW, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to acknowledge the decade of hard work and dedication that members of the Australian Defence Force have given to the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program or AACAP, as it is known. As Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, I have taken a particular interest in this program at the request of the minister, who also has been very interested in its success. For the past 10 years Army engineers, with the support of other elements of the Army, Air Force and Navy, have been quietly working on projects across remote and Northern Australia for the betterment of our Indigenous communities. This work has provided communities with improvements to basic infrastructure, including housing, medical facilities, airstrips, roads and sanitation services.

In 1996, shortly after we were elected, members of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation met with the Prime Minister to raise concerns about the poor primary health of Indigenous Australians. Subsequently, the ministers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Defence, and Health and Family Services agreed that the Army would assist with infrastructure improvements in a number of communities identified by the then ATSIS for priority assistance. Ten years later, this whole-of-government program continues and more than $60 million dollars has been contributed by the federal government. That figure does not include millions of dollars more of in-kind support through Defence Force wages, equipment and logistics support.

AACAP objectives are consistent with National Aboriginal Health Strategy programs and the Department of Health and Ageing’s health programs. It is very much about practical reconciliation. The projects and results have been quite remarkable. Across the decade, nearly 20 communities have benefited from the provision of new and renovated houses, the construction of new airstrips, improvements to sanitation and vital infrastructure, health assessments and training, and water supply upgrades. Just about every imaginable form of civil construction has occurred, and basic services that most Australians simply take for granted have been provided to these less privileged communities.

The Army benefits from AACAP through the practice of deployment, construction and redeployment, plus the provision of health and training activities. During the years of the program, our Army engineers have been deployed overseas on Operation Pakistan Assist; the post-tsunami relief effort in Banda Aceh; and to Iraq and Afghanistan currently, where the skills practised here in Australia have been used operationally. The Aboriginal communities selected for AACAP projects benefit through improved infrastructure as well as skills transfer training. The ADF has left long-lasting legacies by developing skills among the local populations. Indigenous people have been empowered through the training delivered by the ADF through AACAP.

On 17 November at the Army’s Enoggera barracks in Brisbane, I had the privilege to attend a symbolic welcome home parade marking 10 years of AACAP. Staging a welcome home parade for the soldiers and other members of the ADF who have participated in AACAP over the years was an important acknowledgement in front of their families and fellow service men and women of the important job they have done. Although ADF personnel working on AACAP tasks remain in Australia, they may as well be many more thousands of kilometres away. The projects that are undertaken are often in very remote communities and, just as with personnel who are deployed overseas, the families of AACAP personnel must remain at home, far from their loved ones, keeping the home fires burning.

The sappers and others who go away for months at a time on AACAP tasks could not do their job without knowing they have the support of loved ones who keep their families and communities going. The government acknowledges and thanks the families for everything that they do. The continued support provided to our engineers and health, logistics and training personnel, as well as Royal Australian Air Force tradesmen, by their families and friends is crucial to maintaining the stability of our forces both at home and abroad.

In August this year I was fortunate enough visit the AACAP works being undertaken in the Borroloola area of the Northern Territory by the 21st Construction Squadron under the direction of the 19th Chief Engineer Works. AACAP 2006 redressed the consequences of Cyclone Kathy, which caused extensive damage to the communities around Borroloola in March 1984. The replacement houses built at the time did not meet national Aboriginal housing standards. With the support of the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Department of Health and Ageing, AACAP 2006 saw seven houses constructed, a health and training program completed, electricity supplies extended, water and sewerage connected to new housing blocks and other minor infrastructure improvements made.

The versatility and adaptability of our Army engineers and other Defence Force personnel is quite amazing. They worked from sun-up to sundown six days a week to get the job done before the end of the dry season. I was impressed to see firsthand the leadership shown by the NORFORCE soldiers who reside in the community of Borroloola. They were providing valuable assistance to the AACAP team through their local knowledge and also by acting as mentors to the local youth, who were gaining trade certificates in metal engineering and general construction with the expectation of being employed in the local mining industry, which is developing well. Army is only able to fulfil its AACAP responsibilities with the support provided by both Air Force and Navy. The RAAF provides strategic lift assets for the insertion and redeployment of the Army personnel and the Navy provides strategic lift assets for the movement of major equipment.

In recent years, AACAPs have included small international contingents, with military engineers from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga serving under the auspices of our Defence Cooperation Program. AACAP projects demonstrate just how adaptable our Defence Force is. AACAP provides valuable training and experience for ADF members which can be put to good use when they are deployed to theatres further away from home. It is a wonderful initiative of the Howard government. It does good things. It is very useful for training purposes. It provides very good outcomes for local Indigenous communities. It is a program that is highly regarded and commended by me. I wish to encourage it in every way that I can. I acknowledge that there is a great deal more to be done with our Aboriginal communities, but I am very proud of the support that AACAP has given and am proud to support AACAP as it enters its second decade of doing good things.