Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There being no further consideration of government documents, I propose the question:

That the Senate do now adjourn.

Sandy Macdonald (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just before Christmas, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence I visited the Solomon Islands to thank our Australian members of the Combined Joint Task Force 635 serving as part of Operation Anode on three-month rotations. I was accompanied by Major General Ian Flawith, the Commander of the 2nd Division, our Army Reserve division, and the Chief of Training Command, Major General Dick Wilson. My purpose was to thank them and all Australian members of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands for their contribution to RAMSI, particularly at Christmas time. The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands is a partnership between the government and the people of the Solomon Islands and 15 contributing countries of the Pacific region.

RAMSI came to the Solomon Islands in July 2003 following a request from the Solomon Islands government. RAMSI works in the following three broad sectors: firstly, in law and justice with police courts and prisons; secondly, in economic governance, government finance and economic reforms; and, thirdly, in the building of the machinery of government, public service, accountability institutions, electoral commissions and parliament. The contribution Australia will make to RAMSI over the four years 2005-06 to 2008-09 will be about $840 million—a very considerable sum of money. Comprised in that are a number of bilateral projects that AusAID and other aid agencies run.

I was pleased to meet the RAMSI principals: Special Coordinator Mr Tim George, whom I previously met as Ambassador to Israel; Deputy Special Coordinator Mr Paul Ash, who is a New Zealander; Developments Coordinator Mr Blair Exell from AusAID; the commander of the participating police force, Deputy Commissioner Will Jamieson; and the Combined Joint Task Force 635 commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Quirk. The combined task force is the ADF’s contribution to RAMSI and falls under the law and justice sector. The operation’s name is Anode and comprises five nations, namely, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. While Australia and New Zealand provide the bulk of the deployed force, the three Pacific island contingents contribute a platoon of 33 soldiers on a three-monthly rotational basis as well. The combined task force strength is approximately 210, 140 of which are Australians.

Two RAMSI personnel have died while serving in the Solomon Islands: Constable Adam Dunning was ambushed and shot in December 2004 and Private Jamie Clark, of the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, fell down a mineshaft on Guadalcanal in March 2005. The combined task force is in the process of constructing a memorial to both individuals, which I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see.

The combined task force strength has varied considerably since July 2003. Before the April riots last year the force had approximately 60 personnel. This figure swelled to 550 in the six weeks following April last year. The government’s biannual review of RAMSI ratifies Defence’s ongoing commitment. I understand the next review is this month. Defence anticipates maintaining current personnel levels until next year. The combined task force is comprised of an integrated headquarters component, a rifle company and two platoons—New Zealand and the Pacific participating countries—and in effect comprises five platoons.

The combined task force mission is to provide military security to the participating police force in order to reinforce the maintenance of law and order in the Solomon Islands. In achieving this the combined task force conducts the following four specified tasks: static security to Rove Prison; patrol support in and around the Honiara area; patrol support in the provincial areas—I was lucky to visit a platoon on Small Malaita; and it also has what is called a TF3 response task, which is a graduated response to an emerging threat situation where the military is called out to provide higher level assistance to police, usually in the form of a cordon. Where possible the military patrols with both participating police force and Solomon Islands police force assets. All planning is conducted in a joint environment and all military patrols are forecast. Patrol reports are fed into the participating police force control joint intelligence group, which is the principal custodian for information maintenance and the pattern analysis in the Solomon Islands.

The 140 Australian members of the joint task force are full-time ADF personnel. These personnel support the AFP by accompanying them on patrols and coordinating the multinational military effort with the participating police force. Of particular relevance to my visit and the reason why Major-General Flawith accompanied me was that the next rotation of the Australian soldiers will be that of Army reservists. The ADF Reserve consists of around 21,000 active reservists who are utilised in various employment categories both in Australia and overseas and are fundamental to our ongoing military success. This next rotation will be a unique opportunity for Australian Army reservists to be deployed doing identical tasks as regular ADF and returning to civilian employment having done a good job. They will be able to be deployed again in the future. It really is a unique opportunity. There are opportunities for them to be deployed overseas with Rifle Company Butterworth each year, but this is an ongoing commitment because the rotations take place every three months.

I would like particularly to thank the commanding officer of the Combined Joint Task Force 635, Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Quirk, for making my visit so worth while. I consider him, along with so many others in the ADF, an outstanding person. He shows leadership, inspiration and enthusiasm for the tasks that are set, and I wish him well in his military career. I was particularly impressed with his ideas for running joint operations between the ADF, police and other agencies. This is an area of activity that will require considerable intellectual horsepower in the future, particularly for Australia in view of our geographic position with responsibility for much of the security in our region and the increasing importance of joint operations generally.

I would also like to make my appreciation known of Lieutenant Andrew Cullen, the platoon leader on Small Malaita, where I visited. His professionalism and the leadership of his platoon of diggers appeared outstanding. Finally, I would like to congratulate all the officers and enlisted ranks of Combined Joint Task Force 635. I was delighted to present a number of Australian service medals as well as a soldiers medallion. Australians are proud of our ADF doing those jobs that need to be done for the security of Australia, the security of our region and the security of the world. The members of Combined Joint Task Force 635 did an outstanding job, particularly well led by their CO, Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Quirk. I would like to thank them and their families for allowing them and other members of the ADF to serve abroad, and to serve in very difficult situations.