Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Payne. First of all, I'd like to congratulate her on her answer yesterday to Senator Di Natale's question; mine is also in relation to defence. In this case, could the minister update the Senate on Australia's work with regional partners to counter the spread of terrorism in our region?

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

I do appreciate Senator Reynolds' question and her interest in key issues of defence and strategic policy. Terrorism in our region, as we know, is a collective challenge that requires a collective response. Australia, in particular, is strongly committed to working with our partners across the region, across the Indo-Pacific, to prevent the spread of terrorism. Last week I hosted the inaugural Sub-regional Defence Ministers Meeting on Counter-Terrorism in Perth, which brought together ministers and military and Defence officials from Australia, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, to work to strengthen our counterterrorism cooperation in the region.

We have seen in recent operations against Daesh and their affiliates in the Philippines, for example, that defence forces can play a vital role in working with law enforcement agencies to disrupt the efforts of terrorist groups and their free operation in our region. We have had success against Daesh in the Middle East but what we must do here in South-East Asia particularly is to guard against becoming a new front line for terrorism, including of course the possibility, as we know, that some extremists will attempt to return to this region.

Denying terrorist groups a foothold in our region is a vital mission for regional defence forces. The Perth meeting was invaluable in building that cooperation—the collective capacity of Australia and our regional partners—to disrupt and to defeat terrorists at their source. The meeting was a very strong indication that, across the regions, nations are working together proactively to ensure the security of our region.

We know that the threat of terrorism crosses all borders. It's not something that can be addressed by any one country alone, which is why the Perth meeting was so important to ensuring that we're coordinating our efforts to defeat this threat, and why it was such an important Australian initiative.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Reynolds, a supplementary question?

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for that answer. Can she also advise the Senate on the outcomes of the sub-regional defence ministers' meeting held in Perth?

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

I thank Senator Reynolds again. We had some very constructive and valuable discussions in Perth on the challenges that we all face.

We certainly acknowledged that the events in Marawi in the Philippines have been a clarion call for decisive measures to deal with and to anticipate new threats in our region. We can't do that without working together. We affirmed our commitment to work together to address this threat. We particularly agreed to improve defence information and intelligence sharing, and to explore the challenges and opportunities that exist around working on maritime counterterrorism activities.

So long as terrorism remains a critical global threat, fora such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus and this new, focused Sub-Regional Defence Ministers' Meeting on Counter-Terrorism will continue to be very important in bringing our regional militaries together to share insights and improve cooperation. Indonesia will host the next meeting in 2019. I thank all of those nations who participated. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Reynolds, a final supplementary question.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise how else Australia is working with its regional partners to prevent the spread of terrorism?

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

We are doing a great deal of work with our regional partners and allies across the region, particularly to prevent foreign fighters from spreading their toxic extremism in the Indo-Pacific. We continue of course, as I've said in the chamber before, to support our counter-Daesh campaigns in Iraq and in Syria. The continued success of the Iraqi security forces is very important to discrediting Daesh's narrative of success and their ability to export their extremism to the Indo-Pacific.

Importantly, at the moment we have members of the ADF working to support the armed forces of the Philippines through the deployment of our mobile training teams to share the insights that we have learned through our campaign against Daesh. We have an extensive program of counterterrorism engagement and capacity-building activities with our regional partners that include special forces training exercises, for example, with Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Japan and Brunei. We do counter-IED training with the Royal Thai Armed Forces and the Royal Thai Police. These are very valuable relationships— (Time expired)