Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order!

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Payne.

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order on my left.

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister please update the Senate on the operations of the Air Task Group in Iraq?

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

Excuse me. I asked for order during the question on numerous occasions. I did not hear all the terms of the question. Can you repeat the question please, Senator Molan.

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Payne. Can the minister please update the Senate on the operation of the Air Task Group in Iraq?

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

Let me acknowledge that this is newly inaugurated Senator Jim Molan's first question in the Senate. I thank Senator Molan very much for his question. My New South Wales confrere, a decorated senior military officer, is very welcome here on the government side of the Senate chamber.

Almost all of the territory in Iraq seized by Daesh and their terrorist network has been liberated by the Iraqi security forces, and that is very important progress. On 9 December last year, Iraq's Prime Minister al-Abadi declared the collapse of Daesh in Iraq. Although small pockets of influence in rural and desert areas remain to be cleared—we are very cognisant of that—any claim to Daesh's so-called caliphate no longer holds. Given the progress against Daesh, on 22 December last year the Turnbull government announced the decision to cease the F/A-18 air strike operations in the Middle East as part of Operation OKRA. Australia's strike aircraft flew their final mission as part of the operation on 14 January, and with the Prime Minister I was proud to welcome home to Australia the strike aircraft and their crews at RAAF Base Amberley last month on 24 January.

In the period of the ADF's air strike operations from 8 October 2014 to 14 January 2018, almost 3½ years, the Air Task Group's six F/A-18F Super Hornets flew over 21,200 hours on combat operations and conducted 2,799 air strike sorties over Iraq and Syria. This was a significant and sustained operational effort that was highly regarded by both our Iraqi and US partners. It provided a direct and tangible contribution to the collective self-defence of Iraq again Daesh. I note the courage and determination of those Iraqi security forces in their stand against Daesh and their efforts in destroying the myth of Daesh's so-called invincibility. (Time expired)

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

Senator Molan, a supplementary question.

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister update the Senate on Australia's further contributions to the fight against Daesh?

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

While our air strike operations against Daesh have ended and our hornets, as I said, have returned home, the ADF Air Task Group remains on duty. The KC-30A air-to-air refuelling aircraft plays a vital role in keeping coalition strike aircraft airborne for long endurance missions, which in turn allows them to make immediate responses to Iraqi calls for air support against the last remaining pockets of Daesh resistance. In fact, our KC-30A has flown over 1,200 sorties and offloaded more than 43 million kilograms of fuel to coalition aircraft. Our E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft is conducting an operational pause for several weeks after a sustained period of operational activity and will return to air operations shortly.

I want to thank those men and women of the ADF who remain engaged in the Air Task Group. I also particularly want to bring to the attention of the Senate the work of Task Group Taji, which has now trained more than 30,000 members of the ISF including over 4,500 police. (Time expired)

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

Senator Molan, a final supplementary question?

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister please update the Senate on any other ADF contributions to maritime security in the Middle East?

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

It is notable that under Operation Manitou, the regional maritime security operations in the Middle East, where HMAS Warramunga is currently deployed, that warship and its crew have recently made their seventh narcotics intercept at sea, last week, bringing the total seized over the last few months to more than $1 billion worth of narcotics seized and destroyed. This very important work is destroying the terrorist model—the pirate business model—of using the drugs trade to fund their weapons, their explosives, their transport and their terrorist training camps. We should all be very proud of the work that the members of our ADF do every day while deployed on operations, and HMAS Warramunga is a good case in point. It is the 66th RAN vessel to deploy to the Middle East region since 1990, continuing our very proud history of supporting regional security. As part of the global coalition, the ADF has made a very valuable contribution to the campaign against Daesh. (Time expired)

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.