Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise and speak on the closure of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI. We here in Australia are part of a rich and successful nation with abundant wealth to share, but we do not live and do not exist in isolation. It is our strong and enduring partnerships, particularly with our closest neighbours, that have allowed our nation to thrive. How right and proper it was, that, in their hour of greatest need, the Solomon Islands were able to count on Australian support. The Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands will long be remembered for its success, despite uncertain odds at the outset, and for paving the way for cooperation between nations in the south-west Pacific.

Five years of ethnic tensions and a coup in 2000 had left the Solomon Islands facing many and serious problems. Law and order had broken down, officials and private citizens were subject to intimidation and violence, and corruption was unfettered. The government and institutions had ceased to function effectively and corruption was widespread. The public finances were in ruin and many of the most basic services such as health and education were not being delivered to the people. It was in this atmosphere that RAMSI arrived in Solomon Islands in 2003, at the request of the Solomon Islands government. Shortly after the first rays of dawn struck the tarmac of the Solomon Islands Henderson International Airport on Thursday, 24 July 2003, soldiers, police and civilians from Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu began to arrive in their hundreds. Eventually amassing over 2,000 personnel, these security forces came not in anger but, rather, as friends determined to assist a neighbour in need. In what was to become one of the most successful experiments in regional cooperation, RAMSI was born.

RAMSI's mission was to help lay the foundations for long-term stability and prosperity in the Solomon Islands, with a mandate to restore civil order in Honiara and throughout the rest of the country, rebuild and reform the machinery of government, improve government accountability and improve the delivery of services in urban and provincial areas, stabilise government finances, balance the budget, fight corruption, help rebuild the economy and encourage sustainable, broad based growth. From the outset, RAMSI was not tasked to address national reconciliation or nation-building. This would later be undertaken through the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009. In RAMSI's first week, more than 3,700 guns were collected and destroyed. In its third week, the surrender of renegade militants was negotiated. By the end of its third year, RAMSI had made 3,600 arrests for militant and criminal activity. RAMSI was also critical in enabling the Solomon Islands government to resurrect state institutions so life could return to normal for Solomon Islanders. RAMSI enjoyed an extraordinary degree of popular support over its duration.

In 2017, the Solomon Islands presents a very different picture from that which first confronted RAMSI personnel when they hit the ground in 2003. The Solomon Islands are reaping the benefits of stability, with the economy having grown more than 80 per cent in the first 10 years of RAMSI's presence. RAMSI's success depended on Australian men and women and their Pacific colleagues making sacrifices for a higher cause, to ensure that Solomon Islands could enjoy the kind of peace that we here in Australia sometimes take for granted. Preserving and building on the achievements of the last 14 years presents the Solomon Islands with a daunting challenge. In June this year, an aid partnership was signed between our two countries and the partnership enables a shared vision for cooperation to foster inclusive economic growth and the reduction of poverty in the Solomon Islands.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Solomon Islands in 2014 as part of an Australian government election observation team. During this trip, we also had the opportunity to meet with the RAMSI leadership and to discuss the progress of the mission. At this time, the transition period was commencing. I distinctly remember the positive way in which the RAMSI leadership spoke about the transformation of the Solomon Islands over the period since 2003. The highlight of the trip was being able to observe the colourful, noisy and joyous campaign parade through Honiara by the various candidates and their campaign teams. It was a tremendous demonstration of the progress the Solomon Islander people made in rebuilding their nation and the freedoms that this had achieved. This joy spread to polling day, with long queues forming well before polls opened. The atmosphere was positive and expectant at the opportunity to have a say in the future government of their country. Since then, Prime Minister Sogavare and his government have continued to work extremely hard to build on these foundations.

The Solomon Islands government and RAMSI have undertaken extensive community engagement across the nation to assuage community apprehension about RAMSI's exit and discourage would-be troublemakers from seeing RAMSI's departure as an opportunity. The focus has been building trust in the police and explaining that RAMSI-contributing nations such as Australia will continue to support the police and national security more broadly. Post-RAMSI assistance includes a policing program, with 44 Australian Federal Police advisers in Honiara. The policing program will be complemented by new bilateral programs of support for justice and governance. The post-RAMSI package of assistance will amount to some $141 million over four years, from 2017 to 2021. On Monday, 14 August 2017, the two governments signed a bilateral security treaty. The treaty will enable Australian Defence Force police and civilian personnel to deploy operationally in emergency situations.

In closing, I wish to acknowledge and thank those who have contributed to the success of the RAMSI mission. Without the support and commitment of the Australian government officials, police, Defence personnel, our Pacific island partners and, most importantly, the government and the people of the Solomon Islands, the bringing of peace and stability to their country would not have been the success it has been.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the six RAMSI officers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in their service to bring peace and security to the Solomon Islands. May the finalisation of the RAMSI mission be a fitting epitaph to your sacrifice.

To Prime Minister Sogavare and the people of the Solomon Islands: the future is bright, and the country you are looking to build and the opportunities for the future are only limited by your industry and imagination. In that, you honour the contribution of the RAMSI mission to your country by building on the foundation of peace and security it has created.

See this speech in context