David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the work of the Australian Department of Defence and the Australian defence industry in the largest maritime search in aviation history. All Australians know that on 8 March 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board, including six Australians. No evidence of a crash site has been found but it is now presumed that flight MH370 ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean, where the search continues today. Australia has provided substantial resources for that search, as we should. An initial search for the aircraft focused on part of the South China Sea, where the plane had disappeared from air traffic control radar screens as it headed towards the Vietnamese southern coast. However, a week later, fresh analysis indicated that MH370 had for some unknown reason diverted from its intended course and probably tracked south to an area some 2,000 kilometres west of Perth in the southern Indian Ocean. On 17 March, the Australian government assumed responsibility for search operations, partnering closely with China and Malaysia. The subsequent search covered some 4.6 million square kilometres and called upon the expertise of some of the finest minds in this field of endeavour from across the world. Ships and aircraft from Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States have been involved in this search. It is the largest and costliest search in aviation history.

While the whereabouts of the doomed aircraft remains a mystery to this very day, it is worth reflecting on the efforts of Australia's defence forces, government agencies and industry in rapidly deploying such a massive search operation. It is testament to what can be achieved when Defence and Australian defence industry cooperate in a crisis. It also underlines the importance of maintaining and enhancing our own defence industry capability. I would like to firstly commend the Department of Defence for playing a key role in supporting the Australian Maritime Safety Authority as the lead search and rescue agency. The Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Base West on Garden Island, south of Perth, and RAAF Base Pearce, north of Perth, worked quickly to prepare the facilities to support a search force that would consist of multinational assets which would not just consist of units from our closest allies. The Royal Australian Navy's replenishment ship HMAS Success was the first Australian vessel to search for MH370, deploying on 19 March from Fleet Base West. In the following weeks it was joined by the Anzac class frigates HMAS Perth and HMAS Toowoomba. RAAF Base Pearce and Perth International Airport became the hubs for air search efforts involving more than 22 military aircraft and civilian jets from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. In the 42 days of searching at that time, some 345 air sorties were conducted into some of the most remote maritime regions on our planet. The entire search operation was led by Chief Coordinator of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, Air Chief Marshal, Sir Angus Houston. In just one day's work, Air Chief Marshal Houston would coordinate up to 10 military aircraft, four civilian aircraft and 13 ships into the search area. The Joint Agency Coordination Centre also liaised closely with Boeing, the United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, and Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation. This was an extraordinary effort, logistically and diplomatically.

I have mentioned the work of various parts of Defence and of government agencies. But I think it is important to spend some time talking about the critical work of our local defence industry players in the search for MH370; work which has been largely unrecognised and, as I have become aware, unfortunately in some cases inaccurately reported. It demonstrates in stark relief the importance of fostering local defence industry expertise and capability in Australia. The major priority in the first few days of the search was locating the aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, or black boxes, as they are well known. The black boxes are fitted with an acoustic pinger that transmits a pulse at over 160 decibels at 37.5 kilohertz for at least 30 days. However, the water depth in the search area ranged between 4,000 and 5,000 metres, making detection of this pinger—even at 160 decibels—extremely difficult. Locate the pinger and you locate the aircraft.

The RAAF contacted Sonartech Atlas, a Sydney-based systems engineering company specialising in the design and development of sonar systems for naval and civilian applications. Sonartech had worked on the design, manufacture and support of submarine sonars for the Royal Australian Navy, the United States Navy and a number of NATO navies. Sonartech has also developed an acoustic processor that could be used to detect and analyse acoustic signals picked up by sonobuoys. Defence knew that Sonartech Atlas's acoustics systems could locate submarines from an aircraft—but could it locate the ping from a black box some five kilometres under the water? This was the burning question. It is important to note that the frequency and nature of the pinger is quite different from the acoustic signatures that are usually searched for with sonobuoys. Sonartech's team investigated the situation and determined that a combination of its equipment and a particular sonobuoy could be used to detect the black box pinger. Within three days of being contacted by the RAAF, Sonartech Atlas had assembled a system in Sydney, tested it in its lab, and shipped it to RAAF Edinburgh in Adelaide where it was assessed by the engineering personnel of 92 Wing and the Maritime Patrol Systems Program Office, and then installed into an Australian maritime patrol aircraft, shortly after which that aircraft deployed to Western Australia to participate in the search. Within two weeks, a further four systems were assembled by Sonartech and sent to Western Australia for installation aboard Australia's other maritime patrol aircraft in search of MH370. Sonartech also provided two acoustic analysts to fly aboard our RAAF aircraft to assist with the collection and initial review and analysis of acoustic data. These on-scene reviews were supported by in-depth analysis conducted by DSTO staff, members of the Australian Joint Acoustic Analysis Centre at HMAS Albatross in Nowra, New South Wales, and Sonartech personnel in their Sydney office. This essentially tripartite approach with Defence, science and local industry, highly specialised as it is, working together in short time, is just one example of how Australian high-tech industry can and does effectively work with government.

The RAAF had the only air assets involved in the search for MH370 that were capable of conducting an airborne acoustic search—a situation that attracted the interest of the other aircrews involved in looking for this missing aircraft. The Australian maritime patrol aircraft's acoustic search covered an area in the order of 3,500 square nautical miles.

It is also worth mentioning that some of the specialist software used for the analysis had been progressed by Sonartech through the Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program administered by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. This demonstrates the relevance and value of the CTD Program to enhancing Australian Defence capability.

The loss of MH370 is a tragic and unfortunate event, the response to which is a clear demonstration of Australian ingenuity and an example of how Defence and Australian industry can work together given the right environment. This is also true in the case of other government and Defence agencies that were involved, with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, which I mentioned earlier, analysing acoustic data, predicting drift and re-evaluating Inmarsat signals used to determine the likely flight path of the doomed aircraft. The DMO's Maritime Signature Management and Target Services Systems Program Office provided equipment and resources to support the pinger detection trials. The Maritime Patrol Systems Program Office, responsible for the maintenance, upgrade and configuration control of the Australian maritime patrol aircraft, rapidly assessed and approved the temporary configuration change.

The search for flight MH370 has highlighted the need for the continued investment in and support for local capabilities, not just within government agencies and Defence but also in our local private industry. Australia must seek to advance its technological capacity and capabilities, preparing the nation for the future and future crises. It is a future in which our industry can take its rightful place, not just as a repairer, assembler or integrator of foreign technology, but that of a designer, developer and supplier of services and technology to receptive local customers and to overseas markets. We must recognise the skills that we do have and build on them. This may take some time, but it is important that we ensure our industry is viable and sustainable, and one that we can turn to for help in dealing with the challenges we must face, not just those in our long-term future but also those in the short term, particularly those crises which are impossible to predict.

This government recognises the importance of Australian defence industry and is committed to the further development of its capacity and capabilities. We are, however, a prudent government which recognises that this cannot be at any cost. We have an obligation to get the taxpayer value for money, and, where Australian industry can effectively and efficiently deliver it, it must be used. This commitment to local capacity of course is very relevant to our Future Submarine program, a program which will draw upon industry capacity and result in the creation of hundreds of new Australian jobs.