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

I seek leave to make a statement on Defence international engagement.

Leave is granted.

When the Prime Minister and I launched the 2016 Defence White Paper on 25 February this year, we noted in that that Australia's network of international defence relationships would be increasingly important to our future security.

Our defence relationships with regional and global partners are critical to meeting future security challenges, including the growing shift in economic and strategic power to the Indo-Pacific and continuing threats such as terrorism.

The government's first priority is to deter and defeat any threats to the security of Australia and the Australian people.

As an open and trade based economy, Australia's security and prosperity rely on a stable and secure region and a rules based global order in which power is not misused and tensions are managed peacefully and in accordance with international law.

The Defence White Paper recognises that Australia can best protect and promote its interests by working with international partners both within our region and across the globe.

The government continues to build Australia's defence international engagement at the highest level on shared strategic interests and practical military cooperation.

Today, I will provide an update on these activities.

Recent ministerial visits .

In the past few months I have visited the United States, Middle East, Japan and Europe to meet with my counterparts and senior military leaders.

In July, I attended the Counter-Daesh Defence and Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Washington.

These meetings were an important opportunity for the counter Daesh Coalition to further coordinate its efforts to defeat the Daesh terrorist group and discuss the campaign ahead of efforts to liberate Mosul in northern Iraq.

Australia's alliance with the United States remains our highest priority. A strong and deep alliance is at the core of Australia's security and defence planning. While in Washington DC, I met with my counterparts, including US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, to discuss a number of our shared security challenges and reaffirmed our commitment to the force posture initiatives in the Northern Territory.

Australia is making a substantial contribution to the US-led coalition to counter Daesh. We have a significant presence in the Middle East, and Australians occupy some of the most senior positions in coalition headquarters.

In early August, I met many ADF personnel serving in the Middle East as part of Operation OKRA, which is Australia's military contribution to the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve. This included those deployed to our Advise and Assist and Building Partner Capacity missions in Iraq, and the Air Task Group and around 400 ADF personnel based across the Middle East who provide the support required to sustain Australia's operations throughout the region.

In Iraq I also met with Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi and senior military leaders of the counter-Daesh coalition.

I also met with a number of the 270 ADF personnel serving in Afghanistan as part of Operation HIGHROAD, our contribution to the NATO-led Operation Resolute Support mission, and to meet Defence Minister General Habibi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Whether it is in Iraq or Afghanistan, the ADF's ability to work seamlessly with our like-minded coalition counterparts is extremely highly regarded and is contributing to the success of the overall campaigns.

Both the Iraqi and Afghan leaders thanked our troops for their efforts and emphasised to me the importance of Australia's continuing commitment to the long-term security of the region.

The government is committed to working as part of the international community to provide support to the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq as they seek to consolidate hard-won security gains.

As the Prime Minister said in his National Security Statement on Counter-Terrorism, 'We cannot pretend Daesh-related terrorism is merely a distant problem—a scourge that threatens people in places less fortunate than our own.'

As we have seen, tragically, time and time again, violent extremists can inspire deadly attacks across the globe without warning, which is why we must defeat them at their source and work closely with our allies and neighbours to prevent the spread of their hateful ideology.

One of our closest partners, with whom we have a growing security relationship, is Japan. Last month I met my recently appointed counterpart, Minister Tomomi Inada, and the Cabinet Secretary and then acting Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga.

Australia and Japan are close strategic partners. We both have an alliance with the United States and share strategic interests in secure and free-flowing trade routes, a stable Indo-Pacific region, and a rules based global order.

Our bilateral defence cooperation is a key element of the special strategic partnership between our countries.

Minister Inada and I discussed our mutual concerns over maritime disputes in the South China Sea and the importance of a rules based international order. We also condemned North Korea's nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches.

Last week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I participated in the inaugural Australia-Germany 2+2 Meeting in Berlin with our German counterparts, Federal Foreign Minister Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Defence Minister Dr Ursula von der Leyen. This inaugural 2+2 dialogue marked a milestone in the bilateral relationship and reinforced the strong defence relationship between Australia and Germany.

The German Minister of Defence and I agreed to continue our defence cooperation in areas such as interoperability, military exercises, materiel cooperation and building people-to-people links. Germany is one of the world's economic and political powers and a leader in innovation and advanced manufacturing.

I would like to acknowledge my good friend and colleague Senator Mathias Cormann and his leadership as co-chair of the Australia Germany Advisory Group who worked diligently to bring the Australia-Germany 2+2 ministerial to fruition.

In a continuation of our work in the counter-Daesh coalition and following Australia's decision to select DCNS as our partner in the Future Submarine Program, I also met with my French counterpart, Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

We again discussed our continuing efforts to defeat and destroy Daesh in Iraq and Syria. We reviewed progress, where Daesh has lost over 40 per cent of the populated areas it once held in Iraq and around 20 per cent in Syria.

We also noted how Iraqi forces have begun preparatory moves toward the campaign to retake the city of Mosul, Daesh's last major population centre in Iraq.

Our enduring defence relationship with France will underpin our work to design and to deliver Australia's Future Submarine Program. It is the strength of the relationship that has given France the confidence to share some of its most sensitive submarine capabilities with Australia. This program will benefit both countries for decades to come.

We also discussed the French government's current investigation into the unauthorised release of information regarding the Scorpene submarine and I reiterated Australia's requirement, as the Prime Minister has said, for 'a ferocious commitment' to information security in regard to the Future Submarine Program.

Last Thursday, I attended the UN Leaders' Summit on peacekeeping, in London. It was convened by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defence, the Rt Hon. Michael Fallon, with defence ministers and national representatives from around 80 countries.

The meeting was an opportunity for the international community to review progress against pledges made at the 2015 summit, and to discuss how UN peacekeeping could be improved, including how to integrate a legitimate gender perspective into peace and security efforts.

UN peacekeeping is an indispensable part of the international community's response to threats to international peace and security, and this summit discussed how the full integration of the military, civilian and police parts of a mission are necessary prerequisites to success.

In line with Australia's proud history as an active and reliable contributor to peacekeeping operations, I announced that the government would provide additional funding of $1.2 million over five years to enhance e-learning training for UN peace operations, and $90,000 to support the dissemination of UN protection of civilians guidelines and policy.

I was also honoured to moderate a discussion on women, peace and security, with panellists including General Sir Gordon Messenger, Vice Chief of the UK Defence Staff, Ms Ine Soreide, Norway's Minister of Defence, and Mr Wakamiya, Japan's assistant minister of defence.

During this discussion, I affirmed Australia's commitment to this important agenda and the need to incorporate a gender perspective into the planning and conduct of peace operations.

Women are critical to improving the operational effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions and increasing their numbers as part of the conflict resolution and peace-building process is equally critical to mission success.

On Friday, the foreign minister and I attended the 8th Australia-United Kingdom ministerial consultations with new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and defence secretary Michael Fallon.

The United Kingdom is Australia's original defence and security partner. It remains one of our closest and most important security partners to this day. But it is not a static relationship and we do not take it for granted.

At the meeting we agreed to further strengthen the interoperability of our forces, including by exploring cooperation on advanced capability development and the potential for collaborative science and technology initiatives. Such cooperation with our allies is important to ensuring we can deliver the cutting-edge capability we need as we continue to implement the 2016 Defence white paper.

We agreed to increase our cooperation and knowledge sharing in the critical area of cyber security and reiterated our strong commitment to continuing our international cooperation in the Middle East—including our efforts to counter Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

We discussed the mutual concerns outlined in our defence white paper and the United Kingdom's strategic defence and security review, including those that challenge the global rules based order.

We identified international engagement as core to our future defence policies, and so committed to exploring opportunities for further international engagement.

In the coming months we will continue to engage with our defence and security partners in our region to strengthen our bonds.

Later this year, the foreign minister and I will attend 2+2 ministerial meetings with our Japanese and Indonesian counterparts, and I will also meet with Singapore's Minister for Defence, Dr Ng, and New Zealand's Minister of Defence, the Honourable. Gerry Brownlee as part of our important regular bilateral consultations.

Australia will also continue to make significant contributions to multilateral Indonesia-Pacific security frameworks, particularly the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, and the ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting-Plus.

These forums help to build relationships, trust, transparency and cooperation between key regional states. Critically, they also promote a rules based order and strategic culture in the Indo-Pacific that is based on global norms and international law.

The ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting-Plus, or ADMM-Plus, remains our top priority for defence engagement with regional security forums. Australia currently chairs the ADMM Plus Experts' Working Group on Counterterrorism with Singapore, and from next year we will partner with Indonesia to co-chair the Experts' Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations.

Exercise KOWARI

It is not only through official dialogue that we are deepening our defence ties.

As outlined in the defence white paper, we will invest in defence to double the training of foreign military forces in Australia by 2031 and increase the number of defence personnel working overseas.

Australia continues its significant contributions to the building of trust, transparency and habits of cooperation between regional states through a program of major military exercises.

For example, the recent trilateral Exercise KOWARI saw Australian, US and Chinese military personnel participate in survival skills training in the Northern Territory from 26 August to 9 September.

Working together in teams, despite language barriers, 10 soldiers from each country cooperated to survive in the outback by finding food and water, making fires and building shelters.

Now in its third year, Exercise KOWARI allows us to work with both our ally the United States and our largest trading partner China to develop links at the working level and promote regional security. Conclusion

As the white paper makes clear, Australia will need to be agile and resilient as we face an increasingly complex strategic regional and global environment.

The need for—and indeed the benefits of—increased defence engagement has been strongly reinforced in the past 12 months that I have had the honour to serve as Minister for Defence.

Increasing our defence engagement will ensure we can most effectively respond to shared challenges, including terrorism, and help manage the risk of increased strategic competition and conflict.

Whether it is through the building of personal relationships with our allies and partners, the sharing of advanced technology for mutual benefit, or the increased ability to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies against a common enemy, Australia's international defence engagement has an increasingly important role in ensuring we can seize the opportunities and minimise the challenges in the years ahead.

Further to this, I would like to take the opportunity to clarify the future of two RAAF bases which have been the subject of media speculation today: RAAF Base Richmond and RAAF base Laverton. I would like to make it clear that the government is not considering the closure of either RAAF Base Richmond or RAAF base Laverton.