David Fawcett (Wakefield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2006. In broad terms, the bill is talking about allowing the utilisation of the Australian Defence Force to protect states and self-governing territories against domestic violence and to protect Commonwealth interests. The word ‘utilisation’ to my mind undersells the true impact that this bill will have. What we are really talking about is the effective and efficient employment of Australia’s defence personnel and the assets which they operate and maintain on our behalf. This comes at two levels. One is in terms of governance—the government being effective and efficient in its use of the Defence Force but also enabling the Defence Force itself to be an effective and efficient force in executing the roles and tasks that the government gives to it.

Before I move to the detail on that, I would like to support some of the comments that were made by the member for Barton about comments that were made by Senator Brown. This bill is not about creating a police state in Australia or creating a state where the military can do things with a free hand. This bill in fact empowers the Australian community, the Australian authorities and the Australian Defence Force to work together within an agreed framework where there are numerous checks and balances. I welcome the provisions, because they give a high degree of certainty to our service men and women, who need to understand the environment they are working in—the constraints they have to work to and the constraints they have to train to—as well as informing the civil authorities of the roles and tasks that they can reasonably expect the Defence Force to carry out.

I talked about efficient and effective employment at two levels. One is the government side. The government has a responsibility to make sure that it has the options to respond to changes in threats—and certainly the threat of terrorism. If we consider warfare, and more specifically asymmetric warfare, we can see that the threats to Australia have changed significantly over the last decade. It is appropriate that we change our legislative structure so that we can best utilise the resources and capabilities we in this nation have to respond to that. There are obviously synergies that can be gained by better cooperation between the civilian agencies and powers and the Defence Force so that our use of resources is timely and effective whilst retaining the checks and balances that are important.

More specifically, I would like to talk about how this legislation underpins the kind of effectiveness and efficiency that our Defence Force needs. The public expectations about what defence forces can do are probably really well seen in the example of Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America, when people just expected that at the click of a finger you could swing a national defence force into action and go down and actually resolve a situation. And that was in a situation where there was nobody shooting back at you: it was a natural disaster.

If we are going to give our Defence Force a task, it is important that we also give them adequate opportunity to raise the capability to complete that task. When Defence considers capability, it considers a range of things, starting with people, the organisational structures and the interfaces between the organisations. There are the support networks that have to be in place not only to allow the initial deployment but also, importantly, to sustain the force for the duration of the operation, whatever that may be. There is also the training that is involved for the operations which we love to laud Australia’s forces for. We also need to recognise that we have to fund the training that they require so that they can practise the work together, practise the kinds of scenarios they need to be involved with. We need to make sure that the equipment is up to speed. And, importantly, the doctrine is the last element of capability that the Defence Force considers.

Without this underlying legislation, which clarifies for the Defence Force the roles that they may be called upon to actually act in, they would not have the guidelines they need to develop appropriate capability covering all those elements: people, organisation, support, training, equipment and doctrine. All those things will have an impact on their operational concept. Those guidelines and further government guidance will also then dictate the levels of readiness that they actually attempt to hold forces at in order to respond to crises as they occur.

This legislation outlines a number of areas that are the starting point to this. Specifically, I welcome the assurance this legislation gives that no matter where a serviceman is called out they will be operating under one Criminal Code. There will be certainty there in their training and the subsequent employment of that training. They will have one set of guidelines they are working to across Australia—and indeed when they are deployed offshore in the maritime environment.

Importantly, this also includes some of the checks and balances. While we talk about ‘the law’, meaning Jervis Bay law, that they will all be accountable to, to counter some of the accusations and scaremongering put up by people in the other place, such as Senator Brown, there are also very specific amendments in here to put the onus onto individual members. If the scenario changes after they receive their initial orders or if in fact they realise that there has been a mistake of material fact or a misunderstanding, the onus and the obligation is on them to not just mindlessly follow through with orders. The concern regarding the defence of superior orders that was raised by Senator Brown is actually specifically addressed in here. We utilise the independence and the high level of training of individual members of the Defence Force to give them a direction and a common set of guidelines but also to put on them that onus that they use their own initiative and their own perception to make sure that carrying through that order is not only manifestly lawful but is also appropriate given the unfolding circumstances.

This legislation talks about the reserves and the utilisation of reserves and therefore has significant training and readiness implications for those reserve forces. If the public expectation is that the government can turn around at short notice and call out reserve forces, then it gives very clear guidance to our Defence Force about the level of commitment they need to put into the training, support and readiness levels of reserve forces so they are actually at a point of competence to carry out those tasks. Increasingly, where reserves are embedded with regular forces, that is becoming an easier thing to manage, but in the past many in the reserve have felt the poor cousin. If this legislation is indeed giving the direction that we want reserve forces to be able to be used at short notice, then it also provides a very clear mandate for appropriate resourcing and training for those reserve forces, so that they are equipped to do the tasks that the government and public expect of them.

The legislation also gives guidance to the fact that critical infrastructure needs to be discussed and agreed ahead of time between state and Australian government authorities, such that the military can work with their civilian counterparts not only to identify them but also to develop the scenarios and to conduct joint training on how those two groups of people will work together in different scenarios to protect that infrastructure. The last thing that you would want is for people to be given the job of protecting something at short notice and then discovering along the way what is involved and who else is a stakeholder in that whole exercise. Clearly identifying it up front will enable that scenario planning to take place.

Importantly, the call-out is now also covering actual and potential threats to Commonwealth interests in the air and offshore environments, rather than being focused purely on the land environment. Again, this has a large impact on the preparation of capability. It is very easy to think about putting a group of special forces troops into the back of a helicopter but, if they are going to do a lot of operations over water, you then need to start addressing things like helicopter underwater escape training and the use of personal breathing devices in case of ditching. There is a whole raft of duty of care considerations that have impacts on the timing and on investment in our capability. Not only do we need this legislation but we need to follow through with the resourcing to enable people to train to an appropriate level of readiness.

The provisions here that make sure that the broadcast provisions of 51K do not apply are also important. As we have seen just recently with civil disturbances, the advent of instant and mobile communications, such as mobile phones, SMSs, email et cetera, means that very quickly something that is happening in one place can be relayed to people in another, which can seriously undermine the surprise element and the security of our forces. So this is a very appropriate provision to place in here to ensure that our forces and their activities are not compromised.

Lastly, the expedited call-out arrangements are appropriate. Again, given the very rapid nature of recent terrorist incidents and given the fact that some of the figures, such as the Governor-General, may not be available within the time frame that the old legislation allowed for, it seems eminently appropriate to detail the framework that we wish people to operate within but then to provide several redundant layers of authorisations such that we can have that efficient and effective employment of the Australian Defence Force when it is required in support of the defence of Australia.

I support this legislation, not only because it clarifies the legal position but more importantly because it provides good guidance and a starting point for the men and women of the Australian Defence Force as they look to develop each of the elements of capability that they need to fulfil these roles that are expected of them by the government and the people of Australia.

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