Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with some authority tonight to speak on the Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2006. I represent Australia’s only garrison city—the city of Townsville, Australia’s largest tropical city. It is the home of Australia’s 3rd Brigade, 11 Brigade and RAAF Townsville. I speak on behalf of the men and women of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, of 3 Combat Engineer Regiment, of 4 Field Regiment, of 5 Aviation Regiment, of Joint Logistics North Queensland, of 10 Force Support Battalion, of the Combat Training Centre and of RAAF Townsville.

I have some experience with the military—a fine group of men and women—and I can tell the parliament tonight that the military in my constituency warmly supports the bill tonight. It warmly supports the bill because the bill clearly defines what is go and what is no go. It takes into account all of the issues that have arisen since the last amendments were put through this parliament, and they are very important amendments. The men and women of the Australian Defence Force know and understand that the government will never compromise their position or the position of Australia in defending our country against acts of terrorism or certain other acts where military intervention might be prudent and appropriate.

Of course, the government recognises—and this will always be the case—that state and territory police and emergency services will be the first response mechanism to any incident. But we also recognise that defence aid would be contemplated where the scale of the incident proved beyond the capacity of the civil authorities. That is sensible, and I think the people of Australia understand that. Australians have nothing to fear from the amendments that are being proposed to the House this evening. These amendments will certainly make very clear the roles and responsibilities of the military and of those who are in command of the military. They will also make very clear the roles and responsibilities of the executive of the government and what they would have to do to initiate a defence response if it were ever needed.

The 3rd Brigade has been involved in virtually all of Australia’s actions in the last 20 to 30 years. Most of these actions have been overseas, but 3rd Brigade men and women and RAAF and 5 Aviation Regiment soldiers are also scattered through the Commonwealth of Australia. It is quite delightful when I turn up somewhere other than Townsville and meet a member of the Defence Force from home. But the point is that, in being spread across the Commonwealth, they will be captured by this legislation. Being overseas, they will be captured by the legislation. Right now, we have men and women in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in the Solomon Islands, and of course we have had men and women from the Australian Defence Force from Townsville in Timor, Bougainville, Rwanda and Somalia.

While on that subject, I will just pay a compliment to the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, who is in the parliament tonight, for his decision in relation to Rwanda. It is very important to many members or former serving members of the Australian Defence Force who chose to remain living in Townsville. I pay a tribute too to Brigadier Mick Slater, Commander of the 3rd Brigade, who has certainly been a magnificent officer. There are just so many terrific officers these days in the Australian Defence Force. They know and understand the importance of this legislation in the parliament this evening.

Of course, Townsville is also home to 11 Brigade, which is a Reserve brigade. Its interests are protected by the first of the nine areas in this amendment bill tonight—that is, in relation to the current restrictions limiting the use of reserves. Those are going to be changed, and so they should be. Reserves are playing an increasingly important role in the Australian Defence Force in these times. Indeed, there are currently reserves from 11 Brigade from Townsville serving in the Solomons. They will be captured by this first amendment but also by the amendment relating to the offshore division within part IIIAAA.

The provisions about the identification of ADF personnel are a commonsense amendment. Certainly no-one in this parliament would want our special service forces identified in times of response when tactical assault mechanisms are invoked. I do not see any difficulty in that particular amendment. Australians will not see any difficulty with the provisions about public notification of ADF activities, where clandestine siege or hostage recovery operations will not be publicly notified. Australians would not expect those sorts of situations to be publicly notified.

In part IV is the resolution to resolve mobile terrorist incidents. Of course, terrorist incidents may be fixed or mobile, so that part addresses the siege or hostage situation where things can be moving along.

Some concern was expressed to me about the expedited call-out procedures, but I listened very carefully to the second reading speech by the Minister for Defence here in the House of Representatives and I think that his comments would have satisfied any Australian that the protections involved in these call-out procedures are very rigorous indeed. No-one is seeking to do something under cover. These procedures will be open; certainly there will be a traceable record. Things will be in writing even when the orders cannot be in writing—and the Minister for Defence outlined that—and that will all be traceable. That is a great protection of accountability that this bill incorporates.

In relation to critical infrastructure, I think of things like mass transit systems, airports and the Commonwealth Games. Again, the Australian public would have no difficulty in welcoming amendments that will ensure their safety if need be.

The Defence Force is not going to be called out lightly, but the civil authorities will know when the level of threat is such that they cannot handle it with their resources. They will know when it is time to call in or request the help of the Australian Defence Force. The member for Cowan quite rightly reflected on soldiers having to obey the law nevertheless, and provisions to that effect are in this bill. Soldiers themselves have no problem with that part of the amending of the act.

Our time on this bill is limited, so I am going to finish here, but I do want to say that Australia’s paramount interest and the government’s paramount interest is in maintaining the safety and security of the Australian people. We would be failing in our duty if we did not do that. I welcome the support of the Australian Labor Party for these amendments. We will provide a cautious and consultative but expeditious response that will allow Australians to be protected by their own Defence Force at all times, if necessary. Therefore, I support the bill.

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