Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the House of the recent Parliamentary Defence Force Program that I went on in the Kimberleys, having chosen to go with NORFORCE. I did a little bit of research on NORFORCE prior to going and found out that the North West Mobile Force, or NORFORCE, as it is known, was specifically raised to meet the requirements for surveillance and reconnaissance in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of north-western Australia. This area of operations covers nearly one-quarter of Australia’s land mass, or 1.8 million square kilometres. Together with the other regional force surveillance units, NORFORCE provides the Australian Defence Force with an effective surveillance network in Northern Australia. I learned it is a unique organisation for many reasons. It has the largest area of operations of any military unit in the world today and is permanently assigned to a joint commander for ongoing surveillance operations in Northern Australia.

The unit relies heavily on the commitment and local knowledge of the population of Northern Australia to fulfil its role. It has a high proportion of Aboriginal soldiers, whose talents are fully utilised. NORFORCE remains well equipped to undertake its tasks, which differ little whether the nation is at peace or at war. The regiment continues to develop in terms of the acquisition of new equipment and facilities and consequently is continually enhancing its capabilities. NORFORCE continues to enjoy great support from the local population, from which it draws its soldiers and which is its very reason for existing.

Major Dave McGarry coordinated the ADF program in 2009 and Warrant Officer Class 1 Jodie Stewart was the escort. After flying to Broome on Sunday afternoon and taking up camp on Monday morning we did the usual checks. A lot of what we do with NORFORCE and defence is based around safety, so there were the usual OH&S briefing issues to get us all up to speed with what was expected and to let us know that the defence program we were doing was dangerous. After having our briefings and packing up our jeeps, off we went. We first went to a rifle range where we did weapons testing. I would like to say that I was quite handy with a Steyr and did well enough to be an infantryman if required at some stage.

We pushed on towards a place called Beagle Bay on the Tuesday. Beagle Bay is about an hour north-west of Broome. We spent the night at Beagle Bay, where we set up our Zodiacs ready to do our night patrols. We also went down to the beach and hooked a few mud crabs and had some salmon, which was a nice break from the ration packs that we had been living off the day before. That night we went and did some night driving with infrared goggles on through the bush, which was interesting. We sat around the fire and spoke about our troops that are in Afghanistan and Iraq and got a fairly good briefing on that. I was accompanied on the trip by Senator Steve Parry and Senator Simon Birmingham. We had a really good time. The next day we went out on the water and did some surveillance around the Western Australian coast. That night we pulled up at Middle Lagoon, which is a very popular tourist destination. We stayed there that night and did some surveillance with night-vision goggles.

The program was a real eye-opener to the talent of our young men and women in this area. We were very well looked after. There were some full-time people there but there were reservists as well. They have a lot of talent indeed, and the job that they do is very important to this country. The program reiterated to me the importance of our defence services and the respect that I have for the men and women that wear our uniform, whether they are serving in NORFORCE or other parts of the world. I know that as a government, from the Prime Minister and the defence minister through to the other ministers as well as the parliamentary secretaries, we have an ongoing commitment to our Defence Force. It is a commitment that is shared by the opposition and I would like to put on the record my absolute appreciation of these people.