Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I rise today to update the parliament and the Australian people about Australia's defence operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, the broader Middle East region and our maritime approaches.

Iraq and Syria— Overview

Since my last Defence Force operations update to parliament, we have seen further atrocities and terrorist attacks either conducted, or inspired by, the terrorist movement known as Daesh. Beyond Iraq and Syria, Australia's thoughts and condolences are with the people of France, Kuwait, Tunisia, Turkey and, most recently, Saudi Arabia whose countries have suffered at the hands of Daesh terrorists. These attacks reaffirm that Daesh is a threat not only in the Middle East but in all countries, including tragically Australia.

It is for this reason that the Australian government remains committed to the international efforts to disrupt, degrade and ultimately defeat Daesh. This commitment is underscored by the Australian government's decision to extend Australian Defence Force air strikes against Daesh into eastern Syria. This is a logical extension of our existing commitment to the Middle East.

As the government announced last week, this marks the next phase of Australia's contribution to our important campaign against Daesh. Daesh does not respect borders and threatens the security of Iraq and the international community from its safe havens and command centres in Syria. It controls a large amount of territory in eastern Syria that serves as a source of recruitment and oil revenues. From Syria, Daesh has been able to operate its training bases, conduct planning and preparation for attacks, and move fighters and equipment into and out of Iraq. Royal Australian Air Force efforts in eastern Syria are being directed solely at Daesh. We will not be engaging in the broader conflict in Syria.

The legal basis for Australia's air operations in Syria remains the collective self-defence of Iraq. We strongly believe Iraq should not be left to face this horrendous threat alone. This is why Australia is continuing its Advise and Assist and Building Partner Capacity missions to develop the capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces, and continues to contribute an Air Task Group, at the request of, and to support, the Iraqi government.

Iraq — ADF Operations Update

Australia welcomed the commencement in July of Iraqi Security Forces operations to retake the city of Ramadi from Daesh. The mission is being led by the Iraqis and is being supported by the US-led international coalition, which includes Australia.

There have been some positive signs in this vital mission. However, the Iraqi Security Forces require ongoing support to reclaim and hold their territory, so they can assume responsibility for Iraq's security.

Building Partner Capacity Mission

Now into its fifth month, our combined Building Partner Capacity mission with New Zealand is steadily making progress. At the end of June, around 700 personnel from the Iraqi Army's 76th Brigade graduated from its training provided by Task Group Taji, representing the first tranche of regular Iraqi Army soldiers trained under the Building Partner Capacity mission.

To date, Task Group Taji has provided training to more than 1,600 Iraqi Army personnel and it continues to receive further Iraqi Army units for instruction. Task Group Taji is currently training the next tranche of around 700 soldiers from a number of Iraqi units. The Task Group has been training both officers and soldiers in skills, including weapon handling, building clearances and obstacle-breaching techniques, as well as training in the tactics, techniques and procedures for various operations. The Building Partner Capacity mission includes mentoring and training in professional military conduct, including the law of armed conflict.

Special Operations Task Group

Our Special Operations Task Group continues to advise and assist the Iraqi counterterrorism service in areas such as advanced combat tactics, K9 training, combat casualty care and explosives identification and neutralisation.

As the government indicated in April, the composition of Australia's Advise and Assist mission will change in the third quarter of this year. The government has decided to reshape the scope of the Advise and Assist mission, from around 200 ADF special forces personnel to around 80. This reshaping allows Australia to balance its contribution between specialist advice and support to the Iraqi counterterrorism service provided by the Special Operations Task Group, and the training provided to the regular Iraqi Army through the Building Partner Capacity mission.

Air Task Group

Australia's Air Task Group remains a leading contributor of platforms, support personnel and missions flown in the coalition air campaign against Daesh.

As at 13 September, the Air Task Group had completed a total of 408 ADF air strike missions over Iraq. Specifically, our F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft have completed 209 missions, releasing 278 weapons; the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft have completed 199 missions, releasing 237 weapons; the KC-30A air-to-air refuelling aircraft has conducted 394 missions, offloading nearly 32 million pounds of fuel to Australian and coalition aircraft; and the E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft has conducted 135 command and control missions.

As has been reported, the Air Task Group has completed its first strike against a Daesh target in eastern Syria, destroying an armoured personnel carrier. Two of our F/A-18 Hornets identified the personnel carrier, hidden in a Daesh compound. The information was reported back to the Combined Air Operations Centre via the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail. Upon receiving authorisation to proceed, one of the Hornets employed a precision guided weapon to destroy the target.

E mbedded ADF personnel

Australian Defence Force personnel are also embedded within United States headquarters in the US and across the Middle East region, including in Iraq and other coalition partner countries, to provide command and control functions and to maintain Australian awareness of regional developments. Five Royal Australian Air Force personnel attached to the United States Air Force perform operational duties with their US parent unit as MQ-9 Unmanned Aircraft System pilots and sensor operators. They operate as part of a US unit, but they do so in a manner consistent with Australia's obligations under international law.

These activities in the fight against Daesh—the Building Partner Capacity, advise-and-assist and air operations—reflect the Australian government's steadfast commitment to keeping Australians safe from terrorism and preventing the spread of violent extremism to our shores.

Afghanistan

In June this year I attended the NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Australia remains committed to the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, which is focused on training, advising and assisting the Afghan security institutions and Afghan national defence and security forces.

As I advised the parliament earlier this year, our commitment to Afghanistan has become the longest combat, and now mentoring, military commitment in Australian history, involving over 33,000 deployed Australian Defence Force personnel since 2001. It has involved significant sacrifice and commitment, including the lives of 41 ADF personnel who have died in Afghanistan. They have made the ultimate sacrifice, and we continue to mourn with and recognise the sorrow faced by their families and friends. A further 261 Australian Defence Force personnel have been wounded and many more affected in other ways by their involvement in Australia's mission to bring a more peaceful future to this war-torn country.

Over the last decade and a half, our purpose in Afghanistan has not changed. Our continuing efforts to build Afghan capacity and institutions aim to ensure that Afghanistan will never again become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and other international extremist groups.

Current c ommitments

Around 400 Australian Defence Force personnel are currently deployed in Afghanistan under Operation Highroad as trainers, mentors, embedded personnel in headquarters and in critical force protection, medical and intelligence roles. Our commitment at the Afghan National Army officer training academy supports the mentoring of Afghan officer cadets outside Kabul.

A class of 283 officer cadets graduated on 16 June, including the first female cadet platoon. This was the first commissioning of female officers to have completed their training at the academy. The Duntroon Sword for best overall cadet was won by a female officer cadet and was presented to her by the Australian Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Australia is also supporting Afghan security sector sustainment through an annual commitment of US$100 million. One important project funded by this commitment is the provision of Australian designed and manufactured counter-improvised-explosive-device equipment. The equipment provides the Afghan National Security Forces with a life-saving capability, tangibly increasing their confidence and capacity to conduct independent operations.

Afghan progress

At the beginning of 2015, the Afghan national defence and security forces assumed full responsibility for the security of the Afghan people. It was always acknowledged that their first fighting season in full security lead would be a challenge for the Afghan forces. While there have been tactical setbacks, overall the Afghan national defence and security force is providing security for the Afghan people, fighting its own battles, and holding population centres. The Afghan National Security Forces continue to demonstrate their increasing ability to plan and conduct independent operations.

We urge all key stakeholders to continue their support for reconciliation. This is because, notwithstanding the security gains, the path to lasting peace will be through an Afghan-led and Afghan owned reconciliation process.

Future commitment to A fghanistan

Decisions about the ADF commitment in 2016 are yet to be made, but we will continue to take account of Afghan progress, as well as NATO and United States plans as these develop. Beyond 2016, Australia will remain a constructive and committed partner to our Afghan friends.

M aritime and peacekeeping operations

In addition to our commitment in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ADF continues to support vital work in maritime security and peacekeeping operations in the wider Middle East and around the world. Since 1991 Australia has conducted near continuous maritime security operations in the Middle East region in support of international efforts to promote maritime security and stability. Australia's current commitment comprises a Royal Australian Navy major fleet unit and personnel to support the US-led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) to defeat terrorism, prevent piracy, encourage regional cooperation and promote a safe maritime environment.

HMAS Melbourne relieved HMAS Newcastle earlier this month on 6 September. HMAS Newcastle successfully seized over 1.3 tonnes of heroin, valued at over $1 billion, during her 4½ month deployment, helping to make this maritime force one of the world's most effective current heroin interdiction forces. Piracy off the Horn of Africa remains at record lows, with no successful attacks since 2013, largely due to the ongoing international operations in the region, in which Australia plays a critical role.

Australia also continues to be committed to peacekeeping in the Middle East. ADF personnel have participated in Operation Paladin since 1956, representing our longest commitment to a peacekeeping mission, with 12 ADF personnel currently deployed in the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon.

Nearby in the Sinai, Australia was an original participant in the Multinational Force and Observers mission under Operation Mazurka in 1982, and continues to participate today with a contingent of 25 ADF personnel.

I also acknowledge the efforts of around 400 ADF members on Operation Accordion, who are supporting Australian operations, including providing logistics and sustainment support and enabling contingency planning across the Middle East region.

We have a further 21 ADF personnel deployed to the UN mission in South Sudan, under Operation ASLAN. Our commitment to this mission is helping the UN to protect the people of the Republic of South Sudan through the monitoring of human rights and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

These important commitments to stability and security in the Middle East region, Afghanistan and South Sudan highlight Australia's ongoing commitment to a rules based global order, which supports Australia's security and prosperity. Our thoughts are with the men and the women of the ADF who are undertaking these important missions, and with their families.

Operation Sovereign Borders

Finally, in our own region, the Australian Defence Force continues to support Operation Sovereign Borders. Currently around 500 ADF personnel are at sea, in the air and on land working to protect Australia's borders and offshore maritime interests. These ADF personnel have performed an essential role in supporting the government's efforts to successfully disrupt and halt the people-smuggling trade that cost over 1,200 lives at sea in recent years.

Conclusion

The ongoing professionalism of our Defence Force and the readiness of our ADF personnel to defend Australia's interests around the world at short notice is truly extraordinary. On behalf of the government, and indeed on behalf of this entire parliament, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to these men and women, as well as their families, for all that they do to ensure the safety and security of Australia and its people.

I present a copy of my statement.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his update. He is quite correct to thank our ADF personnel on behalf of the whole parliament because there is no doubt that all of us here in the House of Representatives and all of those in the other place share his gratitude for their fine work. The minister has provided a very important update today—important information about how our participation in Operation OKRA against Daesh in Iraq, and now in Syrian airspace, is progressing, including details of the first Air Task Group strike against Daesh targets in eastern Syria and the 408 ADF airstrike missions over Iraq.

The majority of our overseas personnel are in the Middle East with Operation OKRA, but also with operations including Operation MANITOU, pursuing maritime security, stability and prosperity—the training advice and assistance mission—Operation HIGHROAD in Afghanistan and Operation ACCORDION, providing broader support. The minister has also said we have our servicemen and servicewomen doing sterling work in peacekeeping operations around the globe, in our region and on our borders. We thank all of those serving personnel.

Without question, Daesh uses horrific means in an effort to reach abominable ends. The world is united against Daesh, and those living in the territory they control are subject to an oppressive and terrorising regime that is almost unimaginable. Much has been written about the cruelty of this organisation. One recent article—pointed out to me by the member for Melbourne Ports—says it all, an article titled 'ISIS enshrines a theology of rape' in The New York Times on 13 August 2015. We continue to be ready to work with the government to ensure an appropriate and bipartisan approach to dealing with this organisation and to national security matters in general.

As well as the important information the minister has provided today on current deployments, we believe that there is a requirement to provide information and inform this parliament about a coherent longer term strategy for the Iraq and Syria situation. While the importance and legitimacy of the provision of direct military support to defeat Daesh is certainly acknowledged, we need to understand that a broader political, social and economic strategy will be required to defeat this threat more broadly. Parliament is the place for debates of great national importance, and there is none more important than the deployment of Australian Defence Force personnel. The ADF personnel currently involved in operations throughout the world, and indeed on our borders at home, have Labor's support, whether they are in the Middle East engaging in peacekeeping, deployed on maritime operations or securing those borders. We applaud the great courage, determination and professionalism of our servicemen and servicewomen. We are proud of their high standards of conduct and of their competence. We are also proud of the very high standards that our forces adhere to in their operations.

As Australia is a party to the additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the ADF is highly skilled at minimising civilian casualties and collateral damage and exercises a positive influence on its coalition partners in this respect. Minimising civilian casualties in these types of operations has a vital influence on the overall success of the mission.

Labor joins with the minister in expressing support and sympathy for the people of France, Kuwait, Tunisia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia who have all suffered shocking attacks in recent times launched by Daesh or its sympathisers. This extension of Operation OKRA into Syria has bipartisan support. Our decision was based on the assessment of facts and guided by our principles. Firstly, there is no more important duty of a government than to keep its people safe. Secondly, it is hard to be secure in an insecure world. Contributing to international peace, security and stability is in our national interest. Thirdly, international cooperation, multilateralism, the rule of law and international institutions are the best way to ensure a secure and stable international order. It is in Australia's national interest to be a good international citizen. Fourthly, human-rights violations, inequality and poverty create the conditions that all too often lead to instability in conflict and are a threat to Australia's long-term interests, wherever they occur.

Our initial support of Operation OKRA was based on both the 'responsibility to protect' doctrine, which we as a member of the international community support, and a legitimate request from the Iraqi government to join with other nations to protect their vulnerable civilians from mass-atrocity crimes. We also formed the view that a legal authority for this support exists through a legitimate request made by the Iraqi government. We take very seriously the Iraqi government's assessment that its aspiration to be a more inclusive and democratic nation, and the modest gains it has made in this direction, would be thoroughly undermined by a strengthened Daesh.

Recently, Iraq specifically requested international support to defend itself against cross-border attacks by Daesh that the Syrian government is either unable or unwilling to prevent. By doing so, Iraq has established legal authority under the principle of collective self-defence. Labor sought its own advice on the application of the principle, and we agree that it applies. We recognise the legal basis for crossing the border into Syria.

We are reassured that Australia continues to use its red-card system, which has seen Australian forces very successfully minimise the risk of civilian casualties during operations in the Middle East. We are thankful that there have been no Australian casualties and will work to ensure that risks to our personnel are sensibly assessed and addressed to keep them safe. Our bipartisan support for the extension of Operation OKRA was contingent on combat search-and-rescue arrangements being in place for any of our personnel whose aircraft might be downed. We have been assured that is the case.

We note also the minister's update on the situation in Afghanistan and we thank him for it. We join with him in hoping for a successful reconciliation process. We welcome the news of the graduation of the first female cadet platoon, from the Afghan National Army Officer Training Academy, in June. The fact that the Duntroon Sword for best overall cadet was won by a female officer cadet is a symbol of the change Afghanistan has undergone. It is a sign of real progress, progress that we hope continues. With 400 ADF personnel in Afghanistan as part of Operation HIGHROAD we note the minister's reference to 2016 commitments and we look forward to working with him to apply the same fact based values guided principles that we use when considering our support for any changes to our commitments overseas. We look forward to consultation in this area.

The length and cost of our commitment to Afghanistan has been great. The 41 lives lost, most particularly, weigh heavily on us. There have been 33,000 deployed ADF personnel since 2001, and 261 ADF personnel physical wounded and others psychologically injured. Our thoughts are always with the families and friends of those we have lost, and the wounded and their families and friends are in our thoughts as well.

We stand ready to cooperate fully with the government in exploring initiatives to analyse and address the difficulties some of our veterans experience on returning home, including struggling with mental-health problems and, in some cases, homelessness. It is incumbent on us, having asked our military to sacrifice so much and risk everything on our behalf, to look after them when they come home.

I note the minister's assurance that RAAF efforts in eastern Syria are being directed at Daesh alone and we will not be engaging in the broader conflict in Syria. The situation in Syria—as the minister has said on more than one occasion—is complex. There are no simple solutions. What is needed is an international effort to bring the partners in the conflict and, very importantly, the forces behind them—arming them, supplying them, funding them—to the table. There must be a political solution. There must also be a greater humanitarian response from the world. Humanitarian corridors for the delivery of aid—urgently required food and non-food items, such as medicine—are needed.

Our objectives for the Middle East must be more than just defeating Daesh. In Iraq our involvement must be to allow Iraq to stand on its own two feet, by supporting internal efforts toward peace and security. As part of the overall strategic plan for Iraq it is clear that an essential key to success is the reinforcement of good governance, the rule of law and an inclusive polity that garners the loyalty and support of the disparate interests in Iraq.

It was the exploitation of the grievances of the Sunni community and the inefficiency, corruption and poor standards of parts of the government and parts of the Iraqi security forces that provided the fertile ground for Daesh to exploit. It is vital that Australia provide assistance to the government of Mr al-Abadi to enable him to pursue and deliver his ambitious reform agenda. This is our hope, for the people of Iraq, for a stable and secure future. Such a stable and secure future will make it possible for Iraq to defend itself and its people against extremist threats, within and without, and insurrections without such substantial international military presence.

Australia has a consequential influence in the world, and the role our military plays must be matched by renewed efforts toward a long-term multilateral strategy to resolve the Syrian conflict. We should recall that Australia has played a role in brokering peace out of seemingly intractable conflict before—not that we can do it ourselves but we should play a part. The Australian peace proposal for Cambodia produced a durable and lasting peace in that country.

We have been calling on the government to outline to parliament its long-term strategy for the defence of Iraq and allow for appropriate parliamentary discussion. I hope that the new Prime Minister will do so. Our previous commitments to Iraq, in 1991 and in 2003, were the subject of substantial parliamentary debate. There has, to date, been no significant parliamentary debate initiated by the government on the issues of either Iraq or Syria.

I am aware that the immigration minister is about to make a statement on Australia's response to the Syrian humanitarian crisis and my colleague the shadow minister for immigration will respond to that. But let me just say that we urge the government to match our military support with an increased commitment to humanitarian assistance. It is clear that the United Nations, relief agencies and NGOs are struggling to cope with the situation in Syria and that the neighbouring countries that are bearing the greatest responsibility for caring for refugees are struggling to cope.

Labor welcomes the fact that 12,000 more people will be given refuge in Australia. We have seen the efforts that Europe has made, and we believe that countries in the region, closer to Syria, should also do more. We welcome the $44 million in assistance promised to the UNHCR but we believe $100 million would been a more reasonable figure this year. We are grateful to the minister for updating us on the military deployments not just in Iraq in Syria but wherever we have ADF personnel around the world.

We thank the minister for his update. This is the fifth ministerial statement regarding ADF operations since the election of this government two year ago. We hope the frequency of these updates will continue, if not increase. It would be wonderful if we could receive quarterly updates on these deployments.