Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Exercise Talisman Sabre is currently underway. It is the 11th and largest iteration of this important exercise throughout northern Australia. The ADF, with 19 nations and over 30,000 military personnel, are taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre that spans 70 training areas across 5,300 kilometres. This exercise is an important one with our ally, the United States, but also for some of our important regional partners, including Indonesia, the Philippines and PNG. For the first time, Papua New Guinea is hosting a component of the exercise, showing how important interoperability is with our friends—our wantoks.

Earlier this month, I attended a live-wire exercise at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area near Rockhampton in northern Queensland, where we witnessed a demonstration of the HIMARS, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. This rocket system is a crucial component of our integrated defence, but it's also important in bolstering our collective defence capability with our allies and partners. This was all part of the ADF Parliamentary Program. I want to give a shout out to the Lieutenant Colonel Andy Martin and also the commander of 3rd Brigade, Brigadier Ben McLennan, and the CO of 3RAR—my old unit. Well done on hosting the politicians.