Alan Ferguson (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We can still run a strong defence force, as my colleague Senator Ian Campbell says, which is, to use the colloquial term, punching above its weight in areas throughout the whole of the world. That is something that it has not had to do for a very long time, certainly not for the period of time that we have been expecting our defence forces to operate at such a high tempo. I am very proud. I know that senators on this side of the chamber have nothing but admiration for the way that our defence forces manage to cope with the difficulties of being in so many different places in the world. They are carrying out their activities on behalf of Australia in a variety of operations overseas at a level that makes us on this side very proud. (Time expired)