Senate debates

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Questions without Notice

Defence: Regional Cooperation

3:00 pm

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I particularly thank Senator Back for the question and for his interest in this area. I am very pleased to provide some information to the Senate, particularly given the quite dynamic changes in the Indo-Pacific region which we see now—the region becoming more complex, with economies growing considerably and global strategic weight continuing to shift towards the region.

We contribute to regional security and stability through our international defence engagement with both our neighbours and our partners right across the region. We conduct extensive programs of bilateral and multilateral defence cooperation in order to enhance the capacity of the ADF—in particular to work together with regional militaries in shared security challenges, often in humanitarian relief and in disaster assistance as well.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a number of meetings with counterparts from across the Indo-Pacific region. That has enabled us to further enhance our defence cooperation. Most recently, at the beginning of this month I attended our third ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus in Kuala Lumpur. This meeting brings together defence ministers from 18 regional countries to discuss security and defence cooperation and issues.

Since it was established in 2010, the ADMM-Plus has successfully fostered very practical military cooperation across a range of fields, including counter-terrorism, maritime security and, as I mentioned, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The activities, the workshops and the exercises go to building trust and confidence between regional militaries, in particular. They also go to creating greater opportunities for us to improve the interoperability of our defence forces, particularly in the event of regional crises or incidents of that nature.

With Singapore we are the co-convenors of the Counter-Terrorism Working Group in the ADMM-Plus. That is a very useful opportunity for us. (Time expired)

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