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

I want to particularly acknowledge the men and women of the ADF who continue to make a very significant contribution to the international counter-Daesh coalition in support of the Iraqi security forces.

Government senators: Hear, hear!

Over 26,500 Iraqi army trainees have graduated from our Building Partner Capacity mission at Task Group Taji, and that also includes 4,000 police trainees following the change to our activity there. Following from the Iraqi security forces liberation of Mosul and Tal Afar, our Special Operations Task Group continues to work to support the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service. Our Air Task Group is providing support to the coalition air campaign. Currently, our F/A18 Hornets continue to provide precision air strikes against deliberate terrorist targets. Our KC-30A tankers have offloaded more than 39 million kilograms of fuel to coalition aircraft as part of the in-flight refuelling program and our E7A Wedgetail continues to provide what is critical battle space management in both Northern Iraq and Syria.