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

I thank Senator Reynolds again. We had some very constructive and valuable discussions in Perth on the challenges that we all face.

We certainly acknowledged that the events in Marawi in the Philippines have been a clarion call for decisive measures to deal with and to anticipate new threats in our region. We can't do that without working together. We affirmed our commitment to work together to address this threat. We particularly agreed to improve defence information and intelligence sharing, and to explore the challenges and opportunities that exist around working on maritime counterterrorism activities.

So long as terrorism remains a critical global threat, fora such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus and this new, focused Sub-Regional Defence Ministers' Meeting on Counter-Terrorism will continue to be very important in bringing our regional militaries together to share insights and improve cooperation. Indonesia will host the next meeting in 2019. I thank all of those nations who participated. (Time expired)