Sandy Macdonald (NSW, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence I am honoured to observe the very best of the work that the Australian Defence Force does. That work is difficult and some of it goes unheralded. Some of it receives little media spotlight. I think most Australians are aware of our major undertakings, particularly in bringing stability to the Solomons, East Timor, Afghanistan and the Middle East and in border protection. This night, nearly 5,000 Australian ADF personnel are in harm’s way, doing the jobs that need to be done for the security of our region or for global security.

However, many Australians do not know that we do much more in some very difficult circumstances around the world. This night, we have 25 personnel in the multinational force in the Sinai; 15 personnel connected to the UN peacekeeping operation in Sudan; three personnel in the UN office in Timor Leste; and 11 personnel who are currently deployed on Operation Paladin as a contribution to the UN Truce Supervision Organisation, UNTSO, in which we have been represented since 1956, supervising the truce agreed at the conclusion of the first Arab-Israeli war. Given the current conflict, these personnel are certainly in harm’s way and have been moved to a safe area away from southern Lebanon, but they continue to perform their duties. I take the opportunity of noting that an ADF officer, Captain Peter McCarthy, from my home town of Quirindi—his mother still lives in Quirindi—was killed in southern Lebanon in 1988.

We also have HMAS Ballarat, which I had the pleasure of farewelling to the Middle East under the command of Commander Mal Wise. She remains deployed in the Persian Gulf on a vital operational task in which she assists in detecting, deterring and intercepting vessels suspected of undertaking illegal activity within Iraqi waters. Protecting Iraq’s oil output is a very important part of the future economic building of that particular country.

Just last week, I visited Borroloola in the remote Northern Territory to look at a program called AACAP, which is the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program. This is a fantastic program. The Army is building housing and infrastructure and, more importantly at this time of high operational deployments and tempo, is providing training and health support for Indigenous Australians. Again, this particular work attracts very little attention.

So I was very saddened to hear the recent unfounded criticism of the Australian government’s response in evacuating our citizens from Lebanon. As the Prime Minister said yesterday in question time, this criticism comes from self-appointed spokespeople who bring no credit on themselves or on our society. I want to look at the facts of the Australian government’s response to the crisis in Lebanon. It was a massive whole-of-government response and an operation led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and his department, with very substantial assistance from the ADF.

This is what the Australian government achieved: around 5,200 Australians to date have departed Lebanon; around 4,600 evacuees have already returned to Australia; Lebanese Australians, upon return to this country, have expressed their gratitude to the Australian government and particularly to our ambassador in Beirut, Lyndall Sachs. We have chartered six ships, which have made 16-odd voyages to Cyprus and Turkey, and I would like to particularly thank the Turkish government for their cooperation in this regard. I spoke to the Turkish ambassador yesterday at lunch and made that point to him. Over 220 DFAT, Defence, AFP, Centrelink, Emergency Management Australia and DIMA officials have been sent to Beirut and other key locations in the region to support our diplomatic missions. Around 460 Canberra based staff have been working on our crisis management and consular assistance. In addition, Australia’s financial assistance in one form or another—in food and related assistance—totals over $5 million.

Yesterday in question time, the Prime Minister gave his wholehearted support to our ambassador to Lebanon, Lyndall Sachs, and her officials. I second that support. They are working far from home and in a war zone, and it should not be forgotten that they have risked their own safety to do their jobs and help their fellow Australians. Those who criticise her from the safety of Australian shores should remember this: she stayed at her post in Beirut—and it is not a very safe place to be.

In particular, I am immensely proud of the assistance offered by the ADF through Operation Ramp, in the heart of the recent Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, which remains ongoing. Lebanon is some 15,000 kilometres from Australia. This clearly presents some immense logistical problems. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs said yesterday, we are not on the Mediterranean Sea. It would have taken a minimum of 2.5 weeks to sail a ship such as HMAS Kanimbla to assist in the evacuation. Clearly, deploying specialist personnel to support DFAT was the most effective contribution that the ADF could have made. The ADF has a proven capability in deploying specialist personnel.

We had Operation Pakistan Assist, which provided 140 personnel skilled in providing mobile medical assistance, and four Black Hawk helicopters in the wake of the Pakistan earthquake in October 2005. In the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings, a medical assistance team provided triage and on-site assessment of casualties, and aeromedical evacuation teams, a ‘fly away’ surgical team and a medical support team were also provided. And today with the announcement of a further deployment in Operation Slipper, which is the reconstruction task force in Afghanistan, we will shortly have around 500 ADF personnel there. Many of them are technicians and construction engineers who will be playing their part in rebuilding that country.

In the early days of the current Middle East conflict, Defence responded quickly to DFAT’s request for assistance and within 24 hours had deployed one Defence supplementation support team, which I think went on 19 July, and shortly afterwards, on 21 July, another supplementation team with its headquarters went also. The ADF is providing evacuation handling centre support in Larnaca and command support in Limesos in Cyprus. Until recently, Defence was providing support to DFAT in Mersin in Turkey. The Mersin evacuation reception centre was recently closed after completing its tasks, and I certainly want to thank the Turks for the contribution that they have made in that regard.

Defence liaison officers were embedded in the UK joint task force headquarters. Defence also redeployed two Australian defence attaches, one from Abu Dhabi to Beirut and the other from Rome to Tel Aviv, to provide coordination and liaison support to the embassy staff. The Defence supplementation support teams are assisting the Australian Embassy in Beirut and the consular crisis centre in Larnaca in the implementation of contingency and evacuation plans. It has really been a whole-of-ADF effort. Also the RAAF C130s transported evacuees from Cyprus to Turkey. DFAT recently agreed to their release following completion of their evacuation tasks. An RAAF-chartered A330 also assisted in the evacuation of Australian foreign nationals to Australia.

I am highlighting the work of the ADF tonight to counter an ugly and developing trait that I see in this country of criticising and blaming others for perceived inaction. It has been called a culture of blame. On this occasion, however, the facts speak for themselves. It was a remarkable effort to evacuate 5,200 Australian citizens half a world away safely and quickly. I am proud of the Australian government’s response and I am particularly proud of the ADF’s substantial contribution. It was immediate and ongoing. We are a fortunate nation to have such splendid Army, Navy and Air Force personnel and I commend them, their leadership, training and equipment.