Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program. This week as we speak 15 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed in Parliament House for the annual exchange activity as part of the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program. My intern, Captain Simon Petie, is in the observer's box as we speak.

I will give a little history of the program. In late 2000, there was a growing awareness that the number of parliamentarians who had direct experience with the Australian Defence Force had diminished markedly. Defence took the position that it needed to increase parliamentarians' exposure to the ADF and provide them with an opportunity to gain an insight into the ADF and its capabilities. In turn this was expected to assist parliamentarians in the facilitation of a more fulsome Defence debate on issues of national security, budgetary expenditure and issues which have attracted increased attention—perhaps no more than this week where we have had a lot of attention in the parliamentary debate on exactly those issues.

The Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program was derived from a British armed forces parliamentary scheme which has been operating successfully since 1986. The stated aim of the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program was and remains to provide senators and members of parliament with practical experiences of the ADF so that they can play a more informed and constructive part in the Defence debate.

In the very short time that I have been in this place, there have been quite a few of invitations to participate in internships whether they are Indigenous, from the Australian National University or the Australian Defence Force. It is sometimes a little hard to get your head around what exactly is going on, but very fortunately for me I elected to participate in this program almost immediately after I entered parliament. It has been a resounding success in terms of what the Defence Force sought to achieve if they sought to inform me more about Defence issues.

Some of my involvement with other committees has led me to have dealings with the Australian Defence Force. It is a matter of great success to report. Interestingly, I talk, as we all do, with other senators and members of the House of Reps and not all of them are aware of this program. I was quite surprised at that, but then again I suppose people tend to specialise in areas of particular interest. I can say that this program is immeasurably valuable in terms of the aims that it seeks to promote.

I was fortunate enough to elect to take one of the 19 options which are on offer. It is worthwhile going through those options for the people who may be listening to this debate or any politician who seeks to inform themselves more fully and participate. The Middle East Gulf Region and Afghanistan operational options are at the forefront of the program. The other options are naval patrols on the ANZAC frigates, a P3C Orion aircraft surveillance mission in the Gulf region, and engaging in activities with service personnel on deployment at Tarin Kot and Kandahar in Afghanistan. Other areas of operation include the Solomon Islands and East Timor. Options within the three services in Australia include attachment options to Navy's Fleet Base West with a focus on the Collins class submarine; the major Exercise Hamel at Shoalwater Bay to experience Army's training to fight and operate in a modern, complex battle space; and Air Force's largest base at Amberley with its FA18 Hornets, C-17 Globemasters and the new KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport. There is a suite of options of which we can avail ourselves.

The option that I picked from the brochure, without any due regard to the fact that it would take place over Easter—something that my wife was not entirely happy about, but we managed to trade off our positions there—was from 3 April to 12 April. This was time that we were away for our trip to Afghanistan. Basically, we went to Sydney and got on aircraft, which was filled with military personnel. We got off at Al Minhad, which is a base outside of Dubai, and stepped straight into an induction. We stepped straight into an IED training simulation, where we were asked to see if we could spot it and what it looked like. And then we were treated to a blast of what it sounded like. We were inducted in a very rudimentary and quick way, as we were on a limited schedule. We were basically shown what an army or service personnel deployed to Afghanistan would go through, down to being allocated a tourniquet. This was worn on the front of your body armour in the event that there was a blast where you lost a leg or an arm. You had to get that on and do your best before someone could come and assist you. So, as I said, it was a very rudimentary and very rude awakening to the reality of being deployed up country or in theatre. It was quite exhilarating in that sense. I was like a Boys Own sort of character looking forward to this exciting event.

We got onto a C130. We had our body armour. We had our helmets. We had things to carry. We got onto that aircraft and spent the next couple of hours flying to Afghanistan. When we landed I thought we had landed on the moon—the place was that barren. The rocks were just visible. It was an extremely illuminating experience. We were quickly chaperoned through all of the procedures. There were continual briefings about the state of readiness. We were instructed to drop to the ground at the appropriate time if there was indirect fire, which is a fairly common event there. Fortunately, we did not experience it, but it seemed that every time we vacated a place they did have indirect fire. Tarin Kot was extremely illuminating.

We were four politicians to a container—top and bottom bunks, two Labor, a Green and a Liberal. So we were learning very quickly to get on very well together. In the amount of space that we had, there was no room for any discussion about niceties. It was get on or move out. We had an absolutely great bonding session, if you like.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's too much information!

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you are going to fly anywhere with a Greens senator, it is in a Black Hawk next to the machine gunner! Those sorts of experiences will live with me until the day I die. It was an extremely great experience. We were given full and frank briefings by senior officers across all facets of the operation in Uruzgan province. We were afforded, as I said, the same accommodation and mess facilities as every soldier serving in Afghanistan. I spoke to soldiers from all units of our contingent and was impressed by the pride and commitment that our young men and women have in serving our country. We had a mock drill with a regimental sergeant major who said, 'Over here, sir! Into this gear.' Within minutes I was in the bomb disposal kit, which is extremely onerous to wear. I was in a very temperate situation that day. It was not 50 degrees, but I found walking with 40 or 50 kilos of gear towards an IED an extremely confronting experience.

The real lesson that I learned is that our soldiers are well trained, well equipped and facing a ferocious enemy, yet daily they exhibited courage that we at home take for granted. Probably the biggest thing that I learned in my short time in Afghanistan was the absolute commitment of our people, the courage of our people, their wanting to do their job well, to serve their country well, to look after each other each and every day and to get home at the end of each day in one piece, with all their crew intact. My heart goes out to those soldiers who are now serving under the most difficult of circumstances, where the people they are trying to help are not exactly returning the favour. So more power to their arm, and I am greatly appreciative of the opportunity.

Senate adjourned at 19:27