Annual Report 2004-05

Year in Review by the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force

The year in review saw a continued strong focus on a military operations, procurement reform, and financial management remediation. Particular attention was also accorded to military justice, intelligence reform and issues of Australian Defence Force (ADF) recruitment and retention.

Operations

The ADF's performance in a wide range of military operations and other tasks directed by the Government in 2004-05 again reflected well on Australia.

The ADF was involved in 17 offshore operations during the year, and at 30 June 2005 some 1,700 Defence personnel remained deployed on eight significant operations around the world including in Iraq and the Gulf, the Solomon Islands, Sudan, Timor-Leste and northern Australia and its approaches.

Our presence in Iraq was strengthened in 2004-05 with the deployment of a 450-strong Task Group to the Al Muthanna province in May. As at 30 June 2005, about 1,340 Defence personnel were deployed in the Middle East Area of Operations in the National and Coalition Headquarters; the Maritime, P-3 Orion, C-130 Hercules and Al Muthanna Task Groups; in Medical and Air Traffic Control detachments; and in Training Teams working with the Iraqi Security Force.

During the first months of 2005, Defence played a significant role, under the auspices of Operations Sumatra Assist and Thai Assist, in the Australian response to the tragic aftermath of the South East Asian tsunami. Our main focus was on the Indonesian province of Sumatra. The humanitarian support provided, demanding as it was on our personnel as they worked amidst the distress of the Indonesian people, was one of Defence's most significant achievements for the year. Our satisfaction with the job done was tempered by the tragic loss of nine ADF personnel, and the injuries suffered by two others, in the helicopter crash on Nias in early April.

Australia's peacekeeping role in Timor-Leste, under Operation Spire, concluded with the end of the operation in May 2005, though Defence remains engaged with the United Nations there through the inclusion of three ADF personnel in a new mission known as the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste. Support will also continue in the form of the Defence Cooperation Program, in which 27 ADF personnel will provide training and advice to assist in the development of a sustained East Timor Defence Force to contribute to national and regional security. The ADF's involvement in Timor-Leste commenced in 1999 and saw the deployment of more than 5,000 personnel over a period of five and a half years.

In March 2005, the Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Hill, and the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison, officially opened the Joint Offshore Protection Command. The establishment of this Command has already enabled a more effective, efficient and coherent whole-of-Government approach to the various high priority operations currently conducted in our offshore area to protect Australia's national interests. The augmented patrols commenced on 30 March, and agreement has been reached on key elements of the future direction and the supporting legislative framework.