Senator Johnston asked the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 9 March 2010:

1. Given the imminent withdrawal of the Dutch mission in Uruzgan, how will Australian forces be provided with suitable medical support and medical evacuations.
2. Will the Government deploy its Tiger helicopters to provide the necessary air protection for our troops in Afghanistan to support the Australian mission.
3. To protect Australian troops at Tarin Kowt, will the Minister accelerate the implementation of the Countering  Rockets, Artillery and Mortars program which provides a life saving 24 seconds level of protection.

Senator Faulkner - The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:

(1), (2) and (3). The Government acknowledges that the Dutch Forces have been, and continue to be, a first rate partner to the ADF in Oruzgan province.  Our forces work well together and have garnered mutual respect and delivered significant progress together.  The Government is in constant communications with the Netherlands and our coalition partners to outline the way ahead in Oruzgan given the imminent withdrawal of the Netherlands mission.  These communications include plans for the continuation of all current support in Oruzgan province post the Netherlands withdrawal.

1. The care and welfare of Australian troops is the Governments highest priority.  The current coalition medical support and evacuation care, augmented by Australian medical staff, provided to our troops has been of the highest quality.  Defence is conducting planning with our coalition partners to ensure that a high quality medical service provided by a coalition partner is operating during and post the Netherlands withdrawal. The Government will ensure high quality medical support is provided to Australian troops for the duration of the deployment in Afghanistan.
2. The Government considers the provision of high quality air support to our troops as mission critical. To date the Netherlands and United States have provided this high quality air support to Australian troops.  The ADF is not considering the deployment of Tiger helicopters to Afghanistan to support Australian troops as the current air support provided by coalition partners is very good. The Government does not expect a reduction in this coalition air support when the Netherlands withdraws as the United States and coalition air support will remain available to Australian troops.
3. As I have stated previously, the Government views protecting soldiers from rockets, artillery and mortars as an absolute priority. I have asked the Chief of the Defence Force to develop options to deploy the best currently available C-RAM Sense and Warn system to Oruzgan province as a matter of the highest urgency.  In order to assist with this, Defence is engaging closely with its Coalition partners who have significant experience with C-RAM Sense and Warn systems.

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