Media Room: Defence Speech

ANGUS HOUSTON: Good afternoon and thank you for coming across to Russell today. I just want to brief you on what's going on and I'll obviously make a short statement, and after that I'll take any questions on operations, that you want to pose to me.

Firstly, I'm pleased to report the current situation in Timor-Leste is much calmer so far today. We haven't received any reports of significant clashes overnight. However, Timor-Leste remains unstable and dangerous. Overnight the senior team of Australian Government officials lead by the Vice-Chief, Lieutenant-General Ken Gillespie, met with President Gusmao, Prime Minister Alkatiri and the Chief of the Timor-Leste Defence Forces.

The three Timor-Leste leaders signed a document agreeing to the conditions of deployment, requested by the Australian Government. The mission of the Australian Defence Force at this time: is to assist the Government of Timor-Leste to facilitate evacuation of Australian and other approved foreign nationals as necessary; stabilise the security situation and facilitate the concentration of the various conflicting groups, back into safe and secure locations; and create a secure environment for the conduct of a successful dialogue to resolve the current crisis.

Almost 1,800 Australian Defence Force personnel are now either on the ground, in transit, or directly supporting the ADF response to the situation in Dili. The armed forces in Timor-Leste now number 450, and include a commando company from the 4th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, and a Rifle Company Group from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment.

They have secured Comoro Airport at Dili as a point of entry for follow on ADF forces. Four Blackhawk helicopters have also arrived in Dili, and are providing air support to the ground forces in location. During the previous 24 hours, the Royal Australian Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft have evacuated 80 Australian and other approved nationals.

Our follow on force is based on a battalion group from the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, which is en-route to Timor-Leste by air and sea. From this Battalion, a company group and their equipment, including armoured personnel carriers, has started to arrive in Dili. The guided missile frigate, HMAS Adelaide, remains on station in Dili Harbour, and is prepared to support ground operations. The amphibious landing ship, HMAS Kanimbla is off the south coast of Timor-Leste, and is sailing to Dili to provide medical, communication, accommodation and various support facilities as required. The amphibious ship, HMAS Manoora, which is carrying people and equipment from Townsville, is en-route to Dili and is expected to arrive tomorrow.

The heavy landing ship Tobruk, is also en-route from Townsville to Dili and expected to arrive early on the 29th of May. The auxiliary oiler HMAS Success is in the Timor seas, providing support to the deployed Royal Australian Navy Fleet Units. The landing craft heavy ships, HMAS Balikpapan and HMAS Tarakan are also supporting the deployment.

At all times Australian service personnel will be under Australian command. Brigadier Michael Slater, Commander of the Army's 3rd Brigade, is the commander of this operation. He arrived in Dili this morning, and I have full confidence in his capabilities as a leader.

I hope that this situation is resolved as quickly and peacefully as possible, and the people of Dili and surrounding areas, can feel safe again. I have great confidence in the men and women of the Australian Defence Force that have deployed to Timor-Leste. They are well prepared and well equipped for this task.

Nevertheless, this is a dangerous mission and I am sure all Australians will join me, in wishing our troops the best of luck for their mission and a safe return home. Thank you all for coming today.

I'm now prepared to take a few questions about this operation, indeed operations in general.

QUESTION: CDF Network 10––One person you didn't mention was Alfredo Reinado, who is the rebel chief it seems. He's Australian trained. Does that make him a friend, or does that make him an enemy, because he knows our tactics?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Look, the way we're going into this, we've obtained agreement from the principals in the Government of Timor-Leste, essentially we are going in with a policy of disengagement. We'll be going in to separate the warring factions, and we will be completely neutral in that endeavour.

It's absolutely imperative that we adopt that approach, because if we don't, we won't achieve our mission. So it's all about separating the factions, getting them into their barracks, creating cantonments, having a well managed process for weapons, and then creating the conditions for discussion, negotiation and a sensible way of resolving problems.

QUESTION: (Cynthia) The rebel leader yesterday made some comments that he was welcoming the presence of the Australian troops, and so I wonder whether the threat, the dangers, are actually more than just his rebel group––whether there are other militias who are posing a threat to the civilians. And if you can just describe a bit about where the dangers are actually coming from please?

ANGUS HOUSTON: What we've got there, or what we saw yesterday, was a very chaotic environment. There were a lot of armed parties in and around Dili, and they appeared to be fighting each other. Clearly any one of those groups can be a threat, if they're not under some sort of formal command and control arrangements. So it doesn't really matter if it's a group lead by one of the renegades, or another group that is lead by somebody else, that's acting unilaterally under their own––under no rules of engagement.

Any one of those groups could be a danger to our people. So what we need to do is, is go in there with plenty of combat power, demonstrate that we have a very good capability, and cause these groups to retire to their barracks, stay in their barracks. And we will set up the management arrangements to ensure that we can protect them, we can look after them, and we act in a strictly neutral way.

We want to be the impartial party, the honest broker, somebody that everybody trusts, somebody who is able to essentially establish a stable environment.

QUESTION: When will the majority of the forces be on the ground, and do you anticipate they'll have to move outside Dili?

ANGUS HOUSTON: At this stage we've got almost two full company groups on the ground in Dili. Tomorrow we'll have the arrival of Manoora. That will give us a lot more of the heavy equipment, armoured personnel carriers and the like, and of course, we will have more troops going in, and all the combat elements will be in by the end of tomorrow. Tobruk comes in on Sunday, and that brings further logistic support.

So to all intents and purposes, our combat capability will be firmly established on the ground by the end of tomorrow. At this stage our focus is very much on Dili. We are hopeful that we will be able to establish a regime where everybody goes back to their cantonments or their barracks, and essentially they stay there under our protection and under our facilitation.

QUESTION: Without having to go outside …?

ANGUS HOUSTON: At this stage I can't make a judgement on that, because if we can solve the problem in Dili, we may be able to solve the problem completely.

QUESTION: Could you explain any more about the role of The Adelaide. It was obviously sitting off Timor for a day or two, and then seems to have slipped quietly into harbour. Did it carry any troops?

ANGUS HOUSTON: The Adelaide was up in those waters on other duties, and essentially it was available to put into the area. It carries a helicopter, a Seahawk helicopter, which in these circumstances is very handy, very valuable, and of course, the ship provides the basis for communications, general support to our people. It's a very handy asset to have there, and of course, as we all know, when a naval ship steams into port, it does have an effect that is good to creating a stable environment.

And indeed, when it appeared off The Esplanade in Dili yesterday, I believe it was greeted by a lot of people who were very happy to see it.

QUESTION: Did it have troops on board?

ANGUS HOUSTON: No it didn't.

QUESTION: CDF, two questions. First of all, how long do you anticipate that this mission will go for, and does it leave Australian Forces stretched at home or elsewhere in the world? And secondly, you've said that you want Australian troops to be impartial and neutral, but if they're confronted with a situation like we saw in Dili overnight and yesterday, which is where we've had unarmed surrendering officers shot, how would they react if they were confronted with a situation like that?

ANGUS HOUSTON: It's a good question, and I'll start with the last question first. We have very robust rules of engagement. Rules of engagement that have been developed from all the lessons we've learned with the first Timor operation in 1999, our experiences in the Solomon Islands, and indeed our experiences with other United Nations operations around the world.

What we have are rules of engagement that enable us to go into these circumstances, and use lethal force in a very measured and restrained way. In essence, what we're about is using lethal force only when it's absolutely necessary to do so. So if somebody has a go at us, we can certainly respond and defend ourselves, and we will do so. But we're not in the business of going out and pursuing people in a very highly offensive way.

The rules of engagement are tailored to the circumstances that we are likely to face, in establishing peace in Dili.

QUESTION: But what if the threat is to a third party, rather than directly to the Australians, and if I can ask you to address the other question?

ANGUS HOUSTON: In terms of the third parties, you're talking specifically I suppose about civilian people. Our rules of engagement cover those sorts of circumstances. I don't want to go into the detail of that, but we have very clear direction to our people as to how they handle third parties.

In terms of the other questions you asked, in terms of concurrency, we put a battalion group into Timor. We have plenty of capability remaining to do other credible contingencies in our region. So I'm reasonably comfortable with where we're at, at the moment.

Of course, it is a time of very high operational tempo, and everywhere you look in the ADF at the moment, people are very busy. But morale is very high. We're doing what we're trained to do, and I think we're making a real difference out there. Our people will perform in a very professional way, and helping the young nation of Timor-Leste sort out its problems, is something that we all will, I suppose do, with great relish, with great enthusiasm, and in a highly professional way.

QUESTION: Commander, it's James Grubel from Reuters. I'd just like you to clarify, with the mission in Dili at the moment, and you say it's about separating the factions, does that, how are the Australians and the other forces going to be interacting with the East Timorese defence force? And are you suggesting that it's a matter of them returning to their barracks and not being involved in solving this solution, letting this be solved around them, or is there some working and cooperation with them?

ANGUS HOUSTON: We've gone in there with sufficient combat power, I'll use that word, to be able to create a stable environment within Dili. The best way to proceed is to get everybody who's been involved in these unfortunate clashes back into the barracks. In other words, a policy of disengagement, separate the combatants, put them into their barracks, establish containments, manage the weapons, and then create the conditions for negotiation and resolution of these problems that have caused the violence.

QUESTION: CDF, if the need arises, do we have the capacity to increase our deployment numbers over the coming weeks? And secondly, just recapping on this question of the mission's duration, do you foresee at this stage that we could still be there say in a year or two's time? Certainly through the election in August next year.

ANGUS HOUSTON: Well as I said earlier on, we still have plenty of forces left behind. At the moment we've got 3,600 people committed to deployed operations. As you know we're a very large ADF, and we still have capacity for re-enforcement or other operations as they might arise.

Now having said that, I would want to see us try and resolve the problems in East Timor fairly quickly. Create the stable environment and then I guess what happens from there is really a matter for the Timor-Leste Government, our Government, our partners and probably the United Nations.

But what I would foresee is, that we would not be left there to provide the stabilisation effect for a long, long time. Rather what we would need to do is come up with some arrangements, probably with the United Nations whereby they take over the requirement for stabilisation sometime in the future.

QUESTION: CDF, things seemed to get out of hand very quickly yesterday afternoon, can I just get your personal perspective as a Commander watching his troops, how concerned were you when reports came in, the gun fire and that people were being killed yesterday afternoon, and how relieved are you that things have gone so smoothly?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Well things did deteriorate very quickly yesterday, in fact I remember it was just before question time and I got a report that things had taken a turn for the worse. In fact I got a phone call from the Defence Attaché in Timor who indicated that things were not going well and that we should perhaps reconsider General Gillespie's flight into Dili. In fact what I did was I turned the aircraft around and gave him direction to go with the force that was coming in a little later on. So he arrived with the C1-30 and the Commando Company. So I guess that indicates the level of my concern.

Now once we arrived, I think our arrival had a calming effect, and what we've seen to date I hope is what we're going to see into the future. Our arrival in force has I suppose created already a calmer environment than we had yesterday, and I'm hopeful that that calm environment, that more peaceful environment will continue in the next few days.

QUESTION: Air Chief Marshal Houston, are you liaising at all with the Malaysians?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Yes, I spoke last night to my counterpart from Malaysia, that's Admiral Anwar who actually was out here at the beginning of the year, and we had very constructive and very friendly talks. He is deploying a small force into Dili in response to a request from the Timor-Leste Government, and we will work very closely with them.

I would anticipate that as the mission develops, they will probably come into some sort of formal coalition arrangement with us. But we've yet to work out those details.

QUESTION: (Tasha Simpson, ABC Radio) Just briefly back on the forces and whether they're stretched in general, Timor looks like it could potentially be a lengthy deployment, at least to inspire confidence in the area. It's been suggested that by July at least half our light infantry will be deployed overseas. How sustainable is that?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Well we are sustaining operations at the moment and we haven't had any difficulty in sustaining the infantry effort to date. It's something that we obviously manage closely, but to date we haven't had any difficulty in meeting the commitments that we have now or indeed the additional commitments envisaged with this current deployment.

QUESTION: And just briefly, do you think that potentially if we'd gone in a bit earlier we would have not seen that escalation of violence late yesterday that seems to have ended in a number of deaths?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Let me just say that I think we were better postured for this than probably any other occurrence in our region in recent times. If you think about it, from the time we got the request to the time we have all of our forces on the ground, we're talking about a deployment in three to four days. A very large force, a very effective force that is able to go straight into operations from the moment that it arrives on the ground.

So I think the response, because of the Government's decision a couple of weeks ago to pre-deploy the ships, allowed me to start all the necessary preparations that were necessary, you couldn't have had a faster response than what we have had on this occasion.

Now if we'd gone a day earlier, would we have stopped all that violence? I'd only be speculating, but I suspect that there was a little bit of settling of scores before we actually got in there and I'm not sure that going in a couple of days earlier would have made any difference. I think that violence might have occurred anyway.

QUESTION: So are you saying that us deciding to go in actually escalated the violence, that people took the opportunity…

ANGUS HOUSTON: No, not at all. I think that what was happening there, we saw that over the last few weeks, we've seen a deteriorating situation which was getting worse and worse and worse. Finally, the Government of Timor-Leste said we have a very difficult situation and they invited us in.

From the moment we were invited in, we reacted very, very quickly and I think that those circumstances that arose yesterday were going to happen regardless, and had nothing to do with our deployment other than things were getting worse and worse.

If we hadn't gone in yesterday, I think we'd have had worse circumstances today. Thank you.

One more question.

QUESTION: Sorry Chief, just one more. I wonder whether it's of any concern to you that the politics of East Timor and any sort of fractures that you perceive between Foreign Minister, Prime Minister, President, and finally whether you see any role for Australian police to play down the line?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Well in terms of the politics of Timor-Leste, I don't want to get into that. Clearly there were some political difficulties there. Those difficulties need to be resolved by the parties within Timor, and I think that creating a stable environment will assist in creating the conditions where those differences can be resolved in a process of negotiation, rather than by resort to armed force by one faction or another. I don't want to go any further than that on that subject.

I definitely see a role for police further downstream. The conditions at the moment are conditions that require military force. We need soldiers to go in there, we need soldiers to create the stable conditions that are required so you can then bring in police to do the important job of maintaining law and order.

Thank you very much.