The Australian Army Intelligence Corps will be presented with the Governor-General’s banner for outstanding service tomorrow as recognition for its valuable contribution to the Australian Defence Force.

The Governor-General will present the banner at a special ceremony at Canungra, in the Gold Coast hinterlands in Queensland. The ceremony will be attended by Defence Minister Robert Hill, the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, the Member for Forde, Kay Elson, and about 160 past and present members of the corps.

Senator Hill congratulated the members of the Intelligence Corps for their professionalism, dedication and integrity.

"The Governor-General’s banner recognises the enormous contribution of members since the Corps was established in 1907," Senator Hill said.

"Australia is fortunate to have such an outstanding intelligence capability within the Army to assist in the planning, preparation and execution of operations.

"The corps provides intelligence personnel in every formation headquarters from Battalion to Army Office. At a national level it provides military intelligence personnel to Headquarters Australian Defence Force, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and other agencies.

"Corps personnel provide specialist intelligence capabilities that provide support to the Defence Force in peace, or in war in the fields of combat intelligence, counterintelligence, imagery intelligence, interrogation, language translation and interpretation, technical intelligence, special reconnaissance and operations, psychological operations, field intelligence, field security, and electronic warfare.

"The work of intelligence officers is often done behind the scene and today’s parade is an opportunity to publicly recognise their contribution."

The Governor-General’s Banner is traditionally awarded for great service or efficiency. This custom began with the presentation of 20 King’s Banners in 1904 for service in the Boer War.

Established in 1907, the Australian Army’s Intelligence Corps pre-dates its United Kingdom and United States of America equivalents and has seen service in both World Wars, Korea, the Malaysian Emergency, Borneo, Vietnam, and more recently in Somalia, Rwanda, Bougainville, Gulf War, East Timor, Solomon Islands and Iraq.

Canungra’s $17 million Defence Intelligence Training Centre became operational earlier this year. The new purpose-designed facility is used to train Navy, Army, Air Force and Department of Defence intelligence analysts.