Governor General’s NT visit

Governor-General Maj-Gen Michael Jeffery with Norforce soldiers in Alice Springs. Photo provided by Norforce

THE Governor-General, Maj-Gen Michael Jeffery, allowed his past to catch up with him during a recent visit to Alice Springs.

He paid a visit to the Norforce Centre Sqn HQ where he met with the soldiers and officers of the regional surveillance unit that he helped to create.

As the CO of SASR during the early 1970s, the then Lt-Col Jeffery was one of the key people who recommended the establishment of a regional surveillance capability for the north.

The idea came to fruition, and today three RFSUs conduct patrols across the vast expanse of Northern Australia.

The Governor General was invited to confer promotions on two of the soldiers while he was there, and took time to compare the weapons and equipment of today’s soldiers with that proposed during the conceptual phase of the regional surveillance capability planning.

By all accounts, the Governor-General was pleased with how the seed of an idea has grown into a national capability.