3 July 2025
Commencing in July, the Australian Defence Force is conducting engagement activities with countries across South-East Asia and the North-East Indian Ocean as part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2025 (IPE25).
Imagery of the deployment will be posted to the Defence image gallery and more information is available at Indo-Pacific Endeavour | Defence Activities | Defence.
-
Latest updates
More from Commander IPE25 Brigadier Jennifer Harris
Thursday, 3 July 2025 - 13:00 PM
IPE was pleased to be able to deliver a two-day mental health pre-deployment training package to Vietnam People’s Army personnel soon to deploy on United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa.
It was the first time Australia has delivered mental health training to Vietnamese military personnel and builds on an already significant relationship focused on pre-deployment training, education and cooperation for Vietnam’s peacekeepers.
The mental health pre-deployment training was delivered to medical personnel at Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City in May. They will soon deploy to The UN Mission in South Sudan.
The training was also delivered to about 200 personnel from the Engineering Company Rotation 4 in Hanoi. The engineers will deploy to the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei.
I was honoured to address the company of engineers at Vietnam’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations in Hanoi and share my reflections on mental health and resilience as a veteran and fellow combat engineer.
We received positive feedback from the pilot training package and will be in a position to offer the pre-deployment mental health training into the future.
You can read more about the mental health training at these links:
Mental health training builds on Vietnamese ties | Defence;
Army psych values training first-hand in Vietnam | Defence
Hard-won lessons on military mental health | Defence
-
Message from Commander IPE25 Brigadier Jennifer Harris
Thursday, 3 July 2025 - 11:30 AM
It’s a privilege to command Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE) this year, as we commence the exciting 2025 program, which kicks off this month.
We have a great team drawing on incredible expertise from across Defence and broader government and interagency partners. The whole team is primed to turn planning into reality, engaging with our neighbours and friends in South-East Asia and the North-East Indian Ocean.
We are building a great schedule of activities to further strengthen our regional relationships and build on trusted partnerships that have been developed and nurtured since the IPE program began in 2017.
Over the next six months, subject matter experts will travel from Australia to participate in workshops, engagements and knowledge exchanges in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
Bangladesh will open the program with members from Australia’s Defence Energy Transition Office and Bangladesh Air Force undertaking a knowledge exchange on the topic of sustainable aviation fuel and climate change. We look forward to sharing more information with you about that in the near future.
As well as travelling abroad, IPE will invite members from our partner nations to visit us here to take part in strategically important events and conferences. In August, partner nations will attend the Australian National University’s Malaysia Conference in Adelaide and the Indo-Pacific Environmental Security Forum in Brisbane.
As the National Defence Strategy 2024 made clear, Australia is committed to working with partners to build a region that is peaceful, stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty and international law.
IPE is a practical demonstration of the Australian Government’s commitment to that vision and I, and all of the team, will be reinforcing relationships, working collectively with our partners to protect and promote shared interests.
We are so very grateful for the support of our IPE partner nations, and look forward to strengthening our defence ties, forging new friendships, and deepening relationships.
Hope to see you all in this big, beautiful region we call home.
