QUESTION: Senator, quite a big day here in Australia's efforts to help Indonesia?

SENATOR ROBERT HILL: Yes it's another element of the contribution heading off. I've been very proud of the ADF efforts, the pace at which they were able to respond really within 24 hours of the disaster. The work that they've done to date, the C-130s and their aircrews were the first in with humanitarian aid. We also took in the UN assessment team.

The way we've established at Medan and assisted other countries that have then come in to assist and help coordinate that, the relationship with the Indonesians, particularly with TNI has been very important and that's worked well. So this will build up our capability to about 800 within the theatre supported by probably another 800 behind.

And whether it's air transport of injured persons or aid or whether it's the helicopter work along the coast, whether it's the work of a hospital, the engineers with their heavy equipment which will assist with the clean up work being done by these helicopters and so I can go on. It's a significant contribution and I'm very proud of it.

QUESTION: Minister can you tell us how long the troops are likely to be in Aceh?

SENATOR HILL: We haven't set a time limit on the operation because it's still evolving and we will make that assessment as time goes on. What we may well do is rotate elements of these [inaudible]. We are still in a rescue phase. We'll be moving into a cleanup phase and then you'll start to get to a reconstruction.

This heavy equipment that we're delivering in this ship we'll principally use to help clear the sea ports, the river systems, the major clearing of roads because of the difficulty of getting aid in through roads, that sort of heavy basic infrastructure type work.

So that's probably a few months' work. What these people have been told is no less than 30 days but I think they all expect to be there longer than that.

QUESTION: Are you expecting [indistinct]?

SENATOR HILL: We assess it every day. I think probably we've got it about right at the moment. You've got to bear in mind that other countries have now stepped in as well. I'm told there's up to about 40 helicopters now operating in Aceh.

The challenge I think now is not necessarily to increase the size of Australia's contribution but to ensure that we're maximising the effect of the total effort through effective coordination and cooperation. But we'll keep assessing whether our course contribution is the most appropriate to the needs at any one time.

QUESTION: [Indistinct]... how long will you be over there?

SENATOR HILL: Oh I'm only visiting briefly, I'm going to go to Medan today to visit our force headquarters and the cooperative air control that we've established with other states, Singapore and the United States. And TNI, we actually respond to the Indonesian General and assess how that's working, where there may be blockages, coordination not only between militaries but between militaries and civilian authorities and aid organisations that are ever increasing in number as well.

So it's really this effort of coordination and cooperation to maximise the effects of the contribution on the ground that is the real challenge at the moment.

QUESTION: What's your view on the way this Australian military's been able to work with the Indonesian military?

SENATOR HILL: It's been excellent so far. I think we did the right thing at the beginning. General Cosgrove spoke to General [indistinct], his counterpart, I spoke to the Indonesian Defence Minister. Both said they would welcome our humanitarian assistance. Very quickly they said they were happy that we fly direct into Aceh, which was quite an important step forward. I think they've appreciated the fact that we recognised from the start that we are working for them, we're responding to their needs, we've been sensitive to that.

So it's been a very good relationship. They protect, they look after our aircraft overnight for us, they assist us with the unloading of our aircraft because they've got no shortage of manpower, what they need is the logistics capabilities that we're providing.

QUESTION: Senator Hill, the troops are going into a war zone really, the people of Aceh have been fighting for independence for a number of decades and we hear that the Indonesian military are still involved in this conflict. Will this have any bearing on our work there?

SENATOR HILL: No, no. It's a conflict that's lasted too long and there is still some evidence of some skirmishes well away from the environment around the coast. But our involvement with TNI has been a constructive and positive one, totally focused on the rescue and clean-up effort.

QUESTION: [inaudible] one suggestion today that aid money should have been going through the UN and not directly to the countries?

SENATOR HILL: Well it'll be both. The UN will play a key role in coordinating countries around the world that are making contributions and we are contributing to the UN as well. You know, we, as I said, flew in the UN assessors, we've been helping transport UNICEF humanitarian aid out of Jakarta, so we'll continue to support the UN's contribution.

But we've also established this bilateral program with Indonesia as a near neighbour and a neighbour that you could argue has been most affected by this catastrophe. And we think through that bilateral program that'll be jointly administered by us and the Indonesians we will get best value for our dollar on the ground, that's effective outcomes which is really what we're about.

QUESTION: Are any of the troops armed?

SENATOR HILL: It's basically an unarmed operation. So principally - and the CDF was quite strong on this point from the beginning and I think it's appreciated by the Indonesians - our military are contributing unarmed personnel. It's not easy for military persons at all.

QUESTION: Is security being provided by the Indonesians?

SENATOR HILL: Yes, it's what we started and they've been happy to do that, particularly security for assets. There's been - at the early stage anyway - quite a lot of looting and so forth and that's not in the Indonesian Government's interests or ours.

QUESTION: [Inaudible].

SENATOR HILL: Well we'd qualify that in that we already have programs with Indonesia, people from the ADF who contribute to that on an ongoing basis [inaudible] phased in.

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