Minister for Defence - Doorstop - Robertson Barracks Darwin

QUESTION: (inaudible)

JOHNSTON:

Our assistance to Iraq, at the invitation of the Iraqi Government, was the provision of two C-130 aircraft for humanitarian air drops into the mountains surrounding Erbil, to provide humanitarian assistance to the 30, 40, 50 thousand people who are apparently isolated and trapped in these mountains, surrounded, or partially surrounded by the ISIL or Islamic State terrorists. That is the extent of our operations, that is what we are doing in Iraq.

QUESTION:

So you are ruling out any further…

JOHNSTON:

I am not ruling anything in, ruling anything out. I am not getting into the rule in rule out guarantee game. What we are doing, what the Government is committed to do, is to provide two C-130 aircraft. Now they don’t have any weapons on board, they are a heavy lift aircraft, we are providing those to assist our American friends, and other friends – the Brits, the French, in providing humanitarian relief into Iraq.

So our people have acquired really good skills in air drops and we have seen that in East Timor more than ten years ago, that is what we are committed to as a government, that is what the green light has gone forward on, and that’s what we are doing.

QUESTION:

So what is the latest on that, where are they stationed from and when do they start, have they started?

JOHNSTON:

I believe they are going up from Al Minhad and they are waiting on being scheduled into the supply line of providing that assistance, now the Americans are running the planning, they know we are available, I believe in the next two or three days we will conduct our first mission.

QUESTION: (inaudible)

JOHNSTON:

Well look, I think Secretary Kerry yesterday was very explicit, I want to endorse of all of things he and my Prime Minister have said. I don’t think they bear repeating, we are all quite revolted by the things we’ve seen in the newspaper and on line, this is just outrageous, it’s speaks for itself it is simply something that right minded people in like minded countries need to do something about.

Now we want to save those people stuck in the mountains, they are our first priority, and that’s what the Government is focused on completely.

QUESTION:

Senator Johnston, you say you won’t rule anything out, Senator Kerry……

JOHNSTON:

No I am saying I won’t get into the rule in rule out game.

QUESTION:

Well Secretary Kerry, he got into it in a big way with regard to combat boots on the ground, so has President Obama, doesn’t that effectively absolutely rule out Australia?

JOHNSTON:

I think that is a very reasonable conclusion to draw.

QUESTION:

But there is middle ground isn’t there?

JOHNSTON:

I think it’s a very reasonable conclusion to draw, we can equivocate for hours at a time on this but what we have seen is an extreme act of barbarism by a group of terrorists, what the future holds no one can predict, the Australian Government has signed off on providing humanitarian relief and that is all.

QUESTION:

The Prime Minister has said that Australia has a responsibility to act to prevent the genocide (inaudible)…

JOHNSTON:

Well I don’t’ believe we have seen just yet, the portend of what might happened obviously is very concerning given what has gone before, I don’t believe we have seen genocide but lets not speculate as to the definitions and semantics, as I have said what we have committed to in the face of what we know, is humanitarian assistance in trying to provide vital supplies and water to those people in the mountains around Erbil.

QUESTION:

In regards to the northern White Paper, do you see the opportunity much more opportunity for expanded growth in Darwin (inaudible)?

JOHNSTON:

Well having the marines here means yes. We are probably going to have around 1,750 Marines plus another 500 or so Air Force personnel from the US Defense Force, and accordingly there will be facilities required over a long period of time. We signed the Force Posture Agreement yesterday, that has a term of 25 years, so obviously together we want to be able to provide better facilities, so I think the future is very rosy for the Northern Territory in respect to that aspect of the Marines being in Darwin.

QUESTION:

Is there any more information on the extra air craft that (inaudible).

JOHNSTON:

They are operational matters that you can talk to the Marines about those, we’ve got Operation PITCH BLACK on at the moment, I don’t know if you have gone out to the airport but there is one hell of a lot of planes on the tarmac out there, they have all got support in the nature of personnel that are looking after them.

It’s wonderful to see this exercise, we’ve got the UAE, the Thai’s, the Singaporeans, we’ve got the Indonesians, the US and Australia, it’s just really quite a sight and I think it’s a great tribute to Darwin that we can run a huge international exercise like this particularly focusing on fighter aircraft, it’s a great tribute to Darwin.

QUESTION:

What of the HMAS Bunbury and are the Armidale Class…..

JOHNSTON:

…..I think you mean Bundaberg, well there is an inquiry running on Bundaberg, there was a fire contained whilst the ship was up on the hard being repaired. I don’t have any further information other than it is seriously damaged, although the length and breadth of that damage is something I am not fully across yet as it is still being evaluated.

I am very thankful that only two contractors had some smoke inhalation, nobody has died, it was a serious fire and I am very grateful there were no tragedies surrounding it.

QUESTION:

Are the Armidale Class patrol boats up to the job, they’re often in port here in Darwin (inaudible)

JOHNSTON:

As we all know, the Armidale class patrol boats have had an enormous work rate and operational tempo in the last four years. We’ve had 50,000 people on 800 boats.

That force element group, the Armidale class force element group, has had to deal with fishing people out of the water and rescuing people off leaking and sinking boats.

It has been an operational nightmare for us that we’ve had to muscle up and deal with, and we have and I am very proud of the Australian Navy in the way they have gone and dealt with this, in sea states beyond five.

So the patrol boats have been battling in high seas to save lives. I think those boats have done a remarkable job, certainly the wear and tear is beginning to tell on them but they’ve had an operational tempo something by a factor of three of what they were ever intended to do. So I am very pleased with the performance of those boats and very pleased of the performance, particularly of our naval personnel, they have done an excellent job.

They have been blown up, they’ve had to dive into the water to save people, they have performed heroically at every turn of every corner and I am very proud of them.

QUESTION:

In the discussions (inaudible)….has there been any firm discussion about increasing, say Darwin’s port size to hold bigger ships (inaudible)

JOHNSTON:

Well you would be interested to know that I had lunch with Adam Giles today and that was his first question – can we have some more American ships in Darwin. And I said well you had better ask the Americans. Look I think it is a great tribute to the Americans that everyone wants them to visit.

I certainly have said that to Secretary Hagel, we love to see your ships in Australia. Now there’s some logistical and costs parameters that drive where the ships come and go from the Middle East back into the Pacific, which route they take, but I know everybody wants to see as many visits from US ships that they can have and I think that’s a great thing. And so I don’t miss an opportunity to say to the Secretary of Defense – we love to see your ships and I can’t do much more that.

QUESTION:

Is this (inaudible)….agreement just basing by another name? I mean do you want to see permanent US bases in Australia?

JOHNSTON:

One of the fundamental principles of this agreement is that it is not a basing agreement, so that sovereignty remains entirely and exclusively with the Commonwealth of Australia.

That is a principal feature of the agreement, it’s an agreement for the US to exercise in Australia for six months at a time on a rotational basis at various places. And they may even choose to go to Queensland or Western Australia, South Australia or wherever. But the predominant focus of the agreement is exercises, jointly with Australia, in the Northern Territory. There is absolutely no basing element to that.

QUESTION:

Were they opposed to the basing idea or were you?

JOHNSTON:

No it is a mutual thing. You know, we think that it is important that people understand this is about training and exercises, basing imparts some sort of permanence, that’ s not what it is about.

QUESTION:

Minister, Gary Rumble told the Senate committee that if there is a shadow of doubt (inaudible)……….. and also he has called for a Royal Commission into the allegations of sexual assault at ADFA, would you consider it?

JOHNSTON:

Well let me tell you that is not a fair statement. That is a global smear on all the good people that went through. There are some problems with some of those people, we doubt, and that is what the DART is all about. The reason why we have the DART is that a lot of the complainants were not willing to come forward. Now it is very important that we assess whether those complainants, in seeking to assist them, need a Royal Commission.

Now if they are not willing to give sworn testimony then having them in a Royal Commission where they can be subject to cross examination is simply going to, in many cases, aggravate the issue. We have been very careful to firstly listen to what they have said through the DART, secondly seek to provide some restorative justice to them through a payment that is not a compensatory payment, the test has been the balance of plausibility, we do not ask them to sign a release and discharge so they can still sue the Commonwealth if they wish.

So what we have said is, you should not have been treated this way, we concede you have been treated badly and here is an offer of a payment to you because something wrong was done to you in the course of your participation as a member of the Australian Defence Force. And if you want to take the matter further you can.

Now if there was a need for a royal commission, and we’ve referred some matters from Leeuwin to the investigation in the Child Abuse Royal Commission, if there were a number of complainants demanding a royal commission that would be different, but I have not received, and I don’t believe the DART has received, a whole host of people saying lets have one as they are not willing to go through the trauma of cross examination and the giving of formal evidence, and I can understand why.

So what we are seeking to do is to meet them half way, to try and appease them and indeed senior commanders in the ADF sit down with them and empathise with them personally as to what they have been through. So the object of the exercise is not to have them revisit the trauma but to try and say to them we are so sorry this happened to you and here is what we are doing into the future to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Now a Royal Commission is often going to make them revisit blow by blow all the terrible things that have happened to them and it is clear they don’t want that.

QUESTION:

Can you clarify whether the Indonesians are here taking part in PITCH BLACK, you said a moment ago they were, my understanding is they weren’t.

JOHNSTON:

They’re observing, I’ve seen them on the PITCH BLACK flag and motto, and I know they have been here before, they are observing and they have been invited but I stand to be corrected.

QUESTION:

Just further to that there are reports that we are very close to signing a security agreement with Indonesia to try and get relations back on track, are you able to add any clarity to that?

JOHNSTON:

I am not because Julie Bishop is in charge of that agreement and she is signing it with the Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, and that is about the way we deal with common threats to each country, and that is a matter for Julie and I am sure she would be happy to take you through what we anticipate signing up to with the Indonesians. But the relationship certainly is moving back on track very well, and I am very pleased about that.