Doorstop, Sarpeye Barracks, Thursday Island

SUBJECT/S: Regional Force Surveillance Units; Defence and Border Force working together

JOURNALIST: So Richard, I suppose just talk us through a bit about the purpose of your visit here today to the Sarpeye Barracks.

RICHARD MARLES, ACTING PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's a really special place in the context of the Australian Defence Force. So, Sarpeye Barracks is the northernmost full-time footprint of the Australian Defence Force. So, this is the place in the whole of the country which is most north where we have full-time personnel. But the Regional Force Surveillance Units across northern Australia are just such a special part of what the Defence Force does, and here, this is a key part of the Far North Queensland Regiment. So there are seven full-time personnel here at Sarpeye, but there's about 70 reservists around the Torres Strait, and some of them have been engaging with the ADF, have been reservists for more than 40 years- they are really our eyes and ears on the front line of our nation in many ways, so right across the north. The Far North Queensland Regiment entirely, so that's here in the Torres Strait, Weipa, Cairns and Mount Isa, but we've got about 500 people, so there'd be about you know roughly 70 full time personnel, and the remainder are reservists, and they're from largely remote Indigenous communities. We are leveraging their intimate and detailed, comprehensive knowledge of country to be able to provide us eyes and ears right along our coastline, and they do an incredible job.

JOURNALIST: And what sort of work are they doing? Is it you know are they working with Border Force as well in terms of illegal boats? 

MARLES: Yes, so they will work with Border Force, and often they are providing information which is really important to Border Force. I mean, we provide training in terms of the use of a whole lot of equipment, but what these units will do is go out on patrols, and they know the country better than anyone, and they'll be out there for days on end, and do give us a visibility of our coastline that we couldn't hope for, but for this unit, but for the Regional Force Surveillance unit. But in turn, it really is an incredibly deep connection with Indigenous Australia that comes through this work, and it's a very special part of the Australian Defence Force. And it's my first time seeing the Far North Queensland Regiment as part of the Regional Force Surveillance Unit, so I was really keen to come and visit this. And they do fantastic work for our nation in terms of keeping us safe. But to answer your question, they do look at people who might have arrived illegally, they will have an eye on illegal fishing, but any other issue which is not normal around our coastline, this is literally the front line eyes and ears for the nation.

JOURNALIST: And being the front line, is there you know plans to expand it beyond seven full-time staff, or that's sufficient for now?

MARLES: Look, that's what we've got for now. I mean, obviously we're always looking to recruit more reservists. So the heart of this, I mean, the seven full-timers here are critically important, they definitely run it, but the heart of this is actually the reservists who give up their time and have done, as I say, in some cases for decades- that's really the heart of the Regional Force Surveillance Unit. We're always looking for more people to join. You know, often you'll find that in various communities there are families who've had generations involved in Regional Force Surveillance Units- this is a program that's been going on for a very long period of time, and it's deeply embedded in a community. And I think what that also means is that, as a network within the Torres Strait, but across Northern Australia and in remote communities, it's in many ways the deepest network that the government has, and it's very trusted, very close to people's sense of identity in a critically important function of our Defence force. 

JOURNALIST: After the asylum seekers arrived in Weipa last month, in June, and the sort of incursion of illegal fishing boats up in the Torres Strait. What involvement have you had in that, from a Defence perspective? What have you know- have you had conversations with you know Tony Burke about how to strengthen that partnership with the Border Force to stop that from happening again? 

MARLES: Well I mean, I guess I mean all of those end up being Border Force issues, but they are good examples because the Regional Force Surveillance Units in those cases have in fact played a critical role. They, in some of those instances have been the first people to be notified, the first people who have been able to identify that we've got an issue here. So we do very much work hand in glove with Australian Border Force around those issues, and it is an example of the fantastic work they do. 

JOURNALIST: Were they involved in- the Regional Surveillance Units involved in the recent arrival in Weipa? 

MARLES: There was involvement there in terms of being- identifying that there were people who were on shore who you know were not part of the community, and there was an issue there. So that was a good example where you know the eyes and ears that the Regional Force Surveillance Unit provided was critical in terms of Border Force to then be able to act in relation to them, and it is a good example of what role these units play. 

JOURNALIST: Yeah, and the same with the legal fishing in the Torres Strait, some of the Regional Units were involved in that?

MARLES: Yeah, they are often- not always- but are often ones who are seeing that occur. But I mean, I think the way to think about it is that, particularly in Torres Strait, is it’s a deep network of people within the community who are there, you know, eyes and ears for the nation, who have a sense of something being not right. That there's a presence or a person who you wouldn't expect to see, and it is actually often this network which picks that up- (inaudible) -  lead that Australian Border Force or any of the other government agencies. And so the Regional Force Surveillance Unit are really playing a critical role for the country, and as I say, there are special areas in the way in which the Australian Defence Force operates. 

ENDS