Well thank you very much Secretary, to my Ministerial colleagues, Robert Hill and Deanne Kelly, Chief Marshal Houston the Chief of the Army, Navy and Airforce, the Deputy Defence Force Chief, ladies and gentlemen. We launch this defence update at the end of 2005. And it's appropriate to look back on this year and to remind ourselves by reference to the various things that the Australian Defence Force has done over 2005, of the extraordinarily expanded role that it has assumed within the broad national security response of this country.
I personally had the opportunity of visiting our forces in many of the areas where they have been deployed. It's been a year of very intense activity, and a very successful intervention along with our Pacific partners in the Solomon Islands has been consolidated, and the fruits of that intervention are now being seen in the improved governance in that very small country.
The highly trained and skilled forces that are deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan do us enormous credit and of course on a humanitarian level, the troops and medical personnel in particular, who went to Aceh in the wake of the tsunami, and most recently those who went to Kashmir to assist in the wake of the appalling earthquake. Both of those deployments have brought enormous credit to our defence force. And of course it's been a year that's been tinged with a great deal of sorrow, the loss of nine defence force personnel with the Sea King disaster, and the loss of Warrant Officer Nary in a tragic accident in the Middle East is a reminder of the daily assumption of risk on our behalf that the men and women of the defence forces of Australia, take.
And I want in commencing my remarks and in introducing the Minister, I want to on behalf of the Australian people to record our continuing gratitude and esteem to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force for the remarkable job they do, the risks they take, the commitment they make which is above and beyond the commitment of any other section of the Australian community.
This defence update - the detail of which I will leave to my ministerial colleague, does not represent a major department, departure rather from the White Paper. But it does more sharply recognise in the circumstances of 2005, the need to provide additional fire power, additional capacity to the army.
It does recognise the need for a country such as Australia to examine the lift options that are available to it - given the distance that we are from so many potential areas of activity. It does recognise the special responsibilities that we have in the Pacific area. It also recognises that as well as having a partnership role within our own region, we do have, by dint of the values we share in common with many nations around the world, we do have responsibilities on occasions beyond our own immediate region.
And all of the decisions that we have taken are designed to reinforce the capacity, on this occasion, particularly of the Army - but that is said without prejudice to obligations to strengthen the capacity of the other two branches of the ADF in the future - particularly to reinforce the capacity of the Army to do the things that it has been called upon to do in the past, and is likely to be called upon to do in extended forms, and varied forms in the future.
This will not come without additional cost. It's perhaps rather both, how shall I put it, coincidental as well as symbolic that I'm making this announcement - the Minister and I are making this announcement - the same day that the Treasurer releases the mid-year financial and economic overview which gives the state of the nation's books. I have to say on behalf of the Government that we will need to commit ever-increasing amounts to the defence in the years ahead. Defence does not come cheaply, it should not come cheaply. We cannot send men and women into danger without giving them the best available equipment and giving them the best possible opportunities to defend themselves when danger confronts them. And that remains a very strong commitment and belief of the Government.
I do want these announcements to be seen as consistent with what was laid out in the White Paper, but a recognition in the circumstances of 2005, those principles need to be given some sharper precision and sharper definition. There is an emphasis as I said on strengthening and hardening the Army. It's an emphasis that we believe is consonant with our interests as a country and very much directed towards serving the goals, not only of defence of Australia but also recognising our particular responsibilities within our region, our special responsibilities within the Pacific Region, and also the need to have a capacity as circumstance dictates to play a role in coalition operations as we have in Iraq and Afghanistan and may be required in some other circumstances in the future to do so.
I want in introducing the Minister to thank him and the Secretary of the Department, and also the Service Chiefs and the CDF for the intense work that has led to the preparation of this document. It did of course go before a number of meetings of the National Security Committee of Cabinet. A committee of Cabinet that has been especially active over the last six or seven years and a committee of Cabinet which brings together all of the senior Ministers in the Government and the Heads of the relevant agencies, as well as the CDF and perhaps as never before in the governance structure of this country, enables us to focus the minds and the concentration of all of the people in relevant authority in a whole of government fashion, which I think in a range of issues has produced very, very good outcomes and outcomes that reflect the input of different sections of the Government and have as far as it is possible avoided the interagency interaction - let me put it gently - that has sometimes bedevilled decision making in some of these areas in the past.
So I have very great pleasure in introducing Senator Hill, and I want to thank you Robert for your own personal commitment to this and the great skill and diligence that you've brought to the preparation of this document. Senator Hill.
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