E&EO...................
Subjects: Discussion paper; defence issues
Thank you very much Defence Minister, Foreign Minister, Senator Abetz, my other Parliamentary colleagues, Admiral Barrie, the Chief of the Defence Force, Doctor Hawke and other departmental heads, ladies and gentlemen.
This is a very important beginning to an even more important process and that is a process of involving the Australian community in consultation and discussion about the level and character of Australia's defence commitment over the years ahead.
As the Minister has pointed out, this discussion paper is not a white paper, it is as it is entitled, a discussion paper. It is designed to lay out a number of options in front of the Australian community, to draw interested people within the Australian community and I will come to that in a moment, in a very very important process of discussion. And I too welcome the presence of the Shadow Minister because to the extent it is possible to achieve areas of bipartisanship in Defence policy that should always be sought. Because as I said at the time of the East Timor deployment, whenever the Defence Forces of Australia are deployed abroad, they are not deployed in the name of the government of the day, they are deployed in the name of Australia.
This discussion paper breaks some new ground in the sense that we are seeking to involve in a way that perhaps was not done before, the general public. And I want to thank Andrew Peacock, Stephen Loosley, David McGibbon and General Clunies Ross for their willingness to be involved in the process of facilitating that public discussion.
The release of the paper comes at a time when I believe there is a greater interest in Defence policy and matters relating to defence than we have probably had for the last 20 or 25 years. Now that's come about for a combination of reasons. One of those reasons is the heightened public interest in the wake of the East Timor deployment and the natural pride that Australians felt in the professionalism and success of that operation. But I think it is also self evident to all Australians that the strategic environment in which Australia now finds herself has changed significantly.
The end of the cold war has tended to bring more rather than less uncertainty in our region and changing attitudes of many of the major regional countries. The instability within many of them, the breakdown in a number of areas of our region of democratic government, all of them have contributed towards a more turbulent mix and as a result, I believe there is a very legitimate and increased government and public focus. And that is one of the reasons why I believe it is important to have a public discussion process and I want to thank the Minister in particular for his commitment to that.
I also want to say a couple of things about the financial provision for defence. Inevitably much of the discussion will focus on the simple question of whether we should spend more money on defence. I have stated on a number of occasions and I will state it again today that I believe that in the years ahead, Australia will need to spend more and I say that in terms proportionate to our GDP on Defence than we are currently spending and on occasions we have spent in the past. I don't seek at this time to put any figure on that. I don't seek at this time to indicate where those resources should be deployed but I do seek to make the point that in terms of national priorities, I believe that in the years in front of us, Defence will need to bulk larger than it has over the past few years.
The purpose of the discussion paper itself is not to bring out those areas where Government believes more money should be spent, but rather to elicit a community focus on it. And the value of the paper and the way in which it is structured, is to lay out options and indeed to invite those members of the public who are interested in one or other aspect of Defence policy, but not necessarily in all aspects of defence policy to be part of the discussion process.
The discussion paper of course makes it very clear that defence policy walks hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm or side-by-side with the foreign policy of the country. And I believe that one of the political successes of the Government in the past few years, and one that is not spoken of perhaps as much as it should, is the way in which, through the operation of the National Security Committee of Federal Cabinet, we have been able to achieve a very integrated approach in relation to the foreign and defence policy objectives of Australia. And that is one of those things that is a constant on all occasions.
The discussion paper and the video properly emphasises the importance of defence personnel to this country. I want to take the opportunity, as I have on a number of other occasions to express my tremendous respect and regard for the professional ability, integrity and competence of the uniformed men and women of the Australian Defence Force. They are rightly held in very high regard within the Australian community, and the objects of the Government in this discussion paper process will be to enable the Australian public to offer views on the structure and deployment of those forces.
Finally, can I say that for this process to work, it will be very important that the process of public involvement and public discussion is taken seriously by all involved. I think there are in all aspects of policy, a role for experts and a role for those who have a particular passion or particular commitment to a certain area of policy. But it is also absolutely essential to take the public with us in any decisions that we make. We live in an age of unbelievably high levels of accountability, and the idea that policy in areas like defence or foreign policy, or indeed in any other areas of policy can be handed down like tablets from the mountain п those days are long since gone. There is, as the video pointed out, always fierce competition for the public dollar. There are always competing claims being made as to what Government should spend money on, and priorities can change from individual to individual within the Government and they can change from Government to Government. It is therefore important if defence, if I can use the collective, is to win its argument and to put its case to the maximum possible benefit, it is important that a process of public discussion be involved.
So ladies and gentlemen, I have enormous pleasure in launching this discussion paper. I thank the Minister in particular, and his Department and those within that Department who've been very heavily involved in its compilation. I think it will involve the Australian people to an unprecedented level in discussion about, and understanding of our Defence policy. That can only be to the good, and I believe that out of that process, which of course will be the publication of the white paper, all of us who care about the security of this country, whether we're in politics, in the Defence forces or within the broader community will be able to feel that the development of a good defence policy has been given its best shot, and that the product ought in all of those circumstances to be one that works very much to the benefit of all the Australian people.
Thank you.
[ends]