This is a great and good day for the Australian Defence community and for the Australian Defence family.
I'm sure the gentle rolling hills of Bungendore were far from the mind of General Sir John Monash when he led our forces at the Battle of Hamel, 90 years ago on the Western Front. The landscape he confronted in Northern France would certainly have looked very, very different from this and certainly very, very different after almost four years of trench warfare in that bloody conflict.
Yet we are here today to open these Headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in large part because of the lesson demonstrated near the town of Hamel in Northern France in July of 1918. The lesson of Hamel is the simple truth about coordinated military operations - that our defence forces are far more effective, vastly more effective when they work together. And it is this lesson that inspires this Joint Operations Command.
In the space of only 90 minutes at Hamel, the German Forces were defeated through an innovative strategy. A strategy that coordinated artillery, armour, infantry and aircraft, deploying a vast army of the brave men and women of the Australian, British and United State armed forces.
The lesson of Hamel was used to even greater effect in the Battle of Amiens later that year. It is a lesson that helped change the course of that war. The success of this insight of coordinated military action, of coordinated military operations that represented the principal reason why years later the British Commander Field Marshall Montgomery described Sir John Monash as the best General on the entire Western Front.
We should be proud of Monash. You in Army are proud of Monash, you in the armed forces are all proud of Monash, the nation at large should be proud of Monash, for his legacy lives on.
Monash had shown the great and critical importance of coordinating strategic and tactical elements of warfare, to give troops in the field clear direction and support. The Joint Operations Command grows out of the lessons learnt from this pioneering military history and this lesson is even more important in the 21st century than it was almost a century ago on the Western Front.
The importance of coordination today is especially critical given the complex challenges in our current strategic environment. Our armed forces must be ready to respond to a wide range of contingencies; civil strife, natural disasters and armed conflict.
The demands on our military are great. The Australian Defence Force is in a period of sustained high operational tempo. Today the Australian Defence Force is deployed in some 15 operations overseas and at home. And as Prime Minister of Australia I am proud of each and every member of the Australian Defence Force in each and every one of these operations because they do the name of Australia enormous pride.
These operations range from confronting terrorism in Afghanistan, to providing much needed support and help to the thousands of people whose lives have changed forever because of Saturday's Victorian bushfires. The ADF's joint taskforce involving up to nearly 900 ADF members at its peak has done an outstanding job in Victoria providing specialist and emergency support in response to the worst natural disaster our nation has ever faced. The ADF's response to this tragedy underscores the enormous contribution that our armed forces continue to make to Australia both at home and abroad.
The challenge of coordinating a massive range of recovery and reconstruction operations after so many towns lost everything - power, water, communications and other infrastructure, and an estimated 2,000 and more homes - has test the mettle of all involved but they have done well. Though the challenge lies ahead of us still.
The scale of this most recent challenge is indicative of the complexity of some of the challenges that the staff at these headquarters will be wrestling with day after day as they confront the strategic challenges of planning and coordinating our nation's defences.
The fundamental work for the nation is to provide for the security of the nation and we pay tribute to all who are engaged in providing for the security of our nation, Australia. Because for any Government of Australia the most fundamental responsibility is this: to maintain this nation's national security and its political sovereignty. And so therefore it is with great pleasure that I am here today at the opening of this marvellous facility.
Headquarters Joint Operations Command, HQ-JOC, will be a central element of the Government's commitment to our comprehensive whole-of-government national security arrangements.
As we have seen, contemporary threats to Australia's national security are increasingly fluid and complex. Meeting these threats will require an equally sophisticated response whether it involves counter-terrorism operations off-shore or assisting civilian authorities at home.
The recent terrorist attack in Pakistan reminds us all that terrorism is alive and well, from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa and beyond. And therefore we must remain vigilant against terrorism and the threat of terrorist attacks everywhere.
The Government is committed to securing Australia and ensuring that the spectrum of national security challenges we face do not threaten our way of life. We can no longer view national security tasks through a narrow spectrum that relies on the designation of tasks to individual government agencies or to a particular branch or sub-branch of the military. In short we need to approach emerging challenges as an integrated national security community across all levels of government.
HQ-JOC will help us to achieve that integration. This place will be the focus of joint services operations and it will help the ADF to work with other agencies engaged in national security tasks when required like border protection, active engagement in operations abroad and responding to national disasters at home and abroad.
The establishment of HQ-JOC will not only enhance coordination across national security agencies, it will also help promote a cohesive and cooperative national security culture. The development of this national security culture will be essential in responding effective to the range of challenges likely to be faced by Australia now and into the future.
These headquarters are therefore important to the nation's future. Important to the building of a more secure Australia. Important to the effectiveness of our operations at home and abroad. And important to all those who serve proudly in the Australian Defence Forces.
There is one other respect in which this facility is important. It will bring new families into this area and bring a new stage to the history of Bungendore, Captain's Flat, Major's Creek, Womboin and other towns and hamlets in this region.
Before officially opening Headquarters Joint Operations Command, I'd also like to formally associate myself with the tribute just paid now by the Chief of the Defence Force to the source of this great facility's inspiration; General John Baker.
General Baker was a fine Australian. He was a fine military officer. He served his country with distinction in Vietnam and in command roles in Australia. He also was a military leader who understood that our defence forces must be led across the forces. He had always a whole-of-defence view. He was from the army, but he was army, air force, navy. He was defence.
As we already heard he was instrumental in shaping the ADF's high level command structures. This facility is very much the embodiment of General Baker's dedication, professionalism and commitment to excellence and a proper reflection of his professional spirit and we honour him. We are indebted to his vision.
Through the successful operation of these Headquarters, General Baker's legacy to our nation will endure.
And it is therefore with great honour and in the presence of Mrs Baker and so many of her family here today that I invite Mrs Baker to unveil the bust of General Baker as I declare the General John Baker Complex officially open.
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