INTERFET

Ms O'HANLON (Dunstan) (15:37): I rise to acknowledge the 25^th anniversary of the Australian-led deployment of the International Force for East Timor, or INTERFET, the acronym by which it has become known, which was commemorated last Friday 20 September. I had the honour of attending the service at the National War Memorial on behalf of the Minister for Veterans Affairs, the Hon. Joe Szakacs MP, and it was a duty I was humbled to carry out, which I particularly felt as I took my place amongst the veterans of that force.

This anniversary is particularly poignant for my family because my husband was at that time a soldier with 2RAR and deployed four times to East Timor, now Timor-Leste, as part of that effort to support and protect the then newest nation in the world.

Journalist Evan Morgan wrote a very enlightening piece for the Townsville Bulletin, including interviews with officers and soldiers who deployed as part of the original 1999 force and then subsequently as part of INTERFET. Evan Morgan writes in part:

When the call came to deploy to East Timor in September 1999, Townsville-based 2RAR was one of the units tapped on the shoulder to become the spear-tip of the original mission. Alongside was 3RAR, and later 5/7RAR then based in Sydney.

Of course, when 5/7RAR split, 7RAR relocated here to Adelaide, a regiment we are all so proud of and sad to see leaving us when they relocate to Darwin. Mr Morgan interviewed then Major Bob Hamilton, a close friend of my husband and myself, about what he recollected of that time. Major Bob Hamilton and B company were the initial unit who took over the security of the perimeter of Dili airport. Bob said:

[His] soldiers were not apprehensive, after all their previous training they were ready for potential conflict and the task ahead.

He goes on to say:

It was a rifleman section commanders war—they were at the coalface making split second decisions that made the mission a success.

Bob describes a very tense situation his section faced when they came face to face with Indonesian soldiers. He said:

There was a standoff near the airport between Australian and Indonesian troops. It was very tense and…we literally had guys standing there, point[ing] rifles at one another from 50m.

One of the section commanders…just got up, put his rifle down so it was hanging, and walked over and offered [an Indonesian soldier] a cigarette. Gutsy move.

My husband, James, was a 25-year-old lance corporal in B company who was a part of that first breakout from Dili airport. To Evan Morgan he says, 'He is proud of what 2RAR achieved on that first deployment and the difference they made to the wellbeing of the people of East Timor.' He went on to say:

When you were there for the right reason, and the people's reaction to us was just fantastic, and overwhelming sometimes. So very, very proud we went over there, and then also how we did it—it was quite professional.

We did the right thing as a country. I'm particularly proud of that—we supported a country in need…

Bob Hamilton says that on the day of the anniversary of this deployment he will be reflecting on the welfare of those he served with.

This is the outstanding and genuine nature of those whom I have had the pleasure of meeting since becoming part of a defence family. It is what I also think of whenever I talk to a veteran and whenever I attend a veterans or commemorative service. I honour the veterans who deployed as part of INTERFET and all our veterans and current Defence Force members, and I thank them for their service.