Department of Defence
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Consideration resumed from 30 May 2005.
In Attendance
Senator Hill, Minister for Defence
Portfolio overview and major corporate issues
Portfolio overview
Mr Ric Smith AO, PSM, Secretary of Defence
General Peter Cosgrove AC, MC, Chief
Department of Defence
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CHAIR
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CHAIR
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—I declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. I welcome back the Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Hill; Vice Admiral
CHAIR —I declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. I welcome Senator Hill, the Minister for Defence; General Cosgrove, the Chief of the Defence Force; Mr Ric Smith, Secretary of the Department of Defence; and officers of the Defence organisation. The committee has
CHAIR —I welcome Senator Robert Hill, the Minister for Defence; General Cosgrove, Chief of the Defence Force; Vice Admiral Shalders, Vice Chief of the Defence Force; Mr Ric Smith, Secretary to the Department of Defence; and officers of the defence organisation. The committee will now consider the estimates for Defence,
CHAIR —I declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. I welcome back Senator Hill, the Minister for Defence, and officers of the Defence organisation. Last night when the committee adjourned we were considering the capital budget. We will continue with questions on the
CHAIR —Are there any questions for the portfolio overview? Senator CHRIS EVANS —I thought the committee would be interested in the first place in having a bit of a summary from General Cosgrove on the Iraq situation—for instance, which troops have returned home and who is still deployed inside Iraq.
CHAIR —We will start with questions on the portfolio overview. Senator CHRIS EVANS —First of all, I would like to thank the Minister for Defence. We have had a discussion about dealing in the overview with questions relating to Operation Bastille as being a useful way to start. I gather
CHAIR —Are there any questions in relation to the portfolio overview? Senator CHRIS EVANS —I would like to start with a general question. We have been trying to track where the expenditure on the white paper is recorded. In this financial year, $507 million was allocated to the implementation of
CHAIR —I declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. I will shortly welcome back Senator Hill, Minister for Defence. I welcome Dr Hawke and officers of the Defence organisation. Yesterday the committee adjourned on output 3, Army, which was completed. Today the committee
Senator CHRIS EVANS —I thought it might be useful if we started with a discussion about the war on terrorism and an update. I do not know whether officers would prefer us to just ask questions or whether someone would like to give us a five-minute overview of where we
CHAIR —Good morning. I declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. I will shortly be welcoming Senator Hill, the Minister for Defence; Admiral Barrie, Chief of the Defence Force; Dr Hawke, Secretary of the Department of Defence; and officers of the Defence organisation.
CHAIR —Welcome. Today the committee will continue its consideration of the Defence portfolio overview. When written questions on notice are received, the chair will state for the record the name of the senator who submitted the questions and the questions will be forwarded to the department for an answer. The
CHAIR —I declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Legislation Committee and I welcome back Senator Hill, the Minister for Defence. I welcome Admiral Barrie, Mr Mick Roche and other officers of your department and serving personnel. Today's hearing will be suspended between 6.30 and
