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Sir Bob RussellMember of Parliament for Colchester since 1997 |
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MP Sir Bob’s Defence visit to Australia
June 29, 2012 12:45 PM
Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell has just returned to Britain after a week-long high-level Defence visit to Australia at the invitation of the Australian Government.
He was a member of an all-party delegation whose other members were the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Labour MP the Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP, and Conservative MP Ms Claire Perry who is Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence.
Sir Bob represents the Liberal Democrats on the Defence Select Committee. It was his first visit to Australia.
The packed programme, organised by the Australian Department of Defence, featured 33 separate engagements in the Federal Capital of Canberra and Defence establishments in Adelaide and Perth.
Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell (second right) with the Australian Minister of Defence (second left) Mr Stephen Smith during the visit by British Parliamentarians to Parliament House in the Australian Federal Capital of Canberra. The three others in the group are British MPs Ms Claire Perry and Mr Jim Murphy (left), and on the right the British High Commissioner Mr Paul Madden.
Two evening engagements were a dinner in Canberra at the residence of the British High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Paul Madden, with senior Australian politicians and Defence personnel; and in Adelaide a cocktail reception at the Naval, Military and Air Force Club of South Australia attended by a wide group of people representing Defence interests in "Australia's Defence State".
Sir Bob said: "Our Australian hosts were fantastic and laid on a daily packed programme from breakfast through to the evening.
"It was a great opportunity to meet people whose Defence interests are so close to those of the UK, and to further strengthen the bonds between our two countries whose shared military involvement in conflicts date from the latter part of the 19th Century through two World Wars to the present day in Afghanistan."
In addition to the numerous briefing meetings with senior military personnel and politicians, the UK delegation attended Question Time sessions in both Houses of the Australian Federal Parliament where their presence in the public galleries was formally announced by The Speaker on each occasion.
The list of meetings and briefings included four with different Defence Ministers in the current Labor Government plus one with the Liberal Opposition Shadow Minister for Defence, Senator David Johnston.
In Canberra there were also meetings with Defence officials at the Department's "Russell Offices Buildings"; with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and Australia's top soldier, General David Hurley who is Chief of the Defence Force.
During their time in Canberra and Adelaide the British MPs were accompanied by Brigadier Will Taylor, from The Royal Marines, who is Britain's Defence and Naval Adviser at the High Commission.
The programme in Adelaide included visits and briefings at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation; Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Division; Information and Weapons System; National Security Program including the Missile Simulation Centre for which there is a "memorandum of understanding" between Australia and the UK on sharing facilities; and Air Warfare Destroyer Systems Centre.
This was followed by visits to adjoining shipyards to see construction work on one of three new warships for the Australian Royal Navy and a major refit of a submarine. Australia has in addition announced proposals to build up to 12 submarines to replace the current fleet of six.
Sir Bob said: "Distances are so vast in Australia, with different time zones, that travel often involves going by air. During our week we made three such internal flights."
After Adelaide the UK delegation flew to Perth, in Western Australia, which is growing fast thanks to the boom in the State's mining of minerals.
Perth and the nearby port of Fremantle have a large presence by the Australian Royal Navy. Garden Island - the first part of Western Australia settled by Great Britain in 1829 as part of the "Swan River Colony" - has for around 100 years been a major Naval base. Today it is linked to the mainland with a "military only" causeway and bridge. The specific purpose of the visit was to see one of Australia's submarines, HMAS Dechaineux.
Sir Bob revealed: "I have never been on a submarine before, so it was a new experience to do so - entering and leaving via the narrow emergency escape shaft to the main floor was achieved despite my age!
"Conditions are extremely cramped with six bunks in a space much smaller than a box room. It obviously takes a very special sort of person, men and women, to be a sub-mariner."
Back on the mainland, next on the itinerary were visits to the Federal Government-owned Australian Submarine Corporation and then on to British Aerospace Electronic Systems (BAe).
At the former there was a briefing and an inspection of a submarine undergoing maintenance out of the water in a large covered marine workshop.
Sir Bob said: "The visit to see what BAe is doing in partnership with the Australian Royal Navy demonstrated the close alliance between Australia and Britain in Defence-related matters.
"Indeed, on several occasions during our time in Australia I promoted British defence contracts when I felt the discussion warranted it. I shall be following up with UK industry a couple of hopeful leads."
The final Naval visit was to the shipyard of Australian company Austal which builds fast patrol boats, made in aluminium with a trimaran hull, both for Australia's domestic needs and also for overseas customers notably the United States of America.
The final morning involved a visit to Campbell Barracks in Perth, home of the Australian equivalent of the SAS. The Australian Special Forces are currently serving in Afghanistan.
Sir Bob observed: "I was pleased to engage in conversation with reference to 16 Air Assault Brigade based at Colchester's Merville Barracks, and to express my pride both in the Brigade and the fact that many members of Britain's SAS come from the Paras.
"The Australian Special Forces wear the same distinctive purple beret as British paratroopers."
Including travel, with flights in each direction via Singapore lasting more than 24 hours, the time away from the UK was ten days.
The visit was organised and funded by the Australian Government. The Escort Officer throughout was Mrs Liz McGregor from the Australian Department of Defence for whom she is Director for Europe, United Nations, Africa and Peace-Keeping.
There was only one free day, a Sunday in Perth, which enabled Sir Bob to spend it with a cousin and her family who live in the city, including some relatives he has never met before, one of them a "third cousin" aged two.
Sir Bob's father and his cousin's father were brothers who grew up in Wiston near Nayland in Suffolk, just over the Essex border near Colchester, before his cousin's father emigrated prior to the Second World War. This was only the fifth time he has met his cousin in a period of 60 years.