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Defence Minister Robert Hill today praised the contribution of the Australian Defence Force on the national counter terrorism exercise held across the nation this week.
Senator Hill said Exercise Mercury 04 had validated the arrangements put in place by the ADF’s counter terrorist force for use in domestic security situations.
"The ADF has demonstrated its ability to work with Commonwealth, State and Territory authorities to resolve simultaneous terrorist hostage incidents," Senator Hill said.
"Exercise Mercury has proven the newly created Special Operations Command’s ability to coordinate Defence’s response and tested the new Special Forces units established by the Howard Government post-September 11.
"It tested the capabilities of both Tactical Assault Groups made up of Special Air Service Regiment and 4th Battalion Royal Australian Regiments troops, the Incident Response Regiment and support from both the Navy and Air Force.
"Defence command and control arrangements were also tested during the Exercise as part of the coordinated national approach to a domestic security incident."
Senator Hill said Mercury 04 was the first major test of the new national counter terrorist arrangements since the extensive preparations that were made for 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"The exercise has provided an invaluable opportunity to test our counter terrorism preparedness and serves to highlight the crucial role the ADF plays in the defence of Australia and the protection of critical national infrastructure," Senator Hill said.
"Since the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the Howard Government has committed more than $1.3 billion to the ADF to fight war against terror. The money has been spent not only on helping with the international effort to capture and kill al Qaeda and their supporters in Afghanistan, but also to strengthen our defences at home.
"This exercise demonstrates again that we are better prepared than ever to respond to a terrorist threat."
Senator Hill said the ADF’s Reserve Response Force, which provides an additional layer of capability to counter terrorism measures, would also be tested over the coming weekend during an exercise in Melbourne. During the exercise, the RRF will be tasked to secure a high profile conference facility.
Here's some pics...
The rest of the pics plus some video's of this exercise are available here:
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2004/mar/260304.cfm.
Hope this edit, makes this post a bit easier to read. Cheers.
Senator Hill said Exercise Mercury 04 had validated the arrangements put in place by the ADF’s counter terrorist force for use in domestic security situations.
"The ADF has demonstrated its ability to work with Commonwealth, State and Territory authorities to resolve simultaneous terrorist hostage incidents," Senator Hill said.
"Exercise Mercury has proven the newly created Special Operations Command’s ability to coordinate Defence’s response and tested the new Special Forces units established by the Howard Government post-September 11.
"It tested the capabilities of both Tactical Assault Groups made up of Special Air Service Regiment and 4th Battalion Royal Australian Regiments troops, the Incident Response Regiment and support from both the Navy and Air Force.
"Defence command and control arrangements were also tested during the Exercise as part of the coordinated national approach to a domestic security incident."
Senator Hill said Mercury 04 was the first major test of the new national counter terrorist arrangements since the extensive preparations that were made for 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"The exercise has provided an invaluable opportunity to test our counter terrorism preparedness and serves to highlight the crucial role the ADF plays in the defence of Australia and the protection of critical national infrastructure," Senator Hill said.
"Since the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the Howard Government has committed more than $1.3 billion to the ADF to fight war against terror. The money has been spent not only on helping with the international effort to capture and kill al Qaeda and their supporters in Afghanistan, but also to strengthen our defences at home.
"This exercise demonstrates again that we are better prepared than ever to respond to a terrorist threat."
Senator Hill said the ADF’s Reserve Response Force, which provides an additional layer of capability to counter terrorism measures, would also be tested over the coming weekend during an exercise in Melbourne. During the exercise, the RRF will be tasked to secure a high profile conference facility.
Here's some pics...
The rest of the pics plus some video's of this exercise are available here:
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2004/mar/260304.cfm.
Hope this edit, makes this post a bit easier to read. Cheers.