Transcript of Doorstop Interview by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen and Australian Minister for Defence the Honourable Mr Stephen Smith MP, in Perth, Australia

Mr Stephen Smith: I am very pleased to be here in Perth with Dr Ng, Singapore's Minister for Defence. It is not the Minister's first visit to either Perth or to Australia but it is his first visit to Australia as Minister for Defence. We spent yesterday in Canberra and today in Perth. Yesterday in Canberra we had our formal bilateral defence ministers' meeting and it is the case that the relationship between Australia and Singapore could not be better and that's the case both in terms of our general bilateral relationship but also with our military-to-military and defence-to-defence arrangements and relationships. There is a significant training component so far as the Singapore defence force is concerned in Australia, whether it is training and the exercises that Singapore does here on a regular basis, helicopter training in Oakey or pilot training in Pearce Air Base here in Perth. But in addition to that close bilateral relationship and close military-to-military and defence-to-defence relationship, we are also very strong partners in the region. The last meeting that I had with the Minister was in Singapore where we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Five Power Defence Arrangements - Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom; and that continues to be a very important multilateral arrangement that advances Australia and Singapore's interests in our region. We are also very close partners in the East Asia Summit and the defence ministers part of the East Asia Summit is called the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus and we worked very closely in that arrangement meeting for the very first occasion in Hanoi and the next meeting next year in Brunei. So we have a very close relationship. On the ground here in Perth, this morning the Minister and I have just come from the SAS Regiment in Swanbourne, where the Minister received a briefing about the history but also the current capability and operations of the SAS and this afternoon the minister will go to Pearce to inspect Pearce Air Base but also to discuss the training that occurs there for Singapore pilots with the Singapore training school arrangements there. We are, of course, also strong partners in Afghanistan. We are both in Oruzgan province and in Tarin Kowt. We very much appreciate the work that we have done together with Singapore. In the first instance Singapore provided very important medical care and attention, which is greatly appreciated by Australia. More recently, Singapore not only made a substantial contribution in terms of headquarters and combined task force Oruzgan but also is doing very significant anti-IED work and that is greatly appreciated. These have made the bonds between Australia and Singapore and the Australian Defence Force and Singapore Armed Forces even stronger. So Minister, very pleased to have you here in Perth. It has been a most productive visit and yesterday in Canberra we agreed that we should from here on in have annual defence ministers dialogues and we will do that either in Australia or Singapore as the case may be; but an important development formalising the regular contact that we have between Australian and Singapore defence ministers. Minister, if you would like to make some remarks.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Thank you very much Stephen. I do not want to add very much more to what Minister Smith has said, if I might say so, in very eloquent terms. I think we had very good discussions and Minister Stephen Smith mentioned how we commemorated and celebrated 40th anniversary of FPDA last year. I would say that it marked a milestone and I think it is fair to say that Australia, Singapore and the other Asian countries for the last half a century have been working together to build a better future for all our citizens and I think we have come a long way. I mentioned to Minister Smith, my last visit to Perth was 20 years ago and it is unrecognisable. The standard of living has gone up for the people of Perth in Australia. We have been in Pearce Air Base for now 20 years and it shows the depth of our relationship. Minister Smith suggested that we have should have annual defence dialogues and I wholeheartedly agree. We are working towards closer defence ties and doing more together; we're doing a lot together now and I look forward to how, for the next half a century Australia and the member states of ASEAN and Asia can craft an even better future for all our people. I think that is something that we can work towards to and we share very similar perspectives to Australia to how our futures can be brightened; how we can build a safer place for our people and how we can improve defence collaborations. I want to thank you for your very warm hospitality. I want to thank the government of Australia and the people of Australia for allowing us to train here, to have bilateral exercises and for our defence establishments to be working together. Thank you very much.

Question: I have a question for the Singapore defence minister in terms of your Afghanistan commitment. The recent shooting of women and children by a US soldier, how damaging is that to the allied cause?

Dr Ng: Well, on an emotional level and for the family and the people of Afghanistan, obviously it is something very difficult. But I would say that same emotion affects the countries and ISAF, the NATO groups and for countries like Singapore, it is a tragic incident and we all wish it did not occur but it has and we will have to continue to work towards improving the relationships but at the same time not forgetting why we are there in Afghanistan in the first place and remembering that what triggered our involvement in Afghanistan was the deaths that occurred from terrorism. I think that fight is still worth fighting and we still have to commit to it because all of us have invested considerable amount of resources, lives have been lost on both sides and for Singapore we will continue to work together with Australia to see how we can transit without diluting many of our efforts that we have done in previous years because if we allow Afghanistan to slide back, if you like, then I think that would be a worse outcome.

More Resources

• Singapore and Australia Agree to Annual Dialogue