Australia — Senator Feeney welcomes Civil-Military Expertise

Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence, Sen­a­tor David Feeney, con­grat­u­lat­ed par­tic­i­pants of the five day Civ­il-Mil­i­tary Inter­ac­tion Work­shop run by the Asia Pacif­ic Civ­il-Mil­i­tary Cen­tre of Excel­lence.
The objec­tive of the work­shop was to equip par­tic­i­pants with knowl­edge of the plan­ning fac­tors that are crit­i­cal to the con­duct of suc­cess­ful civ­il-mil­i­tary oper­a­tions and to famil­iarise them with each other’s per­spec­tives, oper­at­ing pro­ce­dures, meth­ods, lim­i­ta­tions and advan­tages.

Approx­i­mate­ly 50 offi­cials from Aus­tralia, the Asia–Pacific and Africa, rep­re­sent­ing gov­ern­ment, police, mil­i­tary and non-gov­ern­ment organ­i­sa­tions who con­tribute to the con­duct of civ­il-mil­i­tary oper­a­tions over­seas, met at the Aus­tralian Emer­gency Man­age­ment Insti­tute at Mt Mace­don, Vic­to­ria from 6 to11 March. 

It was an oppor­tu­ni­ty for all sec­tors to gain a bet­ter insight into civ­il-mil­i­tary affairs and emerg­ing issues to enhance Civ­il-Mil­i­tary-Police effec­tive­ness in con­flict and dis­as­ter management. 

“Work­shop par­tic­i­pants con­sid­ered civ­il-mil­i­tary strate­gies, dis­as­ter man­age­ment, peace and sta­bil­i­sa­tion oper­a­tions and oppor­tu­ni­ties for civ­il-mil­i­tary-police inter­ac­tion, with par­tic­u­lar atten­tion on the impor­tant role of the Unit­ed Nations,” Sen­a­tor Feeney said.

“Hav­ing just returned from the Solomon Islands and seen the Region­al Assis­tance Mis­sion to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) first hand, I under­stand the impor­tance to our region of effec­tive civ­il-mil­i­tary collaboration.”

Par­tic­i­pants heard from sub­ject mat­ter experts from organ­i­sa­tions such as: the Unit­ed Nations, spe­cif­ic coun­tries agen­cies, the Inter­na­tion­al Com­mit­tee of the Red Cross, the Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs and Trade, AusAID, the Aus­tralian Defence Force, the Aus­tralian Fed­er­al Police and the Attorney-General’s Depart­ment. The exper­tise and par­tic­i­pa­tion of aca­d­e­m­ic spe­cial­ists and non-gov­ern­ment organ­i­sa­tions added to the suc­cess of the workshop.

At the key note din­ner address, the Asia-Pacif­ic Civ­il-Mil­i­tary Cen­tre of Excel­lence Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Major Gen­er­al Michael G. Smith AO (rtd) explained the grow­ing impor­tance of civ­il-mil­i­tary rela­tions in con­flict and dis­as­ter management.

“The objec­tives of the work­shop have not only been met, but our net­work of inter­na­tion­al prac­ti­tion­ers has been enhanced through your live­ly par­tic­i­pa­tion,” Major Gen­er­al Smith said. 

The Asia Pacif­ic Civ­il-Mil­i­tary Cen­tre of Excel­lence sup­ports the devel­op­ment of nation­al civ­il-mil­i­tary capa­bil­i­ties to pre­vent, pre­pare for, and respond more effec­tive­ly to con­flicts and dis­as­ters over­seas. For more infor­ma­tion vis­it: http://civmilcoe.gov.au/

Media Con­tact: Lor­na Clarke – 0408 345 730 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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