Hundreds of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have travelled to Western Australia’s remote north for the state’s biggest military exercise in three decades.

Taking place around Derby, 2,200km north of Perth, and nearby RAAF Base Curtin, Exercise Austral Shield was designed to test the ADF’s capacity to respond quickly to northern WA in response to a significant national security risk.

Since late last year, northern WA has seen multiple boat arrivals and a spike in foreign fishing vessels, sparking strong national and local debate over the Commonwealth’s ability to monitor and protect the vast Kimberley coastline.

Around 400 personnel from Perth and the east coast took part in various scenarios, defending against a fictitious enemy threatening the region.

Thirteenth Brigade Commander Brigadier Amanda Williamson said the exercise aligned with the 2024 National Defence Strategy priority of bolstering defence capabilities in the country’s far north.

“We are now out in the community in the Kimberley and the Pilbara making sure we have a much more active presence in this part of Western Australia,” Brigadier Williamson said.

“For a lot of our soldiers being 2,500 kilometres away from Perth, it also means we’re away from our sustainment lines.”

She said the hot, remote conditions posed a significant challenge for her troops.

“So Exercise Austral Shield provides an ideal opportunity for us to test our ability to operate here for a long time,” Brigadier Williamson said. 

“But also to test how efficient our supply lines are in sustaining a force up here for such a lengthy period of time.”

A rapidly deteriorating global environment

Brigadier Williamson said exercises such as Austral Shield were vital in the current global environment, which had been described as the most “complex” since World War II. 

“Now more than ever, we need to be ready to conduct and perform a range of security tasks directed to us by government.”

While she declined to weigh in on suggestions that a permanent defence presence in the Kimberley was needed, she said the ADF was well positioned to respond to threats.

“We’ve got a team in the 13th Brigade and in Norforce that are well positioned and well practiced at moving rapidly throughout Western Australia,” she said. 

“Whether that’s deploying from Perth or from the regional areas such as Port Hedland, or Karratha, or Broome even down to Geraldton.”

Calls for more staff in the region

Derby-West Kimberley Shire president Peter McCumstie would like to see the defence footprint increase in the region.

“One would think common sense would prevail in so much as the north of Australia is the most exposed, and that’s recognised in Queensland and Northern Territory with a large amount of presence of defence facilities and personnel,” he said. 

“Whereas the north of Western Australia tends to be a lot less in the thoughts of those who make the planning.”

Both he and Brigadier Williamson believed exercises such as Austral Shield were an opportunity to boost interest and recruitment.

But Mr McCumstie said that would be ineffective without committing to more exercises and permanent positions in the region.

“There are quite a number of locals, I think, always interested,” he said.

“The problem is, we don’t see enough of the Defence Force presence to keep that interest going and to the point where local people will seriously consider that as a future.

“They are suggesting to us or telling us that there will be an increase in different exercises in the Kimberley itself, which is great to hear, but we need to see those words turn into actions and actually see that presence increase.”