Mr Smith goes to Britain

On January 23 and 24 Minister for Defence Stephen Smith visited the UK where he participated in the annual Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial (AUKMIN) Consultations and visited naval town Portsmouth.

Joined by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, the AUKMIN discussions focused on the ongoing rise of the Asia Pacific, emerging powers including India, the developing security architecture in the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean and developments in the Arab world.

Discussions included Afghanistan and the efforts of both Australia and the UK to prepare the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to take lead responsibility for providing security for the Afghan people.

At the conclusion of AUKMIN, it was announced that Perth will be hosting AUKMIN in 2013.

In Portsmouth with British Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond, Minister Smith inspected the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier currently under construction and visited UK shore based naval test facilities where the two discussed their countries respective approaches to and lessons learnt on maritime capability issues and support arrangements for surface and submarine fleets.

Smith also met with the Coles Review team examining the maintenance and sustainment of the Australian Collins Class submarines and received an update from the Coles Review team about progress being made on Phase 2 of the Review which will provide a plan to improve the repair and management of our submarine fleet.

Rounding out the trip, the Minister also met with representatives of BAE Systems to discuss the Air Warfare Destroyer and Landing Helicopter Dock projects and senior UK officials to discuss the challenges of cyberspace and our continuing cooperation on cyber security.