Red Sea support staff ‘yet to arrive’, Anthony Albanese admits

Anthony Albanese has conceded Australia is yet to fulfil its promise to ‘triple’ the number of ADF personnel in Bahrain to combat security threats in the Red Sea.

Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Anthony Albanese has conceded Australia is yet to fulfil its promise to “triple” the number of ADF personnel in Bahrain to combat security threats in the Red Sea, despite his claim this week that the government had “sent the help that is ­required”.

This Prime Minister, who has made much of Australia’s pledge of just six personnel to the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, admitted on Tuesday that the additional ADF officers were yet to deploy. The Australian revealed on Tuesday that Australia’s only role in “supporting” the current US-led military operation against Houthi terrorists in Yemen has been limited to one or two staff officers ­assigned to the US Central Command, the body that has carried out the strikes.

Mr Albanese said the US and the UK had “expressed their thanks” to Australia for its contribution, and were awaiting further Australian personnel.

“The Defence Minister said there’d be additional personnel there this month. It’s now the 16th of January. The personnel will be there this month as we promised,” he said.

Mr Albanese’s comments came as Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy maintained the navy “has sufficient vessels to meet our operational requirements”, despite acute shortages of crew members in key trades across the surface fleet.

The “workforce challenges”, as Mr Conroy described them, have prompted Defence to mothball one Anzac-class frigate and examine the removal of another two from active service. Mr Conroy said the government had made no secret of the personnel shortages that have hobbled the navy’s ability to put ships to sea.

“That’s been occurring before we came to power and we continue to work on it,” he said.

Mr Conroy claimed the ADF’s workforce crisis would not prevent the nation from operating nuclear submarines, despite the massive workforce increase in submariners and nuclear-qualified technicians that will be needed.

As the government reels from criticism over the slow pace of its promised military modernisation, Mr Conroy announced a $37m contract with US defence giant Lockheed Martin to get domestic missile production off the ground by 2025.

He said the contract would allow the transfer of technical data from the US and help develop a skilled workforce to deliver the program.