Richard Marles to weigh up US Navy Mid-East warship request
Richard Marles has played down the prospect of Australia making a quick decision on a US Navy request to send a warship to the Red Sea, saying the focus of the navy was on ‘our immediate region’.
Defence Minister Richard Marles has played down the prospect of Australia making a quick decision on a US Navy request to send a warship to the Red Sea, saying the focus of the navy was on “our immediate region”.
He said the government would consider the US request “in due course” and “in the normal way” before making a final decision in the national interest.
“A request has been made through the Combined Maritime Force in Bahrain at an operational level,” he said. “Australia has been part of the CMF for a long time, we’ve got personnel embedded there and in the past we have had navy vessels deployed to that region. We’ll consider this request in due course, but I would note that the focus of our naval efforts now is on our immediate region.”
The US request, revealed exclusively by The Australian, is for Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea as part of an expanded international taskforce to protect against attacks on shipping by Iran-backed militia.
The US has been approaching allies to contribute to an expanded international naval taskforce in response to Yemen’s Iran-sponsored Houthi rebels, who have launched a barrage of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, US Navy ships and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The attacks threaten shipping transiting the Suez Canal, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with a missile this week slamming into a Norwegian-flagged tanker off the coast of Yemen.
Mr Marles said the most important function of the navy right now was asserting the freedom of navigation in the waters off China, pointing out the role played by the frigate HMAS Toowoomba, which returned to Australia this week after a three-month deployment throughout Northeast and Southeast Asia.
The Toowoomba was involved in November’s confrontation with a Chinese warship off the coast of Japan when Australian naval personnel were subjected to sonar pulses from the Chinese ship.
“The regional deployments ... in the last couple of months have been critically important in terms of asserting Australia’s national interest in freedom of navigation … in all the decisions that we make, obviously Australia’s national interest will be front and centre,” Mr Marles said.
“But we will consider this (US Navy) request in the normal course.”
Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said the government was working with the chiefs of defence force and navy to see whether a naval ship could be provided.
“We’ve certainly had a tradition of being involved in allied operations where we’re upholding international laws and trying to secure peace and stability, particularly related to ongoing commerce,” he said.
Defence expert Paul Dibb said he supported sending a warship to the Middle East “because protecting maritime trade in the Red Sea/Persian Gulf is a critical global security task and we have operated there almost continuously for 30 years”.
Australia last sent a naval vessel to the Middle East in 2020.
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