By Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe
AUSTRALIA’S vast northern recesses is a strategically sensitive region, and remains the subject of ongoing debate as to how best to secure this porous area. Situated in Darwin, the Northern Command (NORCOM), is the premier defence organisation that oversees and coordinates Defence’s presence in Australia’s remote North and North West regions. Commodore Brenton Smyth, the Commander of NORCOM, gave an exclusive interview describing the role and inner workings of one of Australia’s most strategic military commands.
Can we start with you providing an overview of NORCOM’s evolution and why it was raised?
Brenton Smyth: Defence has always had a vested interest in the north, and successive White Papers have reinforced the strategic importance of the northern approaches. The involvement of Defence in the north stems back to very early days, though it really started to evolve from about the mid-1930s with the development of Larrakeyah Barracks as the first major commitment to national defence of the north.
During the late 1930s we saw the start of the development of RAAF Base Darwin, the foundation of the Darwin Mobile Force and Darwin harbour being recognised by the British as a strategically important supply base and anchorage for the fleet supporting the defence of the Dutch East Indies. So there was a wider recognition, not only by Australia, of the north’s strategic importance in the build-up to the Pacific War and World War II.
Darwin was also strategically important during the war, with US aircraft being flown from Darwin out into the South West Pacific, and since then there’s been this close affiliation between the Northern Territory community, and Defence. This is not surprising given that Darwin harbour is about 10 times bigger than Sydney Harbour, and is a deep water port supporting merchant and commercial activity into Darwin. We’ve had the Regional Force Surveillance Units (RFSUs) established up here, in the form of Norforce and Pilbara Regiment; and we’ve seen the evolution of Darwin Naval Base to HMAS Coonawarra and throughout that period there has been an evolution of capability up here.
For example, the establishment of 1st Brigade at Robertson Barracks and in the Navy sphere, we’ve gone from Attack Class patrol boats to Fremantle Class patrol boats and then the Armidale Class: each getting bigger, more capable and demanding more infrastructure. We’ve seen the expansion of the wharf space in Coonawarra since the 1980s, when Darwin Naval Base was established, as well as the development of the syncro-lift shed, and a hard stand for putting the boats up for maintenance.
The Chief of Services Committee considered NORCOM a requirement because of the strategic requirements of the north, and the evolution of the Services. The individual Services, back in those days, were fairly stove-piped and there was a lack of a joint focus up here. The Chief of Services Committee saw the strategic value of the north and its approaches, and were supported in this approach by the government, which agreed to establish NORCOM in 1988. However, NORCOM wasn’t opened until 1994, and from that time on we have been the joint operational capability in the north coordinating operations staged through the north. The NORCOM area of responsibility covers a total of 5.1 million km2 in territory (land mass is equivalent to 3.2 million km2 and sea surface is equivalent to 1.9 million km2), a coastline stretching 16,000 km and that also includes 3,091 islands, 71 oil and gas onshore and offshore facilities and a population of around 270,000 people.
Describe the forces under your control, and how your organisation fits into the Defence chain of command?
Brenton Smyth: We are a subordinate operational command to the Joint Operations Command (JOC). In essence, NORCOM is a subordinate headquarters to Joint Operations Command which looks at operations globally. They are our superior headquarters, so we report to Joint Operations Command on any activity that we’re doing and support them on a tactical level. That includes Defence Aid to the Civil Community, preparation for cyclone response efforts, support for emergency services in any restorative efforts, or aspects of Operation RESOLUTE and the Marine Rotation Force in Darwin. Joint Operations Command is the responsible authority for coordinating the in-year US Marine rotational force and the Chief of Joint Operations has delegated the tactical level responsibility to me.
As such, we don’t own any assets; the respective Service Chiefs own the assets. The only people we really have are those who work in NORCOM headquarters. Assets that we require for operations are assigned to Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS) by the Service Chiefs, or capability managers and we utilise those assets. The nature of the forces change on a day-to-day basis, but normally we utilise up to seven of the Navy’s Armidale Class Patrol boats, three of the RAAF’s P3C Orions, and the Army’s RSFUs that are allocated for a certain amount of days. These all contribute to that surveillance picture, and are essentially Operation RESOLUTE’s core units. I utilise assets as required and, when no longer needed, I hand them back to the capability managers so that they can go back into the ‘raise, train and sustain’ process. There is a definitive line between ‘raise, train and sustain’ and operation effects, and we’re on the operational effects side where we only utilise the assets as required.
Tell us about your area of responsibility and what NORCOM’s role entails?
Brenton Smyth: NORCOM’s role has evolved over time and will continue to evolve, because that’s the nature of Defence: we have to be flexible. NORCOM is unique because there is only one forward deployed operational command. We don’t have a SOUTHCOM, an EASTCOM or a WESTCOM. Only Northern Command. As the Northern Commander, my area of responsibility includes the whole of the Northern Territory out through the EEZ and across the top half of Western Australian continuing to the Northern Territory-South Australian border. NORCOM focuses on this strategic area for Australia from a Defence perspective, and therefore we have to understand the area, to engage with the area and provide that information back to our higher headquarters, which is Joint Operations Command in Canberra.
In addition to that, as part of NORCOM, I’m the Senior ADF Officer for Larrakeyah Barracks and Defence Establishment Berrimah. We’ve developed a base support model construct where the authority is split between the base support manager and the Senior ADF Officer. The Base Support Manager is responsible for the maintenance and the general administration of the base, whilst I’m responsible for the ADF personal on the base and maintaining discipline.
My other major role, from a NORCOM perspective, is in coordinating the in-year US Marine Corps rotation for Darwin. The Marines, under the US Force Posture Initiative, conduct a six month rotation up here, which my headquarters oversees and tactically coordinates from an ADF perspective. Those are the roles and functions that I perform as Commander of NORCOM. In addition to those roles I’m also the deputy commander for the Joint Task Force 639 (JTF639), which is Operation RESOLUTE. The Commander of JTF639 is also Commander of the Joint Border Protection Command, and he answers to the ADF Chief of Joint Operations. So we fit into that whole Border Protection Command construct. You have Customs assets and Defence assets, both working together to achieve a joint effect.
Given that NORCOM also has an Indian Ocean focus what role does your command exercise in this region?
Brenton Smyth: The Northern Command’s area of responsibility takes in the top half of Western Australia which is in the Indian Ocean region. We’re not specifically focussed on the Indian Ocean per se, but rather on our roles and functions within our operational area, which incorporates the Indian Ocean region. We are confined to the specific tasks and roles that we play in the Operation RESOLUTE space, and my role as deputy commander of Operation RESOLUTE.
We operate very much in the Indian Ocean as part of looking at and responding to the eight civil maritime security threats within that region. There are a whole range of shipping lanes and sea lines of communication that go right through the region and across the Indian Ocean, in terms of trade for Australia, and that’s something that the Australia population often forgets. Australia is a maritime nation, and we rely on our sea lanes to provide us with our resources and imports and exports.
To what extent does NORCOM engage with regional militaries?
Brenton Smyth: At this stage, we deal predominately with the Eastern Command of Indonesia and the military of Timor-Leste. In terms of cooperation, it’s primarily strategic engagement and helping to develop their capabilities. That includes undertaking cooperative patrols, and helping them deal with the illegal fishing activity that occurs. We link in with other areas of Defence that also have an international engagement perspective within Indonesia and Timor-Leste, but that is currently the focus that the Chief of Joint Operations has given me as a responsibility.
How does NORCOM engage with State and Territory governments in its area of responsibility?
Brenton Smyth: At the moment, we play a number of different roles in terms of engagement with communities, the local governments, territory and state governments, within our area of responsibility. This includes responsibility for coordinating any Defence Aid to the Civil Community operations. So in the case of cyclones and bushfires, I link in with the emergency management of the States and Territories, who seek support from Defence if they can’t handle the aftermath. That request goes through the Defence Aid to the civil community process and if JOC deems that Defence can support in the area, my headquarters will coordinate that accordingly. In the same way, if there’s civil unrest and the police can’t deal with it, my headquarters also coordinates that operation for that whole area. Other engagement includes support to commemorative services and working with government authorities on developments in the north.
Describe NORCOM’s operations around Western Australia?
Brenton Smyth: Around 60% of NORCOM’s area of responsibility would be in Western Australia, spanning from the north of Geraldton, right up to the Kimberly. We recognise that one of the strategically important parts of Australia is the north and in the top half of Western Australia, and our role up here is to act as eyes and ears for Joint Operations Command in Canberra. I, as Senior Officer for the Northern Territory, engage with the Senior Officer for Western Australia very closely, in terms of anything to do with Defence bases, civil communities, and personnel.
Most of our work is conducted through the RFSUs, both the Pilbara Regiment and the Kimberly Squadron of Norforce. Operation RESOLUTE, with Border Protection Command and JTF639, extends throughout the north-west coast and right around Australia. Currently, Defence is looking at a lot of exercises up north, and reinforcing the exercise involvement up on the north-west coast. Unfortunately, Exercise Northern Shield didn’t go ahead last year because we had operations in the Middle East, limiting our capacity to support that exercise. That is being rearranged for this year.
There is a lot of activity off WA, and the majority of that activity will be in the Operation RESOLUTE space, conducting surveillance and patrols because that is where our prime focus is in the maritime environment. Our activity within WA is predominantly focussed on the RFSU side, which supports in terms of Defence Aid to the Civil Community, engagement within the communities and also surveillance and reconnaissance. That has a very much a lower visibility, because we do it at a smaller level, which is isolated to the communities in which we need to be engaged at a particular time. In terms of offshore activities and in the maritime area that we’re looking at, we’re out there all the time, conducting surveillance and patrolling.
Given the US rotational presence in the Northern Territory are we likely to see US military participation in training exercises in Western Australia?
Brenton Smyth: It really depends on the availability of the ranges; at the moment the Marine Rotation Force is focussed on the Northern Territory. The Force Posture Agreement has a 20 year timeframe and as part of the US Force Posture Initiative the Marines interoperate and incorporate into our exercises. The US presence is not our only focus, though. We conduct exercises with many other countries as well, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Those exercises will be conducted wherever it is most appropriate around Australia, including Western Australia.
Tell us how your command engages with the Customs and Border Protection Service and Border Protection Command?
Brenton Smyth: In our role as JTF639 we are the Defence contribution to Border Protection Command and thus part of Border Protection Command. We are coupled with the Customs and Border Protection Service to provide an operational effect against eight civil maritime security threats in Australia’s Security Forces Authority Area our area of operations. The threats we deal with are: illegal exploitation of natural resources; illegal activity in protected areas; illegal maritime arrivals; prohibited imports and exports; maritime terrorism; piracy, robbery and violence at sea; compromise to biosecurity; and marine pollution. In this role we are hand in glove with Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, soon to be the Australian Border Force; basically as one command.
Illegal fishing is an ongoing challenge in the north. What role does NORCOM play in mitigating this threat?
Brenton Smyth: The difficulty is in making that distinct split between NORCOM and JTF639, because only JTF639 looks at fisheries along with the other seven civil maritime security threats. When JTF639 was set up, personnel were not solely assigned to JTF639, and as a result, my staff are part of both NORCOM and JTF639. We’ve been doing fishery patrols for decades. What we’ve seen over the years, though, is that’s it gone from an influx of illegal fishing that was quite overwhelming, to the point now where on a worst case, we might have single digit levels of illegal fishing boats in a week. We still have incursions, but you can almost see the delineation of the EEZ at sea, because over the line you’ll have many more boats out there. From Torres Strait round to Ashmore Reef, and further south we get many forms of illegal fishing activity from banana boats coming down from Papua New Guinea for sedentary species, as well as the Taiwanese, Japanese, Indonesians and Vietnamese in bigger boats coming down to take everything from shark fin to big tuna. I’d say the largest group would be the Indonesians.
Illegal fishers arrive in anything from small sail propelled fishing vessels, up to motorised and bigger commercial style trawlers. Normally, they’re fully aware of their violations, which is why we are often accompanied by Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) officers during boardings. We liaise with AFMA before we detain illegal fishers and AFMA will go through the prosecuting phase. JTF639 also supports Border Protection Command with countering illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing down in the Southern Ocean including in vicinity of Heard and Macquarie Islands.
What is the likely future of NORCOM as an organisation? As you know, there has been criticism about NORCOM’s ongoing relevance given the increasing centralisation towards Joint Operations Command?
Brenton Smyth: There has been continuous recognition of the importance of the north and the north-west, and the strategic imperative of understanding and engaging within the region, which is what NORCOM does. We link directly to the strategic level, and live what previous Defence White Papers have espoused. When Joint Operations Command (JOC) was established in 2004 there was question as to what value NORCOM adds; with some studies done and a lot of deliberation about whether NORCOM was required. When Joint Offshore Protection Command [the predecessor to today’s Border Protection Command] was established back in 2005 in Canberra, there were questions about the need for a Northern Command if JOC was to be a joint operational command. But if you compare the 2013 Defence White Paper to one from the 1980s, you can see that we have gone from a Defence of Australia perspective to focussing more on the region. In 2010, the then Minister for Defence made the statement that NORCOM will remain because of the strategic importance of the north and its approaches to the Southeast Asian region, of which NORCOM and Darwin at the top end are, in essence, a part of.
We are four hours flying time from Sydney, yet four hours flying time north from Darwin is the Philippines. The Southeast Asian region is very much focussed on the Northern Territory as well, not just from a political or a military perspective, but from an economic perspective. It is possible to bring ships into Darwin, which cuts off 10 days travelling time, as opposed to going around to the southern end of the east coast, or even around to Adelaide to offload cargo. Time is money. So from a Defence perspective it is strategically important to understand the region and be a part of it. NORCOM being located in and part of this region has a better perspective than Defence in the southern states to do this. Also, from a political perspective, people up here in Darwin appreciate that close affiliation with Defence, and you probably see that right across the north a whole lot more so than what you see down south. That affiliation with Defence in the north remains very strong.
Appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
* Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe is a security analyst, defence writer and consultant. He is also a Research Fellow with the Perth USAsia Centre, University of Western Australia; Associate of the Australian Risk Policy Institute; Fellow of the National Security Institute, University of Canberra; Adjunct Scholar with the Centre for Independent Studies and a Fellow with the Institute For Regional Security.
Credit: First published in NAVAL FORCES (NO.V/2015, Vol. XXXVI).
