ADJOURNMENT

Mr GOSLING (Solomon) (19:35): Thanks, Deputy Speaker Scrymgour. It's awesome to see you in the chair. It's been a very busy time in the defence and veterans portfolios, and I want to update the House on some of the things that we were doing during the break in sittings.

Firstly, there's Exercise Pitch Black. The Royal Australian Air Force has conducted another extremely successful Exercise Pitch Black—of course—taking full advantage of Darwin's beautiful dry season to host the exercise, which wrapped up on Friday after a few weeks. Held every two years, Pitch Black is the Air Force's largest international exercise, featuring complex simulated combat scenarios across one of the largest military training areas in the world.

This year, over 100 aircraft and personnel from 21 allied and partner nations participated in Pitch Black, all with a view to strengthening regional and global interoperability. Participating countries included: our four treaty allies—the USA, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Zealand; our Five Power Defence Arrangements partners—Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK; regional partners, like Brunei and the Republic of Korea; Indonesia, with which we now have the treaty on common security; and the three countries for which I'm proud to be the parliamentary friends chair—Canada, the Philippines and Thailand.

Our Quad partners Japan and India were there, as well as some of our NATO partners: Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Spain. Exercise Pitch Black is important for maintaining currency, strengthening our ability to work together and increasing both regional and global security. A special mention goes to my friend the member for Dunkley, Jodie Belyea MP, as well as the members for Mallee and Flinders, who came along to experience Exercise Pitch Black through participation in our ADF Parliamentary Program.

Moving on to veterans, it was recently my distinct privilege to open the Ipswich veterans and families hub. Our government continues to roll out veterans and families hubs, and on 29 July I represented the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, the Hon. Matt Keogh MP, to open the veterans and families hub in Ipswich, Queensland.

I was there with my good mate the member for Blair, the Hon. Shayne Neumann MP, and I'd like to pay tribute to the work that Shayne did to bring about the establishment of the Ipswich hub. Much like the highly successful Veteran & Family Wellbeing Centre in Darwin, the electorate that I'm proud to represent, this Ipswich hub is also a collaboration between Queensland RSL and Mates4Mates.

I'd like to acknowledge the RSL Queensland state president, Major General Stephen Day DSC, AM (Retired), who spoke so eloquently at the opening. This hub in Ipswich will support one of the largest veteran communities, with around 10,000 veterans and their family members and 5,000 serving ADF members. The opening of this hub also comes just a few weeks after the Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency went live right here on the grounds of Parliament House on 1 July.

This is all a testament to our government's efforts to set veterans and their families up for success as they transition to civilian life after their time in uniform and for the years that follow. I also want to reflect on another opening I went to whilst I was in Brisbane, and that was of REFORGE. After the Ipswich opening, later in the day, I attended the official opening of the GO2 Health REFORGE veteran rehabilitation centre in Brisbane, which is just down the road from Gallipoli Barracks in Enoggera.

Their integrated rehabilitation model brings together medical, physical, psychological and occupational care to improve recovery, function and return-to-work outcomes for veterans and others undergoing rehabilitation. GO2 Health will also establish facilities delivering integrated health services at the Ipswich hub, and they'll go live in April next year, providing connected health services to our veterans and their families, to whom we, of course, owe so very much.

I'd like to acknowledge the co-founders from 2nd Commando Regiment, Dr Kieran McCarthy and Rod Martin—who is, incidentally, a black belt in karate—and also the chief operating officer, Owen Paulson, veteran of 3 RAR. Well done, fellas.