Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the UK's defence relationship with Australia.

As one of the UK's closet allies we maintain close defence cooperation with Australia on a wide variety of levels. This includes: working together to improve global and regional security either bilaterally or in multi-lateral fora such as the International Maritime Security Construct, Five Eyes Grouping and the Five Powers Defence Arrangements; cooperating on major operations such as Afghanistan; collaborating on capability projects such as the production of the Type 26 Global Combat Ship or regular exchanges of personnel. All this cooperation is underpinned by regular meetings between Ministers and senior officials, culminating in the annual AUKMIN dialogue.