Source: ABC News, “Federal politics live blog,” 29 October 2026, posts by Stephen Dziedzic and Olivia Caisley abc.net
Defence officials told Senate estimates that there were 204 “incident reports” involving drones over or near military facilities in the 2025–26 financial year, according to ABC News. The count was 141 in 2024–25, 56 the year before and 19 the year before that. Defence confirmed that New South Wales police have been investigating multiple unidentified drones flying around RAAF Base Williamtown and the neighbouring Newcastle Airport over several days in July. The Chief of Air Force said it is not yet clear who was behind them. Coalition frontbencher James Paterson asked whether the Williamtown incursion was the work of “a silly teenager” or “something much more nefarious.” Officials said only that it was not yet clear. abc.net
Greens leader David Shoebridge pressed officials on a report that the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service had gone undercover at several bases, including HMAS Stirling in Western Australia and HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney, to “test existing physical security measures.” He called it an apparently extraordinary breach of national security. The Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral Mark Hammond, called the reporting “factually incorrect,” the ABC blog reported. Senior Defence officials said the exercise took place with Australia’s “full knowledge and concurrence” and that Australian personnel accompanied the American agents. “We work in partnership with the US authorities so they can understand the security apparatus in place for their visiting ships,” Hammond said. abc.net
Two other items show the force’s condition. Lieutenant General Natasha Fox, Chief of Personnel, said “over 75 per cent of the ADF are actually in a deployable medical military employment classification.” She added that about 13 per cent had been placed on light duties while recovering from temporary injuries. Hammond was questioned about command accountability following the Inspector-General’s Afghanistan report and a new inquiry into the SAS Regiment’s culture. He said Defence had introduced appointment-to-command certificates. He also said that “just in the last three months” he had replaced the Chiefs of Service Committee system with an ADF Command Board system.
Why It Matters
The two base-security stories show the same problem from opposite ends. Drone reports rose tenfold in four years, and Williamtown is still unattributed months later. Both show how easily Australia’s air and naval sites can be watched. Some of the rise may reflect better reporting rather than more drones, since the count is of reports, not confirmed incursions. The NCIS episode is the allied version of the same question.
Stirling is the planned home of the AUKUS Submarine Rotational Force–West, which from 2027 will host up to four US and one UK nuclear-powered submarines on rotation. Hammond tied the NCIS testing to US “visiting ships.” Joint security testing at these bases is likely to become routine, so it matters more to say who authorised a test and who accompanied it. Add a force with roughly one in four members not medically deployable. The question for Defence is not only how to protect its bases but how many people are ready to fight from them. defence.gov