21.   Greece scuppered the accord, which would give a new European defence force critical access to NATO strategic support, reportedly out of concern over powerful rival Turkey.

22.   He also said he knew of no arms shipments by the defence force to the IFP, which is waging a bitter struggle with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.

23.   He defined a palace guard as a private militia found in underdeveloped countries that were for the personal protection of politicians and rendered defence forces inoperational.

24.   He added that the defence force was not aware of any serving members involved.

25.   He said it was obvious traditional thinking about the defence force had to be abandoned, with a focus now on issues such as arms smuggling.

26.   He has ordered a revamp of the management structure of the Australian defence force and department.

27.   He said the defence force could not speculate on the cause of the accident but a full inquiry would be carried out.

28.   He stressed that strong national defence forces combined with bilateral defence links within ASEAN contribute to regional security.

29.   He told parliament that he had ordered his defence forces to review the Australian military aid programme.

30.   However pro-Rabbbani troops did not recover all their lost territory -- the new Taliban frontlines are in fact the former frontlines of the defence ministry forces.