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As 2025 comes to a close, on behalf of all our Parliamentary colleagues and the people of Australia, we extend our deep gratitude and warm wishes to the serving members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and their families for another year of exemplary service. 

This Christmas we thank all of those serving both at home and abroad. Your hard work, service and sacrifice is deeply valued.

From the high seas of the Indo-Pacific to the deserts of the Middle East, the skies of Europe to our country’s most remote regions – across the domains of land, sea, air, space and cyber – our ADF personnel have worked every day to keep Australians safe and secure. 

This year, as we saw the global rules‑based order come under increased pressure, the ADF has stepped up.

• Over 3,100 Ukrainian personnel have now graduated from ADF-delivered training in the United Kingdom; and ADF personnel deployed to Europe to protect humanitarian and military corridors into Ukraine as they battle Russian invasion under Operation Kudu.
• ADF personnel supported evacuation efforts in the Middle East to airlift Australians and their families to safety.  
• More than 40,000 personnel from 19 countries and two observer nations took part in our biggest ever Exercise Talisman Sabre – demonstrating how we integrate closely with international partners and respond to a rapidly evolving strategic environment.
• The ADF built closer ties with our Pacific neighbours and ASEAN partners, patrolled the waters of our shared region, helped build naval capability and supported the peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. 

In 2025 our ADF personnel also served at home during some of the most challenging times for Australians. During natural disasters – including this year in the Northern Rivers, across Queensland and beyond – the ADF supported communities, helped search for missing persons, and supported emergency services in their vital work. 

From our outback towns, our northern borders and our garrison towns and cities, the ADF are an invaluable part of many Australian communities and part of the very fabric of our nation. They embody the best of Australia and Australians.

We acknowledge the selfless sacrifice and the separation from family and loved ones while on deployment, especially at Christmas. Service is experienced by the entire family, and our ADF families are an integral part of defending our nation. Thank you for your support for your loved one to serve, and your sacrifice.

At this time of year in particular, we encourage everyone to check in with their friends and families. Support services are available, including through Open Arms.  

People are the ADF’s most important capability. It is an honour to be the ministerial team who have the privilege of overseeing the work of the Australian Defence Force, to be the ministers responsible for facilitating this mission of great service, and whose leadership and courage we hope to emulate.

We thank you and we wish you a safe and peaceful holiday season.

Merry Christmas.

Exercise Christmas Hop 2025 has brought Christmas cheer to some of Queensland’s most remote communities, helping children and families celebrate the festive season.

The annual initiative reflects Defence’s commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and sharing goodwill during the holidays.

Australian Defence Force personnel visited communities including Mornington Island, Doomadgee, Weipa, Normanton, Kowanyama, Cloncurry, Badu Island, Horn Island, Masig Island, Pormpuraaw, Aurukun, Longreach and Burketown.

A Royal Australian Air ForceC-27J Spartan and C-130J Hercules aircraft played a key role in delivering toys, sporting equipment, education resources and apparel, generously donated by organisations across the country. The exercise was supported by the Australian Army’s 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment, working alongside Air Force crews to make the deliveries possible.

These donations were coordinated in partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), which has worked with Defence since 2021 to bring joy to children in regional and remote areas. 

The AOC plays a central role in sourcing and coordinating donations from organisations nationwide, ensuring communities receive high-quality goods that promote education, sport and wellbeing. This partnership demonstrates a shared commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and making Christmas special for families in remote locations.

Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles:

“Exercise Christmas Hop is about spreading joy and supporting communities in Far North Queensland during the festive season.

“This initiative reflects the strong connection between our Defence Force and remote communities, and highlights the generosity of Australians who help make Christmas special for every child.”

Minister for Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh: 

“ADF personnel are driven by a desire to serve our nation. For some ADF service means being away from their families and loved ones at Christmas, so they understand the importance of bringing some Christmas cheer to our remote communities.

“Well done to all the Defence members who took part in this year’s Operation Christmas Hop, and thank you everyone who donated so generously or helped behind the scenes.”

Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Benjamin Poxon:

“Exercise Christmas Hop delivers real outcomes for remote communities, while ensuring our aircrew and support personnel are trained to operate in remote areas.

“Exercise Christmas Hop balances meaningful community engagement with airlift training opportunities for the Royal Australian Air Force.”

The NSW Parliament is the first state Parliament to pass essential gun control laws following the anti-Semitic mass shooting at Bondi Beach and it now needs to be followed by legislative action across the country. 

These laws were made stronger by a Greens amendment that will keep firearms out of the hands of people investigated for terrorism related offenses and are a much needed gun safety win for the community.

In a deeply political act, the NSW Labor Party also attached a broad ranging attack on the right to protest to the gun laws, in a move that many informed commentators described as unconstitutional. 

The attack on protest will not not make Australia safer, and is part of a broader false political narrative linking the actions of the appalling two terrorist shooters to a global movement to end violence, oppose a genocide and demand justice. The Greens and millions of Australians who join us in the peace movement, reject these attacks on protest, humanity and global justice.

Greens Justice Spokesperson and Senator for NSW, David Shoebridge:

“The Greens welcome the passage of tougher firearm laws in NSW to stop hoarding of high-powered weapons in our suburbs and acknowledge the hard work of gun safety advocates for decades that has helped achieve this.

“The Greens unanimous amendment strengthens the laws by making it clear no one investigated for terrorism, or living with or linked to proscribed people, should be granted a firearms permit. Guns are a privilege, never a right in our society.

“What we now need is concerted national action so that all states and territories meet, or better, NSW gun safety changes and the Federal government to show leadership with a generous gun buyback and an urgent national firearms register.

“The attacks on free speech and protest that NSW also passed are divisive and dangerous politics from Labor, with most informed observers saying they are likely unconstitutional.

“Peaceful rallies against a genocide, to protect children and call for a just peace have been an essential safety valve in our society for decades, giving dissent and humanity a legitimate and powerful political outlet. These blatantly political attempts by Labor and the Coalition to stop peaceful protest are dangerous, ill-considered and likely to fail in the High Court.”

Greens Deputy Leader and Senator for NSW, Senator Mehreen Faruqi:

“While these are welcome and necessary steps on gun reform following the horrific violence in Bondi, these important advances are being overshadowed by the Minns’ Labor government’s deeply troubling move to restrict peaceful protest. 

“The Palestine justice movement and anti-genocide protests, made up of hundreds of thousands people and including many Jewish community members, have consistently and loudly opposed antisemitism and all forms of racism. Smearing it is a distortion of reality and it is reckless and dangerous. 

“This is a time when unity, solidarity and meaningful leadership are needed, not authoritarianism nor the undermining of democracy, which depends on our right to assemble, to speak out, and to protest.”

Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Larissa Waters:

“NSW’s firearm reforms should be the impetus for state and federal action on gun control. As a nation we can  build on the last gun buy-back, strengthen our gun laws to keep communities safer, and at the same time tackle antisemitism, racism and radicalisation.

“We need to take action to stop antisemitism, racism, radicalisation and gun violence, to stamp out both the hateful ideologies and dangerous weapons used to commit the horrific Bondi attack. 

“The Greens will work across parliaments to ensure communities are safe from gun violence with fewer dangerous weapons, a national firearms register and strict limits on gun numbers, and we will always defend the right to peaceful protest. 

“Falsely conflating those legions of Australians who peacefully marched against violence in Gaza with the criminal actions of radicalised individuals is a dangerous path. Australians want peace and justice at home and abroad, and the NSW restrictions on democratic rights to peacefully protest take the wrong lesson from this horrific  terror attack. Community and political unity is what is needed right now.