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As Australia ends its longest war in Afghanistan, the army's attention has turned to home amid growing instability in the Indo-Pacific.
The re-focus comes with an increasingly assertive China advancing unlawful territorial claims, economic coercion and foreign interference.
The nation's top soldier, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, says future army operations will target regional insecurity and humanitarian disaster relief.
"There's a lot of change going on," the Chief of Army told reporters during a tour of Australia's northern military units last week.
"We're now very focused on our own region and the threats and changes in our environment."
One of the units protecting the nation is Norforce, a spartan surveillance regiment of about 450 part-time Indigenous and non-Indigenous soldiers.
Using Aboriginal bushcraft and the Defence Force's latest high-tech surveillance equipment, they're Australia's eyes and ears along 1600km of remote and inhospitable coastline in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The unit is tasked with safeguarding the nation's border against terrorism, organised crime, natural resource theft and illegal border crossings.
"They're very effective and very successful because they bring unique skills, insights and a unique understanding of the country," Lt Gen Burr said.
"That's an enormous competitive advantage that only this unit has."
Squadrons across Norforce's 1.8 million sq/km operating area, who have specialists knowledge of their local area, provide invaluable intelligence to Defence.
They also have strong links to Aboriginal communities that offer additional expertise when needed, along with a steady flow of eager recruits.
"Our people bring hundreds of years, multi-generational perspectives and insights," Lt Gen Burr said.
Norforce commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Gavin Ware says army service brings pride to many remote communities.
It also delivers a disciplined lifestyle and access to education and trade skills.
"The uniform is referred to as the green skin and in a lot of areas it's part of storytelling and part of the development of younger people," he said.
Lance Corporal Craig Norman, 35, from Borroloola, about 970km southeast of Darwin, says he's enjoyed mixing traditional owner knowledge and army skills.
He's been a Norforce member now for 16 years after following his father into the service.
"I'm proud I'm protecting our country for our people and families back home," he said.
"It doesn't matter what sort of race or colour you are, once you're out in the green skin we're all one mob, all together as one."
Warrant Officer Class Two Meika Wright, 45, from Darwin, says the unit isn't just for blokes.
"I'm one of many, some are patrol women, others are in combat support," she said.
"We truly get to protect our country and our land with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, who know the country far better than I would and I think that's beautiful."
The unit's roots go back to WWII when the bush commando North Australia Observer Unit was formed to defend northern Australia from the Japanese.
Like Norforce, it performed reconnaissance, scouting and coastal surveillance tasks across the Kimberley and the NTs sea and air approaches.
Its modern-day equivalent was formed 40 years ago in 1981 after the need for an enhanced military presence in the north of Australia was identified.
© AAP 2021
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As Australia ends its longest war in Afghanistan, the army's attention has turned to home amid growing instability in the Indo-Pacific.
The re-focus comes with an increasingly assertive China advancing unlawful territorial claims, economic coercion and foreign interference.
The nation's top soldier, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, says future army operations will target regional insecurity and humanitarian disaster relief.
"There's a lot of change going on," the Chief of Army told reporters during a tour of Australia's northern military units last week.
"We're now very focused on our own region and the threats and changes in our environment."
One of the units protecting the nation is Norforce, a spartan surveillance regiment of about 450 part-time Indigenous and non-Indigenous soldiers.
Using Aboriginal bushcraft and the Defence Force's latest high-tech surveillance equipment, they're Australia's eyes and ears along 1600km of remote and inhospitable coastline in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The unit is tasked with safeguarding the nation's border against terrorism, organised crime, natural resource theft and illegal border crossings.
"They're very effective and very successful because they bring unique skills, insights and a unique understanding of the country," Lt Gen Burr said.
"That's an enormous competitive advantage that only this unit has."
Squadrons across Norforce's 1.8 million sq/km operating area, who have specialists knowledge of their local area, provide invaluable intelligence to Defence.
They also have strong links to Aboriginal communities that offer additional expertise when needed, along with a steady flow of eager recruits.Lance Corporal Craig Norman, 35, from Borroloola, about 970km southeast of Darwin, says he's enjoyed mixing traditional owner knowledge and army skills.
He's been a Norforce member now for 16 years after following his father into the service.
"I'm proud I'm protecting our country for our people and families back home," he said.
"It doesn't matter what sort of race or colour you are, once you're out in the green skin we're all one mob, all together as one."
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A rare bottle of 1951 Penfolds Grange, signed by its creator and the company's chief winemaker at the time, Max Schubert, is set to go under the hammer with the sale price to reach record levels.
Bidding has already topped $122,000 in the Langton's online auction which closes on Sunday.
That's already higher than the $103,000 paid for a single bottle of the Bin 1 Grange Hermitage by a Melbourne buyer at auction last year.
Langton's has set a price range of up to $160,000 for its latest offering which was recorked in 1988 because the original cork had perished.
It is listed as having minor label damage with a wax stamped seal now over the original white foil capsule.
"This bottle of 1951 is extremely rare, comes from an exceptional cellar and will be highly sought after by collectors," the company said.
While it is hard to be certain, estimates suggest there are up to 35 bottles of the original vintage still in circulation including about 15 that are part of complete sets.
In 2018 a bottle of the 1951 vintage sold for $80,386 with two bottles fetching $81,000 each the following year.
At that same auction in 2019, a full set of Grange, from 1951 to 2015, was snapped up for $372,800.
That was followed by a Sydney wine lover paying $430,000 for a set in December last year.
The Grange owes much of its status to its history, starting out as an experiment by Schubert, who did not sell it commercially but gifted the wine to friends and family.
He was Penfolds first chief winemaker, holding the title from 1948 to 1975.
The initial response to his creation was not favourable and by 1957 Penfolds had ordered him to stop production.
Despite this direction, the next three vintages were still produced and a subsequent tasting of the early wines by the Penfolds' board returned more favourable opinions.
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Lockdown restrictions in NSW have been tightened again, for the third time in as many weeks, as Victorian government boasts its "go hard and go early" strategy has been vindicated.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant were repeatedly questioned on Saturday about their handling of the lockdown, dodging suggestions they should have gone harder, sooner.
The state reported 111 new community cases of the virus along with the death of a man in his 80s.
Some 29 of the new cases were active in the community for all or part of their infectious period, prompting the tightening of stay-at-home orders in three Sydney council areas.
Retail was also curtailed and construction paused.
Meanwhile in Victoria, authorities say their approach is being vindicated by the spiralling situation in NSW.
Although 18 of the 19 new cases in Victoria were not in insolation for the entirety of their infectious period, on average each only spent 1.7 days in the community before their infection was picked up.
"That figure is a vindication of the going hard and going early strategy that the public health team has put to the government," Victoria's Health Minister Martin Foley said.
Some 12 million Australian residents are under COVID-19 lockdown, with the rest are living with some form of travel restriction, as Australians remain in the dark over the rate of vaccinations needed for the country to reopen.
Amid the gloom, Nationals federal cabinet member Bridget McKenzie on Saturday sought to reassure that Australians subjected to lockdowns beyond seven days would be eligible to access financial support.
However, all the opposition wanted to talk about on Saturday was vaccinations. Only 13 per cent of Australians have been fully vaccinated.
"The fact is that until we fix the rollout of the vaccine and have national quarantine facilities then there'll continue to be these constraints," Labor leader Anthony Albanese said.
"That's why this is Scott Morrison's lockdown."
Victoria's deputy premier struck a blunter note.
"The 800-pound gorilla in the room that we have failed to mention today is the fact that we're in this position because our vaccination program has not delivered what we were told it was going to deliver," James Merlino said.
© AAP 2021
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