Australia's Defence Minister says Asia must confront the unpalatable fact that it's a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. Senator Robert Hill was speaking at the first meeting in Australia of Asia Pacific special forces military – including officers from Indonesia's Kopassus force.

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell

Speakers: Robert Hill, Australia's Defence Minister

Dobell: The first Australian conference of military special forces involved officers from a close ally, the United States, and neighbours such as Papua New Guinea, but also representatives from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, India and China. Australia's Defence Minister, Robert Hill, says it's a unique opportunity to build a regional response to the common threat of terrorism.

Hill: The only way to effectively combat today's terrorism is through cooperation and the forces better at the sharp end of defeating this threat have not necessarily had a close relationship in the past. But it's very important that they know each other, have confidence in each other so that if an event does occur that requires a cooperative response, they won't be starting from scratch.

Dobell: The Defence Minister says today's terrorism is a product of Islamic extremism that targets Muslims and non-Muslims. Senator Hill says extremists are engaged in a jihad against all who do not commit to their apocalyptic ideology and the aim of creating what he describes as an Islamic theocratic super state. He says terrorist groups in Asia have adopted Al Qaeda's methods and shown a similar fanaticism and violent commitment. The unpalatable fact for Asia, he says, is that the region is a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. Senator Hill says Australia is building a military response through special forces exercises and military cooperation in Southeast Asia.

Hill: We have as you know, we have bilateral exercises with a number of states. We've got one coming up in Thailand. We also exercise with the Philippines. We announced a week ago that we were extending the exercise program under the Five Powers Arrangement to include a counter terrorism scenarios. So it's a step in confidence building and basically learning the capacities, the capabilities of each other and being able to jointly respond if it proves to be necessary.

Dobell: The Five Power Arrangements cover Malaysia and Singapore and the bilateral links go separately to Thailand and the Philippines ... meaning the big gap in Southeast Asia is with Indonesia.

Australia last trained with Indonesia's special forces in 1997, and the links with Kopassus were severed after the violence in East Timor in 1999. Senator Hill says Australia is slowly rebuilding links with the notorious Indonesia special forces, although contacts with some Kopassus officers are vetoed because of human rights issues.

Hill: Kopassus is represented at this conference through its Unit 81 which is its primary counter terrorism capability because we believe that's in Australia's security interests. If there was – one can imagine a terrorist scenario in Indonesia where that unit is called upon to respond and in those circumstances we believe it's very important that our Special Forces know who's responding, know their capability and can be able to offer assistance. It might be in intelligence, to assist them in their task.