| [Transcript of email sent 8 March 2006]
To: Dr Brendan Nelson MP
From: Marg Hutton RE OPERATION RELEX SURVEILLANCE SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2001 Dear Dr Nelson, I am researching Operation Relex for a paper I am writing and would be grateful if you could clarify some questions I have concerning the border protection surveillance that was being conducted between Indonesia and Christmas Island during the period September to November 2001. I have read in a speech by Andrew Wilkie that Operation Relex had been 'virtually halved' by 30 September 2001. See: http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/2003/20030930AndrewWilkie.html I would like to know if Wilkie's observation is accurate from a Defence point of view. How many P3 Orion surveillance flights were being conducted per day in Search Area Charlie in September and October 2001? By mid-October 2001 were the same number of daily P3 Orion surveillance flights still being conducted in Search Area Charlie as there had been in early September 2001 at the start of Operation Relex? I understand that helicopter flights also surveilled the southern half of Search area Charlie (ie quadrants C-SW and C-SE as detailed on this map - http://sievx.com/testimony/report/mapA1.pdf ). How many helicopter surveillance flights were being conducted per day in Search Area Charlie in September and October 2001? By mid-October 2001 were the same number of daily helicopter surveillance flights still being conducted in Search Area Charlie as there had been in early September 2001 at the start of Operation Relex? Or were helicopter surveillance flights only initiated when intelligence suggested that a SIEV departure was imminent or had taken place? Thank you for your help in anticipation. Yours faithfully, Marg Hutton
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