Former defence minister Ng Eng Hen conferred Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia award

Defence cooperation was also a signature piece of the inaugural Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) that the two countries signed in 2015, he added.

Key defence initiatives in the CSP included enhanced and expanded military training access for the SAF in Australia. In March 2020, Singapore and Australia signed a treaty that underpinned a $2 billion investment to jointly develop military training areas and facilities in Queensland.

“I can think of no deeper trust than when one country opens its facilities for military training to another country,” said Ng, who retired from politics in April 2025.

At the ministerial level, Ng said working with his Australian counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, had also been thoroughly enjoyable.

It took just six months for a conversation with Marles about a rotational fighter training detachment for the Republic of Singapore Air Force in Australia to receive in-principle support from Canberra, Ng noted. The rotational force became a signature effort under the upgraded CSP 2.0, which the two countries inked in 2025.

This level of strategic trust and mutual assistance has provided strong political cover for the two countries to assist each other, said Ng, and explains why the Republic could offer to let Australia’s upcoming nuclear-powered submarines stop over at Changi Naval Base, and its maritime surveillance aircraft do so at Paya Lebar airbase.

The genuine and warm affection that both military establishments have for each other can partly be explained by shared values and goals for their countries’ collective futures. But it is also because both sides take extra pains to look out for each other’s interests and well-being, he added.

This mutual concern, cultivated through the years, now permeates through the rank and file, he noted. For instance, it was SAF ground commanders based in Australia who requested to assist in evacuation efforts during the 2020 bushfires and the 2022 and 2025 floods there.

“Our SAF troops training here in Australia often respond as if Australia is their home – as they should,” he said.

While political change is evergreen in all countries, Ng said he was confident that the genuine affection between Singapore and Australia will carry on in future generations of leaders.

In 2025, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing and Marles signed a memorandum of understanding to further deepen defence cooperation between the two countries.

Ng said: “No one can be certain what the future brings, but we know for a fact that strong and dependable friendships like what we have in Australia will help both nations weather the storms ahead.”