Senator PATRICK (South Australia) (14:44): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence. My question is asked in the context of the call on Saturday by the editor-in-chief of the Chinese state controlled news outlet the Global Times for the Chinese military to develop plans for: … long-range strikes on the military facilities and relevant key facilities on Australian soil … Can the minister confirm that all of Australia's major cities are within the known range of China's growing DF-31, DF-31A and JL-2 ballistic missile forces? Is it not the case that northern Australia is now well within the missile strike range of Chinese long-range Xian H-6 cruise-missile-armed bombers? How significant does the government consider these new strategic circumstances to be?