Abbott pushes on with NT plan
Prime Minister Tony Abbott will push ahead with his indigenous program despite indicating he could return to Canberra early to deal with security issues surrounding the deployment of troops to Iraq.
It comes as the most senior U.S. military officer raised the possibility on Tuesday that U.S. troops might need to take on a larger ground role as they fend off Islamic State militants in Iraq, but the White House stressed there would be no combat mission for U.S. ground forces.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was no intention of placing American military advisers on the ground for direct combat. The U.S. plan relies on other contributions, including air strikes.
Still, he told a Senate hearing: "I've mentioned, though, that if I found that circumstance evolving, that I would, of course, change my recommendation."
Dempsey offered scenarios in which a larger role might be worthwhile, including embedding U.S. forces with Iraqis during a complicated offensive, such as a battle to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters.
"It could very well be part of that particular mission to provide close combat advising or accompanying for that mission," he said. "But for the day-to-day activities that I anticipate will evolve over time, I don't see it to be necessary right now."
U.S. President Barack Obama said last week he would lead an alliance to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, plunging the United States into a conflict in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.
Obama ruled out the possibility of a combat mission that could drag the United States into another ground war in Iraq.
Responding to Dempsey's comments, the White House said Obama’s military advisers had to plan for many possibilities and that overall policy had not changed - that Obama would not deploy U.S. troops in a combat role in Iraq or Syria.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Dempsey was "referring to a hypothetical scenario in which there might be a future situation where he might make a tactical recommendation to the president as it relates to ground troops."
Dempsey was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, as the Obama administration makes its case to Congress for broadening operations against the Sunni militants, which would include U.S. air strikes in Syria for the first time.
Abbott pushes on with NT plan
Tony Abbott is expected to meet his indigenous advisory council and federal ministers to discuss the Forrest indigenous employment review.
Mr Abbott is in northeast Arnhem Land making good on his promise to spend a week each year in indigenous communities.
The head of the prime minister's indigenous advisory council, Warren Mundine, joined him on Tuesday before a planned meeting with ministers on Wednesday.
On the agenda will be mining magnate Andrew Forrest's indigenous employment review and the McClure welfare review.
The Forrest review pushes for income management for all welfare recipients, while the interim McClure review recommends reducing the number of payment categories.
The government has said it will consider all recommendations but has yet to commit to any.
Constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians is also likely to be on the agenda.
Mr Abbott expects to finalise a time frame for it within days, and 2017 is the front runner for a referendum.
Mr Mundine noted that only 40-45 per cent of Australians were aware of the issue.
He has not been with Mr Abbott for the entire visit, saying it is a chance for the prime minister to "get a different view, working with indigenous communities" on his own.
However, he joked Mr Abbott was getting lonely without him.
"I'm going to go out there and give him a cuddle," he told AAP in Arnhem Land.
Mr Abbott also plans to meet school attendance officers and visit teachers and parents at a school on Wednesday.
