Residents of New England are again being encouraged to support our defence personnel who are serving overseas.

The Nationals Duty Senator for New England John Williams says people can prepare care packages of up to 2 kilos which will be distributed free of charge by Australia Post prior to Christmas.

Senator Williams said Australia has almost 2,400 uniformed Defence personnel in the Middle East, 1550 of who are in Afghanistan.  Almost 400 are serving in East Timor, 80 in the Solomon Islands and small numbers in the Sudan, Sinai and Egypt.

“It has been another tough year for our serving men and women, and the recent tragic deaths and indiscriminate wounding of our soldiers at the hands of people they were actually trying to help has highlighted the dangers they face daily.

Our troops are a long way from home and do appreciate getting these care packages and messages of support.

Even our Explosive Detection Dogs look forward to treats from home!

Care packages must be lodged with Australia Post by the 9^th of December to ensure delivery by Christmas, and address details are on my website* or through my office**.

Alternatively people can email a goodwill message to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and this may also be published on Defence websites and social media sites so it reaches more troops’, Senator Williams said.