Australia's outgoing military envoy to NATO has warned against conflict complacency Down Under, saying North Korea's "strengthening partnership" with Russia means "more combat-ready troops operating in our region".
Air Vice-Marshal Di Turton is preparing to return to Canberra after two years serving as Australia's military representative to NATO and the European Union in Brussels.
As a two-star officer, she is one of the most senior women in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
She spoke to the ABC exclusively before finishing her European posting.
Air Vice-Marshal Turton warned global conflicts "once quite segregated or delineated by geography are now very much more interconnected", and that Australia was not immune.
"Nothing is more of a stark reminder of that than the deployment of North Korean troops in support of Russia [in its invasion of Ukraine]," she said.
"What we're seeing there is that North Korean troops are getting combat experience, they're getting exposure to weapon systems that the West has and is deploying."
North Korea has sent thousands of its troops to help bolster Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched almost four years ago.
Analysts argue it has given the nuclear-armed hermit kingdom's army crucial battle experience.
"We are going to see more combat-ready troops that will be operating in our region and also with growing connectivity, or a strengthening of the partnership between North Korea and Russia," Air Vice-Marshal Turton said.
"And this could result in a number of things like technology transfer that will have implications for our region."
North Korea already has inter-continental ballistic missiles capable of hitting all areas of continental Australia, and Tasmania.
Air Vice-Marshal Turton has had a seat at the table for many of NATO's high-stakes meetings over the past two years, as the alliance's military minds try to find ways to support Ukraine. She has usually been the only woman in the room.
"When I leave, there will be no women amongst the allied nations and there are none among the partner nations as well," she told the ABC.
"But I'm sure there be will some more to come."
Air Vice-Marshal Turton is a self-described optimist. Not only about this, but about the future for war-torn Ukraine, which has been the topic that has dominated her time in Europe.
Despite Moscow's belligerence during peace talks, Air Vice-Marshal Turton said Kyiv's allies were committed to finding a breakthrough.
"The sense that I get from sitting at the tables here is no-one's really surprised at the Russian reaction," she said.
"What we're seeing is how Russia has always behaved, where if they want to step away from a potential decision that might go against them, they create a diversion, [for example] a larger drone attack.
"It's kind of their modus operandi, and the Ukrainians are the ones that have seen it happen. They know what's happening and they even anticipate it."
While Australia is not a NATO member, it has been a partner to the alliance since 1953.
'Coalition of the waiting'
Air Vice-Marshal Turton has also been one of Australia's military representatives at talks held by the Coalition of the Willing — a group of 35 mostly European nations that has committed to help Ukraine with security guarantees if there is a ceasefire.
The Australian government has not yet said what it could offer the coalition or what it has been asked to provide.
The bloc has been criticised as slow-moving and indecisive, leading some commentators to dub it, unflatteringly, as the "Coalition of the Waiting".
Last week, even the Kremlin described it as the "Coalition of the Needing".
US-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are stalling, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused his Russian counterpart of having no serious desire to stop the fighting.
"Until that happens, [the Coalition of the Willing] remains an activity very much in planning," Air Vice-Marshal Turton said.
"It's about being ready, and if something should happen very quickly, having the appropriate forces on the ground ready to go forward."
There are around 250 ADF members are stationed around Europe and Air Vice-Marshal Turton said Australia was seen in the region as a "country that punches well above our weight".
"So, when we go to the table at NATO, and increasingly at the EU, whilst we bring a voice, we've also backed that up with action," she said.
Air Vice-Marshal Turton's focus has been on Australia's contributions to a NATO program to help Ukraine with training, logistics resupply, and military planning.
Australia has donated $1.7 billion to Ukraine's defences and trained more than 3,000 Ukrainian troops since Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost four years ago.
A key mission overseen by Air Vice-Marshal Turton, was the 2025 deployment of a high-tech Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) surveillance aircraft to Ukraine's neighbour Poland, as part of NATO efforts to monitor Russian activity.
It was the first time an ADF aircraft had operated out of Poland and the first time one had come under the direct command and control of NATO.
The RAAF E-7A Wedgetail and its crew deployed 45 times over three months, including on patrols when Russian MiG jets violated Estonian airspace, and on a night when Ukraine suffered some of the heaviest aerial attacks since the war began.
In 2025 the ADF also delivered 49 of its retired M1A1 Abrahms tanks to Ukraine and is helping to train its troops in how to use them. Not just Europe's war NATO Chief Mark Rutte has stressed that Australia's involvement is vital because this is not just Europe's war.
"The Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific cannot be seen as two separate theatres," Mr Rutte said in October.
"They are combined, with North Korea and China supporting Russia's war effort, and Iran supporting Russia's war effort, and we know that if China will do anything against Taiwan, most likely Putin will be forced by Xi Jinping to move against NATO.
"So, we have to stand ready. We have to work together. We have to train together."
This week Australia's Chief of Defence David Johnston, as well his counterparts from New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea, are meeting NATO military chiefs in Brussels to discuss this interconnectedness and the challenges in each region.
Air Vice-Marshal Turton returns to Australia after a posting during one of the most consequential times Europe has seen in decades.
It is a world away from where she thought her career would take her, when she graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1991.
"I always think back to the 18 and 19-year-old me and think, 'Would you be proud of me if you saw me today?" she said.
"And I'd like to think that she would go, 'Yeah, you know what? You did good, girl. I'm proud of you'. And of course, as a mum now, I'd like to think both my children would be proud of what I do as well."
