As most federal politicians exit Canberra on their Christmas break, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson is heading overseas for a series of top level meetings.
They will culminate in the annual AUSMIN (Australia-United States Ministerial meeting) talks in Washington, which he'll attend with Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
The pair will also attend the inaugural gathering in London of AUKMIN - the Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial meeting.
The key issue at both meetings is tipped to be Iraq following the release of the Iraq Study Group report saying the US strategy in Iraq isn't working and calling for a new approach.
The trip has prevented Dr Nelson attending today's funeral in Townsville of Army pilot Captain Mark Bingley, killed last week while attempting to land his Black Hawk helicopter on HMAS Kanimbla off Fiji.
Dr Nelson said AUSMIN would bring together the most senior Australian and US defence and foreign policy leaders for a thorough exchange of national objectives and priorities.
He said the talks in Washington and London would include discussions on both Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as combating global terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Dr Nelson said he also looked forward to meeting ministerial counterparts in France and the Netherlands - Australia's reconstruction task group in south-central Afghanistan forms part of a larger Dutch task force.
"My visit to the Netherlands will be an opportunity to discuss developments in Afghanistan," Dr Nelson said in a statement.
"An Australian Reconstruction Task Force is deployed to Oruzgan Province as an element of the Netherlands Provincial Reconstruction Team. A number of key infrastructure development projects are underway."
Dr Nelson said he would also sign an Australia-France Defence Cooperation Agreement during a meeting with the French defence minister.
"I will also attend the International Institute for Strategic Studies Gulf Dialogue in Bahrain. The Gulf Dialogue will be an important forum to discuss Gulf security issues and conduct a number of strategic bi-lateral meetings," he said.
