Australians are being asked to respond to floods and fire without relying on the defence force.
Key points:
- Defence has warned the federal government cannot rely on it to always plug gaps in disaster responses
- The emergency management minister says new personnel are needed to be available to respond
- The government has received early calls for a standing reserve body to tackle disasters
The federal government has begun consulting on how to better prepare for natural disasters and ensure that ADF personnel are only used as a “force of last resort”.
In recent years, the federal government has relied on servicemen and women to respond to emergencies, including more than 7,000 defence personnel deployed during the Black Summer bushfires and 23,000 defence personnel as part of Australia’s COVID-19 response.
“The reality is that the increasing number of disasters we’re facing is putting huge pressure on our defence forces, especially at a time when they need really as much time preparing and training for their core job, which is protecting the nation,” Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said.
Senator Watt said the government would look at what should be done to ensure there were personnel who could respond to disasters without putting “undue” pressure on defence.
“We can probably also be doing more to help the community prepare and build resilience in communities to make sure that we are ready for disasters that we know are coming,” he said.
Senator Watt said 80 per cent of Australia’s local government areas had experienced a natural disaster over the past few years but expecting the army to turn up during times of need wasn’t sustainable.
“In disaster situations, they will always be there for our extreme emergencies and to help people recover,” he said.
“But we do need to recognise that they can’t be the first port of call when they’ve got other responsibilities to attend to.”
Earlier this year, the Defence Strategic Review found that Defence’s resources were strained by national emergencies, putting Australia’s military at risk of being “overwhelmed” and undermining its primary objective of defending Australia.
It warned state governments and local councils they would have to go it alone except in the worst disasters.
Early calls for standing disaster reserves
Neil James from advocacy group the Australia Defence Association said he would be providing a submission to the consultation.
“We will point out that the defence force has been too often dragged away, because it’s really the federal government’s first reflex action when the public is screaming for something,” Mr James said.
He also said the public was confused about who was responsible for managing disasters, and responses should come fro the ground up, and not top-down.
Mr James suggested a new emergency services reserve could be established.
“What they need to do is they need to raise some form of a [Rural Fire Service] equivalent to the Army Reserve in the major cities,” he said.
“All these people bitching and moaning about bushfire smoke could actually do something when the problem arrives, and not believe that you need to drag in the army from Queensland and South Australia to fight a bushfire in New South Wales, because the people in NSW aren’t willing to do it themselves.”
Public submissions to the Alternative Commonwealth Capabilities for Crisis Response Discussion Paper are open from today.
