Implementation Plan & Comprehensive Approach For Future Disaster...

Integrated approach to managing emergencies and disasters
edited and updated by Saudi Ali 20.10.2009

This is the breaking news on how to manage or implementation plan on how to maximize emergency response and  measures on future disaster. This is divided into 4 categories of strategies mainly: prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and solution. Years of effort and times have been taken for this implementation plan.This comprehensive approach is mainly designed for all hazards arising,ensuring preventious measures,preparation on respond and recovering on the emergencies.

The summer season represents a time for holidays and celebration for Australians.  Unfortunately it is also a time when we are most likely to suffer from natural disasters.

The purpose of this statement is to update the House on arrangements implemented by the Commonwealth in preparation for this bushfire season.

While states and territories have primary responsibility for dealing with natural disasters, under the Australian Emergency Management Arrangements, the Commonwealth can provide coordination functions, physical and financial assistance upon the request of states and territories. These requests often occur when effective response to a disaster is beyond the capacity of an individual jurisdiction.  When it comes to bushfire preparation and response, the Commonwealth is committed to supporting the states and territories in their efforts

The Commonwealth has worked tirelessly with the states and territories to help them bolster their preparedness this bushfire season.  We have done so with the memory of the devastating 2009 Victorian bushfires, which saw the greatest loss of life from bushfires since Federation, in the forefront of our minds.  The Commonwealth is committed to assisting the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission.  We welcomed the Commission’s interim report and are implementing all the interim recommendations of the Commission directed at the Commonwealth.

Continued above average temperatures are contributing to an early fire season this year, and there is above normal fire potential across much of southern Australia.  As the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has recognised, climate change will increase the intensity and geographic extent of many extreme weather events.  Obviously, some impacts from climate change are unavoidable.

The Government is determined to help ensure that Australia is resilient in the face of future natural disasters.  We have adopted an integrated approach to managing emergencies and disasters across all levels of governments, the private sector and the community.  This comprehensive approach is designed to prepare Australia for all hazards that may arise, and ensures that we implement measures to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies.

I will now outline the Commonwealth’s actions in each of these four categories.

PREVENTION
It is estimated that up to fifty per cent of all bushfires in Australia are deliberately lit.  In March this year I chaired a national forum to develop collaborative approaches to reduce bushfire arson in Australia. 

Following that forum, the Commonwealth drafted model laws with stronger, more consistent penalties for such offences – with prison sentences up to 25 years.  The Government is strongly encouraging states and territories to adopt these model laws.  We have also begun work in cooperation with relevant agencies to enhance training and procedures for bushfire arson prevention, investigation and public education.

Together with the states and territories, the Commonwealth is also developing a National Action Plan to Reduce Bushfire Arson which will be considered at the November meeting of the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management (MCPEM).

PREPAREDNESS

The Commonwealth has implemented a number of arrangements to support states and territories in their preparation for this bushfire season. 

Under the Rudd Government’s new Natural Disaster Resilience Program, the Commonwealth has committed $110 million, over four years, to assist states and territories prepare for natural disasters.  The Program includes a $2 million National Projects Fund, increasing to $4 million from next year, to support key projects of national significance. 

Recognising the importance of working together, the Commonwealth has also focused on building clear communication channels between all levels of government.

On 25 September, as recommended in the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission’s Interim Report, the Government conducted a pre-season emergency management operational briefing for states and territories.  The briefing covered this season’s outlook for fires and cyclones and Commonwealth support arrangements including resources available to states and territories during disasters. I am pleased to report that these briefings will now occur annually. 

The Commonwealth is also upgrading the Wireless Priority Service System to provide priority access during times of network congestion caused by a disaster event for up to 30,000 users on a 3G network.

The Commonwealth has also enacted legislation, and made associated regulations, to confer civil immunity on United States fire fighters who render assistance during the Australian bushfire season.  This will facilitate the conclusion of a fire fighter exchange agreement with the United States, currently being negotiated by Victoria on behalf of all states and territories.  This is a good example of how governments can work together to achieve real results.

The Commonwealth has also invested significant time, working with the states and territories, to implement emergency warnings measures for this season. 

Based on fire industry requirements, the Bureau of Meteorology will incorporate a new scale of fire danger ratings into its fire weather and warning services, with a catastrophic (code red) category of fire.  This measure implements recommendations of the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission’s Interim Report and was endorsed at the extraordinary meeting of MCPEM on 25 September.

The Commonwealth has committed a total of over $26 million to assist states and territories develop a telephone-based emergency warning capability.

To underpin the system, the Commonwealth committed over $9 million for the establishment and ongoing operation of the Location Based Number Store, a secure, central database of telephone numbers.  This database is now operational and available for testing.

The Commonwealth also committed $15 million for the establishment and operation of a National Emergency Warning System.  The system is being developed by Victoria, and I welcome the announcement by the Victorian Minister for Police and Emergency Services that the system will be available after comprehensive testing by the end of November.

The warning system will enable jurisdictions to send emergency warning messages to fixed-line telephones on the basis of service address, and to mobile telephones on the basis of billing address.  Due to current technical limitations, the system will not be able to deliver warnings to mobile phones, based on the actual physical location of the user, this bushfire season.

To address this, the Commonwealth is working with the states and territories to research the feasibility of location-based mobile phone technology.  I am pleased to note that Victoria, on behalf of the states and territories and with Commonwealth support and funding of $1.35 million, has sought information from the market about possible technologies.  Information is requested by the end of this month and will be considered by the Council of Australian Governments in 2010.

The Government has also established an ongoing forum of peak broadcast media organisations to facilitate improvements in the effectiveness and consistency of national arrangements between the government and media for the broadcast of emergency warnings.  The National Best Practice Guidelines for the Request and Broadcast of Emergency Warnings, which have been developed and endorsed by all participating bodies, are now forming the basis for work being undertaken by states and territories to refine media agreements and arrangements at the local level in preparation for this bushfire season.

The Commonwealth is also working with jurisdictions, the CSIRO and the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre to assess intelligent remote fire detection systems.  I want to acknowledge the valuable work and research undertaken by the Member for McEwen, the Hon Fran Bailey MP, into these technologies.  A trial of relevant fire detection systems will be conducted this season, recognising that such technology, if proven and cost-effective, could improve our management of fires and better target community warnings.

RESPONSE

The implementation of the Commonwealth Operational Response Coordination Arrangements provides a single ‘all hazards’ crisis management and coordination point, for all of Australia, within my Department.  This will enable the Commonwealth, upon request, to coordinate the provision of support from other jurisdictions to a disaster-affected jurisdiction.

The Commonwealth can also provide a range of technical capabilities to help states and territories respond to disasters.  These include a full range of Defence capabilities which, although not specifically developed or held for emergency response, can be made available pursuant to the Defence Assistance to Civilian Communities program. In addition, Geoscience Australia also manages a satellite based monitoring system of fire hotspot data for use by states and territories.

In the crucial area of aerial fire-fighting, the Commonwealth has committed an additional $12.8 million over four years for the National Aerial Fire Fighting Arrangements.  This commitment increases the annual Commonwealth contribution to $14 million each year to provide greater access to aircraft and greater participation by smaller jurisdictions in the arrangements.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority also has two aircraft with infra-red surveillance capabilities to bolster state and territory resources.  These are invaluable for fire fighters in deploying resources in response to overnight changes in fire conditions.

The Commonwealth is also working closely with the states and territories to ensure the Triple Zero emergency service operates effectively in crises. As agreed at the extraordinary meeting last month of MCPEM, the states and territories are reviewing their procedures for dealing with a surge in demand in their Triple Zero emergency call centres.

Triple Zero connects emergency callers to fire, police or ambulance services.  It is not a general information line.  To reduce pressure on the Triple Zero service, states and territories are working to reduce the number of non-emergency calls to Triple Zero during crises.  My department is working with Telstra to develop a national protocol for activating ‘extreme event’ recorded voice announcements, which would redirect non-emergency Triple Zero callers to other information sources during extreme crises.  The Commonwealth is also working with industry to progressively limit calls from mobile phones that make repeated hoax calls to Triple Zero.

The Commonwealth is also making additional call centre capability available to the states and territories for emergency information lines where their local capacity has been overwhelmed in a disaster.

RECOVERY
The Commonwealth has robust arrangements in place to help individuals and communities recover from natural disasters.

These include:

    * funding support through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements;
    * funding support to individuals through the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment;
    * sharing of identity-related information following a disaster; and
    * helping locate people separated by an emergency through the National Registration and Inquiry System.

Following the tragedy of the Victorian Bushfires, the Commonwealth Government provided and continues to provide national leadership in the recovery effort.  In total the Commonwealth is providing around $450 million to help affected communities rebuild and recover.  This support has included direct financial assistance payments, assistance with funeral costs, an income recovery subsidy and the provision of mental health and counselling services.

The Commonwealth has also worked with the Victorian Government in the cleanup of fire damaged properties, a comprehensive case management service, small business and primary producer assistance, community hubs and the construction of memorials, amongst a number of other projects and programs targeted at supporting local communities in the response and recovery effort.

In the coming months, COAG will also review the Commonwealth’s disaster recovery framework, to ensure that it is appropriately adapted to help communities recover from emergencies.  The Commonwealth will ensure that lessons learnt from the Black Saturday recovery effort will be reflected in this review.  This unprecedented disaster must be used to strengthen recovery arrangements in preparation for the increasing threat posed by factors such as climate change.

A simple and flexible suite of response measures at Commonwealth, State and Territory level should be the overarching objective, including direct emergency financial assistance, counselling and information services, and case management.

CONCLUSION
The Commonwealth, through COAG, MCPEM and at agency and operational levels, is working cooperatively to assist the states and territories to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters.

To this end, I have written to my state and territory colleagues seeking their advice by 16 October 2009 as to any other measures within the Commonwealth’s responsibility that may require the Commonwealth’s consideration in this bushfire and cyclone seasons.

The Government remains committed to assisting states and territories to continually improve their emergency management arrangements, in order to effectively build individual and community resilience to disasters.