Page 4243 - Week 11 - Thursday, 25 October 2018
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ACT and emergency response procedures. Following considerable consultation with stakeholder agencies in 2018, this bill has been drafted to provide the best possible legislative framework for managing emergencies in the ACT.
Madam Speaker, while these amendments are largely technical, they are nevertheless significant, as they streamline emergency governance arrangements and clarify the framework of emergency plans to include emergency sub-plans. I acknowledge the security and emergency management branch of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, JACS, and the ESA, ACT Policing and the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office for their work to prepare the bill for the Assembly’s consideration.
One of the amendments to the act is to strengthen the membership of the Security and Emergency Management Senior Officials Group, SEMSOG. SEMSOG is a statutory body established under the act, with the main function to provide for liaison between entities in relation to emergency management. At present, SEMSOG consists of the Director-General of JACS, the ESA Commissioner, the chief officers of the four emergency services, the Chief Police Officer, the Chief Health Officer, and other members appointed by me.
Other directors-general and the Under Treasurer play a critical role in the coordination of ACT government resources during an emergency. The bill therefore makes provision for all ACT government directors-general to be automatic members of SEMSOG. The automatic appointment of these officials will also eliminate the requirement for separate appointment processes for each official appointed to SEMSOG, including when their position titles change.
The act states that the main function of SEMSOG is “to provide for liaison between entities in relation to emergency management”. However, SEMSOG has a diverse role that includes providing whole-of-government policy development and coordination on matters relating to security and emergency management. For example, SEMSOG oversights the implementation of the ACT’s protective security policy framework, the PSPF, and the ACT government’s implementation of Australia’s strategy for protecting crowded places from terrorism. The bill therefore includes an additional function for SEMSOG of enhancing security as well as enhancing emergency management. This amendment will formalise SEMSOG’s de facto responsibility for maintaining security and emergency management capability in the ACT. This will also ensure that SEMSOG has a clear statutory basis on which to provide governance of security matters for the ACT government.
The act currently provides that the ESA Commissioner must prepare, and give to the minister, a draft emergency plan for the ACT. The act also requires that the emergency plan must include a plan for an emergency if there is a reasonable possibility of that emergency happening in the ACT. As part of the ACT’s emergency management framework, individual directorates and agencies have developed a wide range of emergency sub-plans. Some sub-plans are either hazard-specific sub-plans, for example, the storm sub-plan and bushfire sub-plan, or supporting sub-plans, for example, the urban search and rescue sub-plan. These sub-plans are important as they set out the approach that will be taken in combating specific hazard types.
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