Former army boss Sir Peter Cosgrove, who led the response to Queensland’s Cyclone Larry, says relying on the military in disasters is unviable and states need a paid, highly trained civilian emergency response force that is modelled on the Army Reserve.
He suggested the states develop, but the Commonwealth fund, a standing emergency response force made up of civilians but modelled on the Army Reserve. Recruits would develop expertise with regular paid training, and be on standby if they were needed. Mr Shoebridge wants to see a new, semi-civilian capability developed within the ADF structure that could also help Australia’s neighbours. “The institution to build upon … that you can deploy as circumstances dictate, the only system that looks like that is the ADF,” he said.
Professor John Blaxland, a former intelligence officer and military historian at the Australian National University, backed Admiral Barrie’s idea and said the ADF had been “stretched thin” by responding to consecutive emergencies. He said a new model was needed. The debate comes as a major research project by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre said the traditional model of volunteering, which underpins organisations such as the State Emergency Service, is declining.The shift is due to the changing nature of paid work, lifestyles and values, and the social impact of technology, the report said. There is more competition for volunteers’ time, growing levels of volunteer burnout, and many existing volunteers are older.
Same is needed for wildlife rescue.
Or an Army thats not bound in red tape, too busy transitioning or getting there nails done.
OR...instead of spending millions...get the bloody Army Reserve to get in and help with disasters such as this...Ol' Pete needs a reality pill...we send Army overseas to help with natural disasters, why is home any different?
Great idea. We’ll be needing our taxes back to pay for it, then.
Sounds like Cosgrove has bent over for labor.
neric16 He means like the National Guard? Reservists have regular jobs, & do weekends & occasional 2 week camps. Much thought should be given to a Force that needs to be free to do this work almost immediately. Paying them will be the sticking point for Libs/Nats. They're skinflints.
Master of the bleeding obvious. Pay them and they will come….the volunteer model has been abused to extinction.
Or we could use our already existing army. Different units take in turns being “on call” for 12 months each if anything happens. Train them up a few months b4. They do similar rotations for deployments.
Shit all those years as Governor General and now he comes out and speaks
So they don't have to do aged care? Federal responsibility. Quarrantine Management. Federal Responsibility. Vaccine rollout? Federal Responsibility. 1 in 100y flood Disaster Response? Global Warming isn't real. Yeah right.
Please share what operations are our Defence forces involved in now. We have tens of thousands personnel. A Military budget in the tens of billions and we get no return on investment? These young men and women are perfectly trained and willing I imagine.
The SES is a great emergency response force. However, in cases of disaster/emergency why shouldn’t the ADF help?
Why? So the army can sit around and watch them work?
Australian needs a Federal emergency management agency : FEMA
Yep. Could absorb some welfare costs and deliver ROI in skill . Probably most importantly, esteem and opportunity.
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