By Mike Foley
A historic military response to the east coast bushfire crisis has been mobilised by the Morrison government, which has issued a compulsory call-up to 3000 Australian Defence Force reservists who will work with communities in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Mr Morrison said the “posture” of the federal government had shifted from reactive to proactive - moving from responding to assistance requests from states to actively leading elements of the bushfire response.
“There is still a very long way to go and there are clearly communities that need additional help,” he said.
Mr Morrison said federal governments had "traditionally always acted on the posture of the respond to request" from the states, but the devastating fire season across the country, which has months to run over summer, had spurred a direct intervention from the Commonwealth.
Speaking on Saturday after a meeting of the the National Security Committee of Cabinet, Mr Morrison said the Governor-General had signed-off on the reservist call-out, which would “bring every possible capability to bear by deploying army brigades to fire-affected communities across Australia”.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said it was the "first time in Australia’s history" that the Army Reserve had been mobilised for disaster relief through a compulsory call-out.
The deployment will be drawn from the Fourth Brigade in Victoria, the Fifth Brigade in NSW, as well as the Ninth Brigade from South Australia and Tasmania as well as drawing on NSW’s 17th Brigade for logistics.
Major General Justin Ellwood will lead the taskforce, based out of Bungendore, NSW providing support to NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
The deployment will assist with any ongoing evacuations, particularly in isolated communities; offer support to evacuation centres, and assist in the recovery effort in fire-hit towns, including cutting containment lines into bushland around live fire grounds.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison makes the deployment announcements at a Canberra press conference on Saturday.Credit: AAP
Reservists who are already assisting with fire-fighting activities, or are defending their own properties, will be exempt from call-up.
Australian Defence Force chief Angus Campbell said it was an “incredible privilege” to lead the ADF in the recovery effort.
“It’s your Defence Force and we are here to serve you,” he said.
The government will also establish a national recovery agency similar to those established for drought and for the response to the North Queensland floods.
HMAS Adelaide with a landing craft.Credit: Defence
The helicopter-equipped HMAS Adelaide will join other Navy vessels already assisting in evacuations from fire-ravaged areas.
HMAS Adelaide, the navy's largest amphibious ship, set sail from Sydney on Saturday to join the current fleet supporting fire efforts.
It will be stationed off the coast along the NSW-Victorian border.
It is fully equipped for disaster relief, carries up to 400 crew including medical staff and is loaded with 300 tonnes of medical supplies.
The government committed an additional $20 million to lease additional fire-fighting aircraft, available within the next two weeks, to assist state forces over the long fire season ahead.
It has secured two long-range fixed wing DC-10s with 36,000 litres capacity and two medium-range fixed-wing Large Air Tankers with 11,000 litre capacity.
The operational costs of water bombing aircraft will be shared with states and territories as they use the aircraft.
An additional three Chinook helicopters will support evacuation and transport tasks out of the East Sale RAAF base, along with a C-17 Globemaster and two C-121 Hercules.
The government will also establish a national recovery agency similar to those established for drought and for the response to the North Queensland floods.
Responding to criticism over his government’s financial support of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre and its fleet of aircraft, Mr Morrison announced on Saturday he had committed to an ongoing funding boost. The extra funding comes on top of the $25 million that the Commonwealth invests each year into the NAFC.
With Rob Harris