New central powers for emergency response

The commonwealth will push for new emergency powers legislation and a single national agency to oversee recovery following natural disasters.

A field officer with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in Dubbo monitors a hazard reduction burn at Bowen Mountain. Picture: Getty Images

The commonwealth will push for new emergency powers legislation, a single national agency to oversee recovery following natural disasters and better data sharing in the event of an emergency, in response to the disastrous Black Summer bushfires.

The commonwealth’s response to the Royal Commission into ­National Natural Disaster Arr­angements interim report, tabled on Monday, calls the crisis a ­national trauma and a wake-up call for bold, unified action.

“The bushfire season brought devastation across our nation, the loss of 33 lives, the destruction of over 3000 homes, unimaginable loss of wildlife and a devastating impact on regional communities across Australia,” it says.

“This loss would have been greater without the extraordinary effort of our volunteer and career firefighters and dedicated emergency services personnel.”

The commonwealth warns the scale of the disaster demonstrated the limits of national security and disaster arrangements, as well as highlighting key areas that need to be improved.

“Collectively, we must reflect on the experience and learn from it. Where arrangements work well, we must build on them,” the submission reads.

“Where change is needed, we must have the courage and ­humility to do things differently. The crisis was a wake-up call to us all for bold, unified action.”

Of the 163 interim observations, the commonwealth supports 25. It agrees with a further 83 observations “in principle” and provides “no response” for the ­remaining 55 suggestions.

The commissioner’s interim report, released in August, raised the prospect of using the national cabinet to manage future natural disasters, as well as the establishment of a national disaster agency that could co-ordinate any ­response, recovery and building resilience.

The commission also called for the immediate rollout of a new nat­ional emergency warning system, which has been in development for six years, after the probe heard evidence that terms like “watch and act” had been confusing to those in the line of fire.

While the commonwealth argues that national cabinet itself is not best placed to make operational decisions in response to natural disasters, it believes a new National Emergency Declaration law would facilitate better co-ordination during a natural disaster.

It comes after the initial report flagged that the chain of command during natural disasters was often unclear, and this could lead to unnecessary delays in responding.

The commonwealth says such a law could be used in the event of “large-scale multiple jurisdictional and/or airborne terrorism attacks, major geomagnetic storms and tsunami, or crises which inundate offshore territories”.

While the proposed emergency powers would need state or territory approval to be activated, the commonwealth says it “must retain the option to act unilaterally” when an impending disaster is “beyond the capability of the states and territories to manage”.

The commonwealth did agree with the commission that the creation of a national disaster agency responsible for recovery would ­ensure relief is not a “postcode lottery” and that on-the-ground ­relief and financial support is ­delivered more seamlessly.

It also backs the commission’s calls for better data sharing. “To do this effectively at a national scale requires a step-change in how we collect, share and use data and information on natural disasters and climate risk,” it says.