Aussie National Guard needed as weather emergencies increase

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie says Australia needs to form a national guard as more and more extreme weather emergencies put increasing pressure on volunteers.

AS Tasmania and eastern mainland states brace for more flooding, local independent Senator Jacqui Lambie says it is time to establish an Australian national guard to provide emergency assistance.

Senator Lambie said weather emergencies were likely to increase in number and severity and Australia could not continue to rely on the Australian Defence Force and an army of volunteers to deal with the aftermath.

“We need to prepare for these events and get in straight away to help communities. To do this we need a fourth arm of the armed services,” she told Sky News Australia.

She said “young guns” were not stepping up as volunteers for services such as the SES and Australia would encounter problems in years to come.

Senator Jacqui Lambie said “young guns” were not stepping up as volunteers for services such as the SES and Australia would encounter problems in years to come. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“And using the defence force for domestic use will also create problems,” she said.

Right now the ADF is assisting flood-affected residents in Victoria amid a worsening crisis.

The Australian national guard Senator Lambie she is pushing for would look similar to the one in the US, she said, and be made up of about 30,000 members.

“These extreme weather events are coming thick and fast,” she said.

“If those young kids at university don’t want to fight for their country they don’t have to. But they could fight for the country from the inside as part of a national guard.”

It is not the first time Senator Lambie has raised the idea.

In 2019 she called for young Australians to be called up for duty at emergency services units across the country to boost volunteering rates and respond to climate change.

Senator Lambie said a Senate inquiry was needed to find new ways to expand the ranks of volunteers to tackle drought, fires and floods.