Managing ‘civil contingencies’ in Australia

Abstract

This paper identifies how ‘civil contingencies’ are addressed in Australia. It describes how responsibilities for emergency management are allocated across Australia's federated system of government and provides a critical review of the institutional and structural arrangements. It is argued that, even though Australia's emergency management arrangements have generally served the community well, there are undoubted limitations. One limitation is the lack of established Commonwealth response powers and weak arrangements to coordinate the Commonwealth response to emergency. It is further argued that Australia's arrangements focus on governments and their response to emergencies. They have, to date, largely omitted other players, in particular non-government actors, whether that is private industry, communities or individuals. There is evidence that this is changing with the recent overarching policy statement – the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience.

Keywords:

• Australia
• governance
• emergency management
• prerogative

Notes on contributor

Michael Eburn is Associate Professor, Australian National University's College of Law, Canberra. He is the author of numerous journal and conference papers in law and emergency management as well as the book, Emergency Law (Federation Press, 2009; 4th ed. forthcoming). His PhD (2009) benchmarked Australian law against the guidelines published by the International Red Cross to facilitate international disaster assistance. He is currently the Chief Investigator and Project leader on a research project, to be funded by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, exploring ‘Policies, Institutions and Governance of Natural Hazards’. Apart from his academic interest, Dr Eburn is a volunteer with the New South Wales State Emergency Service, the agency with primary responsibility for responding to floods, storms and tsunami.

Notes

1. See, in particular, Australian Constitution s 51.

2. Commonwealth v. Tasmania (1983) 158 CLR 1 (‘Tasmanian Dam case’).

3. New South Wales v. Commonwealth (2006) 229 CLR 1.

4. Australian Constitution s 109.

5. Ibid., s 122.

6. Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government Act) 1988 (Cth); and Northern Territory (Self-Government Act) 1978 (Cth).

7. The Commonwealth v. Australian Capital Territory [2013] HCA 55 (12 December 2013).

8. Local Government Act 1993 (NSW); Local Government Act (NT); Local Government Act 2009 (Qld); Local Government Act 1999 (SA); Local Government Act 1993 (Tas); Local Government Act 1989 (Vic); and Local Government Act 1995 (WA).

9. Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, Local Government, 27 November 2013, http://www.regional.gov.au/local/.

10. Council of Australian Governments, ‘Welcome to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) website’, http://www.coag.gov.au/ (accessed December 14, 2013).

11. Australian Constitution s 51.

12. Attorney-General's Department, National Emergency Management Projects, http://www.em.gov.au/Fundinginitiatives/NationalEmergencyManagementProjects/Pages/default.aspx (accessed December 14, 2013); Attorney-General's Department, Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, http://www.em.gov.au/Fundinginitiatives/Naturaldisasterreliefandrecoveryarrangements/Pages/default.aspx (accessed December 14, 2013); and Social Security Act 1991 (Cth), Part 2.23B Disaster Recovery Allowance, 2.24 Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment.

13. Attorney-General's Department, Australian Government Disaster Response Plan (COMDISPLAN) (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2008).

14. Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (UK) s 2.

15. Emergency Management Act, SC 2007, c 15, s 3.

16. Ibid., s 6.

17. Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-5, 28 February 2003, para 4.

18. Ibid.

19. Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 42 USC 5143.

20. Ibid., 5144.

21. Ibid., 5143.

22. Commonwealth of Australia, Administrative Arrangements Order, 18 September 2013.

23. COMDISPLAN.

24. Ibid., para 4.2.3.

25. Ibid., para 4.6.1.

26. Ibid., para 4.8.1.

27. Attorney-General's Department, Organisational Structure, http://www.ag.gov.au/About/Documents/Attorney-Generals%20Department%20Organisational%20Chart.PDF (accessed December 14, 2013).

28. COMDISPLAN, para 4.8.

29. Ibid.

30. Attorney-General's Department, National Catastrophic Natural Disaster Plan (NATCATDISPLAN) (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2010).

31. Ibid., para 6.

32. Ibid., para 2.

33. Ibid., para 7.

34. Ibid., para 19.

35. National Counter-Terrorism Plan, 2nd ed. (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2005), para 85.

36. Ibid., para 86.

37. Ibid.

38. Ibid.

39. David Templeman and Anthony Bergin, Taking a Punch: Building a More Resilient Australia (Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2008), 8.

40. Attorney General's Department, Australian Emergency Management Arrangements (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2009), 19.

41. Anthony Bergin and David Templeman, ‘Get ready for the Big One’, The Australian (Sydney), March 10, 2009, 22.

42. Templeman and Bergin, Taking a Punch, 7.

43. The discussion in this section is based on work for Michael Eburn, ‘Australia's International Disaster Response: Laws, Rules and Principles’ (PhD diss., Monash University, 2009), published as Michael Eburn, Australia's International Disaster Response – Laws, Rules and Principles (Saarbrucken: VDM-Verlag, 2010). See also Eburn, ‘Responding to Catastrophic Natural Disasters and the Need for Commonwealth Legislation’, Canberra Law Review 10, no. 3 (2011): 81.

44. H.P. Lee, Emergency Powers (Sydney: Law Book Company, 1984), 171–2.

45. New Zealand Law Commission, Final Report on Emergencies (Wellington: Government of New Zealand, 1991), para 4.12.

46. Barton v. The Commonwealth (1974) 131 CLR 477, 498 (Mason J).

47. Burmah Oil Co. Ltd. v. Lord Advocate [1965] AC 75: 99 (Lord Reid), 145 (Lord Pearce); H.E. Renfree, The Executive Power of the Commonwealth of Australia (Sydney: Legal Books, 1984), 389, 394; and New Zealand Law Commission, Final Report on Emergencies, paras 4.37–4.41.

48. Tony Blackshield and George Williams, Australian Constitutional Law and Theory, 4th ed. (Sydney: Federation Press, 2006), 523, 525; and Burmah Oil Co. Ltd. V. Lord Advocate [1965] AC 75: 114 (Viscount Radcliffe).

49. Burmah Oil Co. Ltd. V. Lord Advocate [1965] AC 75: 136 (Lord Hodson).

50. Lee, Emergency Powers, 322.

51. Renfree, The Executive Power of the Commonwealth of Australia, 466. See also George Winterton, ‘The Limits and Use of Executive Power by Government’, Federal Law Review 31 (2003): 421, 425.

52. Burmah Oil Co. Ltd. V. Lord Advocate [1965] AC 75: 115 (Viscount Radcliffe).

53. Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (UK) s 22(3).

54. Davis v. Commonwealth (1988) 166 CLR 79: 111 (Brennan J) (emphasis added).

55. Australian Constitution s 81.

56. Ibid., s 51.

57. Pape v. Commissioner of Taxation (2009) 238 CLR 1: para 133 (French CJ).

58. Ibid., para 233 (Gummow, Crennan and Bell JJ).

59. Hayne and Keiffel JJ would have upheld the law, at least in part, as a law with respect to taxation; Heydon J dissented, finding the law was not a valid law of the Commonwealth.

60. Alan Stretton, Darwin Disaster – Cyclone Tracy: Report by Director-General Natural Disasters Organisation on the Darwin Relief Operations 25 December 1974–3 January 1975 (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 1975), para 8.

61. Australian Constitution s 122.

62. Stretton, Darwin Disaster. See also Stretton, The Furious Days: The Relief of Darwin (Sydney: Collins, 1976); Stretton, Soldier in a Storm: An Autobiography (Sydney: Collins, 1978); and Lee, Emergency Powers, 322.

63. Australian Constitution s 61.

64. Pape v. Commissioner of Taxation (2009) 238 CLR 1.

65. Attorney General v. De Keyser's Royal Hotel [1920] AC 508; and Ruddock v. Vadarlis (2001) 110 FCR 491.

66. As in Pape v. Commissioner of Taxation (2009) 238 CLR 1.

67. New Zealand Law Commission, Final Report on Emergencies, para 1.29.

68. Ibid.

69. Lee, Emergency Powers, 193.

70. Ibid., 192.

71. Eburn ‘Responding to Catastrophic Natural Disasters’, 81.

72. Police Act 1990 (NSW); Police Administration Act (NT); Police Service Administration Act 1990 (Qld); Police Act 1998 (SA); Police Service Act 2003 (Tas); Police Regulation Act 1958 (Vic); and Police Act 1892 (WA). Policing services in the Australian Capital Territory are provided by the Australian Federal Police established by the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (Cth).

73. Emergencies Act 2004 (ACT); State Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW); Disasters Act 1982 (NT); Disaster Management Act 2003 (Qld); Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 (SA); Emergency Services Act 1976 (Tas); Victoria State Emergency Service Act 2005 (Vic); and Fire And Emergency Services Act 1998 (WA).

74. Emergencies Act 2004 (ACT); Fire Brigades Act 1989 (NSW); Rural Fires Act 1997 (NSW); Fire and Emergency Act 1996 (NT); Bushfires Act 1980 (NT); Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990 (Qld); Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 (SA); Fire Service Act 1979 (Tas); Metropolitan Fire Brigades Act 1958 (Vic); Country Fire Authority Act 1958 (Vic); Bush Fires Act 1954 (WA); and Fire Brigades Act 1942 (WA).

75. Michael Eburn, Emergency Law, 4th ed. (Sydney: Federation Press, 2013), chap. 5.

76. State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW) s 3; Department of Police and Emergency Management, Tasmanian Emergency Management Plan (Issue 7) (Hobart: Government of Tasmania, 2012); State Disaster Management, Group Interim Queensland State Disaster Management Plan 2012 (Brisbane: Government of Queensland, 2012); Northern Territory Emergency Service, Northern Territory All Hazards Emergency Management Arrangements (Darwin, 2011); State Emergency Management Committee State Emergency Management Plan – Public Version (Adelaide: Government of South Australia, 2012); and Emergency Management Act 2005 (WA) s 4.

77. Emergencies Act 2004 (ACT); State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW); Disasters Act (NT); Disaster Management Act 2003 (Qld); Emergency Management Act 2004 (SA); Emergency Management Act 2006 (Tas); Emergency Management Act 1986 (Vic); and Emergency Management Act 2005 (WA).

78. See, for example, State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW) ss 20A, 20B; Emergency Management Bill 2013 (NT); Disaster Management Act 2013 (Qld) s 21D; and Emergency Management Act 1986 (Vic) ss 17A-17F.

79. Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (UK) s 24.

80. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) Regulations 2005 (UK) SI 2005/2042 paras 9–10.

81. Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (UK) s 21(2).

82. Ibid., s 22(3).

83. See, for example, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (UK) s 44.

84. See fn 77.

85. Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (UK) s 2, Schedule 1.

86. Productivity Commission, Draft Report: Barriers to Effective Climate Change Adaptation (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2012), 197–8.

87. Fire Brigades Act 1989 (NSW) ss 45–56; Rural Fires Act 1997 (NSW) ss 101–114; and State Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW) ss 24A–24M.

88. State Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW) s 17.

89. Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) s 22.

90. State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW) ss 22–32.

91. Rural Fires Act 1997 (NSW) s 15.

92. Ibid., s 37.

93. Ibid., s 50; and Rural Fires Regulation 2008 (NSW) cl 14.

94. Rural Fires Act 1997 (NSW) s 63.

95. Ibid., s 64.

96. Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) s 118M.

97. Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 (NSW) Part 9.

98. Coastal Protection Act 1979 (NSW) ss 55C-55D.

99. Local Government Act 1999 (SA) s 7(d).

100. Emergency Management Act 2006 (Tas) ss 46–49.

101. Emergency Management Act 1986 (Vic) ss 20, 21.

102. Ibid., s 41.

103. Emergency Management Act 2013 (NT) ss 61, 72.

104. Disaster Management Act 2003 (Qld) s 4A.

105. Ibid., s 80.

106. Productivity Commission, Draft Report, 197–8 (emphasis added).

107. Productivity Commission, Barriers to Effective Climate Change Adaptation (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2013), 247 (emphasis added).

108. Council of Australian Governments, National Strategy on Disaster Resilience (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2012).