Emergency Management Australia
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Headquarters | Canberra |
| Minister responsible | |
| Parent department | Attorney-General's Department |
| Website |
www |
Emergency Management Australia (EMA) is an Australian Federal Government agency tasked with coordinating governmental responses to emergency incidents. EMA currently sits within the Federal Attorney General's Department. Emergency Management involves the plans, structures and arrangements which are established to bring together the normal endeavours of government, voluntary and private agencies in a comprehensive and coordinated way to deal with the whole spectrum of emergency needs including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
The agency has four divisions. These are the Security Coordination Branch, Crisis Coordination Branch, Crisis Support Branch and the Natural Disaster Recovery Program Branch.[1]
Role
Australian state and territory authorities have a constitutional responsibility, within their boundaries, for coordinating and planning for the response to disasters and civil emergencies.[2] When the total resources (government, community and commercial) of an affected state or territory cannot reasonably cope with the needs of the situation, the state or territory government can seek assistance from the Australian Government.
On request, the Australian Government will provide and coordinate physical assistance to the States in the event of a major natural, technological or civil defence emergency. Such physical assistance will be provided when State and Territory resources are inappropriate, exhausted or unavailable. The Australian Government accepts responsibility and prepares plans for providing Commonwealth physical resources in response to such requests. Emergency Management Australia is nominated as the agency responsible for planning and coordinating Commonwealth physical assistance to the states and territories under the Commonwealth Government Disaster Response Plan (COMDISPLAN).
Planning
The Commonwealth Government Disaster Response Plan (COMDISPLAN) provides the framework for addressing state and territory requests for Commonwealth physical assistance arising from any type of emergency. COMDISPLAN is normally activated when Commonwealth assistance for emergency response or short-term recovery is requested or likely to be requested.
Restructure
After the 2009 restructure of the Federal Attorney-General's Department, responsibility for the Australian Emergency Management Institute (formerly the Emergency Management Australia Institute) was taken over by the National Security Capability Development Division. The Institute conducts extensive emergency management education and training courses from the vocational education and training (VET) Public Safety Training Package. The programs delivered include eleven competencies which make up the Advanced Diploma in Public Safety (Emergency Management) including Emergency Coordination Centre Management, Exercise Management, Undertake Emergency Planning and Recovery Management as well as three nationally-accredited short courses: Risk-based Land Use Planning, Business Continuity Management and Emergency Management for Local Government. Program participants are drawn from the range of the emergency response agencies: fire, police, ambulance, State Emergency Service (SES) as well as local, state and Federal Government; NGOs such as the Red Cross and representatives from the private sector deemed "critical infrastructure" (i.e. water/power/transport).
State agencies
See also
- Australasian Fire Authorities Council
- FEMA, FEMA is not directly EMA's equivalent in the United States of America, however the agencies share some common responsibilities.
- RMIT Centre for Risk & Community Safety
References
- ↑ "Emergency Management Australia: Organisational structure". Attorney-General's Department. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- ↑ "Response". Geoscience Australia. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2012.