Vol. 12 Issue 2. 2019
The Australian Emergency Services Magazine is a community educational resource dedicated to the recognition and promotion of emergency service personnel, and the awareness of safety measures, for the community, family and individual. We aim to provide relevant and up to date information and advancements within each of the emergency response sectors and first responders.
The Australian Emergency Services Magazine is a community educational resource dedicated to the recognition and promotion of emergency service personnel, and the awareness of safety measures, for the community, family and individual. We aim to provide relevant and up to date information and advancements within each of the emergency response sectors and first responders.
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VOL <strong>12</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;<br />
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.<br />
At the going down of the sun and in the morning<br />
We will remember them.<br />
Lest We Forget<br />
25th April
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Emergency Services Health is open to people across Australia who were<br />
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CONTENTS<br />
2<br />
Editor’s Note<br />
Latest Events<br />
4<br />
5<br />
5<br />
6<br />
10<br />
14<br />
18<br />
20<br />
24<br />
29<br />
33<br />
34<br />
• <strong>2019</strong> Gippsland Bushfire Fund<br />
• Police Commissioner’s statement<br />
on Christchurh Massacre<br />
• ESTA wins Police & Emergency<br />
services Inter-trophy<br />
Emergency Law with Professor<br />
Michael Eburn<br />
Reeling Veterans fishing for therapy<br />
Strained Australian/Turkish<br />
relations ahead of ANZAC Day<br />
ANZAC Heroes<br />
Summer weather warmest on record<br />
National Plan needed for threat of<br />
climate disasters<br />
Livestreaming Terror<br />
Emergency Contact Information<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Budget modernises Medicare<br />
Cover Image:<br />
ANZAC DAY<br />
Red Poppies<br />
They shall grow not old, as we<br />
that are left grow old;<br />
Age shall not weary them, nor the<br />
years condemn.<br />
At the going down of the sun and<br />
in the morning<br />
We will remember them.
EDITORS NOTE<br />
FROM THE EDITOR<br />
April is such an important month for all Australians<br />
and New Zealander’s. On April 25th we pay our<br />
respects to those service men and women who have<br />
fought bravely for our country and those who are still<br />
serving in so many different capacities.<br />
It is especially poignant this year as we stand<br />
alongside our New Zealand neighbours in the wake<br />
of the Christchurch mosque massacres. This incident<br />
reminds us of the solidarity we have always shared<br />
with our brothers and sisters in NZ. Our hearts are<br />
with you all. Kia kaha.<br />
ANZAC Day brings an opportunity to reflect on what<br />
our defence personnel have gone through in the line<br />
of duty. Many suffer from PTSD due to the traumatic<br />
events they have witnessed or been a part of. There<br />
is a fantastic organisation in the Northern Territory<br />
called “Reeling Veterans”. They are helping veterans<br />
who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder using<br />
fishing as a form of therapy. You can read more about<br />
the Reeling Veterans in this edition.<br />
In the wake of the Queensland floods, cyclones in<br />
the west and north and the bushfires in the south, it<br />
is our defence personnel who are on call to organise<br />
evacuation and coordinate relief efforts. This ANZAC<br />
day we remember today’s heroes alongside those we<br />
have lost.<br />
Follow us on our social channels<br />
and on our new website<br />
Lest We Forget<br />
Emma Parker<br />
Editor<br />
www.ausemergencyservices.com.au<br />
DISCLAIMER<br />
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a community educational resource publication<br />
and does not promote itself as a charity or<br />
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MSC GRANDIOSA<br />
MAIDEN VOYAGE<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>2019</strong><br />
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LATEST EVENTS<br />
Bendigo Bank and the Latrobe<br />
Regional Hospital have worked<br />
with representatives of Bunyip and<br />
Mirboo North Community Bank®<br />
branches, Department of Health and<br />
Human Services, Cardinia, Baw Baw,<br />
Wellington and East Gippsland Shires<br />
and the City of Latrobe to establish this<br />
public appeal to support community<br />
recovery from the <strong>2019</strong> Gippsland<br />
bushfires.<br />
Funds raised will be used for a range of<br />
locally identified charitable initiatives<br />
such as clean-up activities, business<br />
support or counselling, temporary<br />
fencing, and water quality control<br />
measures. Bendigo Bank’s Community<br />
Enterprise Foundation CEO David<br />
Impey said the Fund was able to help<br />
build stronger local communities by<br />
helping them respond to their current<br />
and future needs.<br />
“We urge people across Australia<br />
to donate to the Fund and support<br />
communities who have been impacted.<br />
Community Relief Fund launched to<br />
support fire affected communities<br />
Emergency Management Victoria<br />
has partnered with Bendigo Bank to<br />
establish a Community Relief Fund<br />
in support of community members<br />
affected by the recent south east<br />
Victoria fires.<br />
The Fund aims to support communities<br />
across Cardinia, Wellington, Baw Baw,<br />
East Gippsland and Latrobe areas where<br />
the fires destroyed homes and impacted<br />
communities.<br />
The Fund provides a formal channel for<br />
the public to donate money directly to<br />
affected communities and is designed<br />
to achieve positive outcomes for<br />
the community, by working directly<br />
with local recovery committees and<br />
structures to inform and drive the<br />
distribution of funds.<br />
Emergency Management<br />
Commissioner Andrew Crisp thanked<br />
the community for their support for<br />
impacted communities during the<br />
recent bushfires.<br />
“The impact on these communities has<br />
been significant. Recovery is different<br />
for everyone and some people, families<br />
and communities have a long journey<br />
ahead of them.”<br />
The Community Relief Fund is a<br />
vital part of encouraging affected<br />
communities to play an integral role in<br />
managing their own recovery, by being<br />
part of the Fund distribution process,<br />
along with councils and the emergency<br />
management sector.<br />
Community members who want to help<br />
can donate to the Fund, which will be<br />
distributed collectively across impacted<br />
communities, rather than to individuals<br />
or specific groups.<br />
The Community Relief Fund is<br />
facilitated through a Memorandum<br />
of Understanding between EMV and<br />
Bendigo Bank. It is delivered through<br />
the Bendigo Bank branch network and<br />
has already been used for the collection<br />
and distribution of donated funds<br />
following emergencies.<br />
“Our past experience tells us that<br />
Australians are generous when it comes<br />
to helping those in need. Monetary<br />
donations are effective and provide<br />
more flexibility than the donation of<br />
material items or pre-loved goods.”<br />
Donations to the Community Relief<br />
Fund can be made at any Bendigo<br />
Bank branch or online via https://www.<br />
communityenterprisefoundation.com.<br />
au/make-a-donation/appeal… (External<br />
link) Anyone wishing to support<br />
their local community is encouraged<br />
to donate directly to this Fund, as<br />
monetary donations are effective<br />
and provide more flexibility than the<br />
donation of material items or pre-loved<br />
goods.<br />
South East Victorian Fire Appeal<br />
is a management account of the<br />
Community Enterprise Foundation<br />
ABN 69 694 230 518, PO Box 480,<br />
Bendigo Vic 355<strong>2.</strong> Funds raised<br />
from this appeal will be disbursed as<br />
grants and gifts to eligible charitable<br />
organisations to assist with relief,<br />
recovery and reconstruction projects for<br />
communities in the fire affected areas of<br />
south east Victoria.
LATEST EVENTS<br />
partners we ensure that we remain vigilant to extremism<br />
leading to violence, in all of its forms.<br />
The community continues to be one of the greatest sources<br />
of intelligence that law enforcement can rely on. If you<br />
know something or see something that doesn’t add up call<br />
the National Security Hotline on 1800 <strong>12</strong>3 400 or if you<br />
think lives are in danger do not hesitate to call 000.<br />
Police Commissioner’s<br />
Statement on Christchurch<br />
Tuesday, 19 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
As I said on Friday, I am shocked and deeply saddened by<br />
the events in Christchurch on Friday and I would like to<br />
offer my heart-felt sympathies to the families, friends and<br />
colleagues of victims of this horrendous terrorist attack. My<br />
thoughts go also to Muslim communities throughout the<br />
world, who are grieving for this senseless loss.<br />
I commend the first responders in New Zealand for their<br />
swift actions as this attack occurred. The response is<br />
testimony to the skills and experience of police and other<br />
emergency workers.<br />
The efforts of the Australian Federal Police are focused on<br />
keeping the community safe, and we have been working<br />
hard with our partners since Friday to understand this<br />
terrible event, and to support New Zealand authorities,<br />
particularly the New Zealand Police investigation. This work<br />
is being led by the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team.<br />
The AFP is concerned about terrorism in all of its forms.<br />
The AFP works with our domestic and international<br />
partners to target criminals and criminal activity, not<br />
ideologies or backgrounds. All individuals or groups that<br />
seek to do us harm are treated seriously, and all criminality<br />
is targeted regardless of the perpetrators’ background or<br />
motivation.<br />
There is simply no place in Australia for violence of this<br />
nature. The Joint Counter Terrorism Teams across Australia<br />
work seamlessly to ensure that all allegations of politically<br />
motivated violence are treated equally, and with our security<br />
ESTA’s CEO, Marty Smyth accepting the 2018 Inter-Services Trophy<br />
ESTA wins Police and<br />
Emergency Services Inter-<br />
Services Trophy<br />
Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Lisa<br />
Neville, launched the <strong>2019</strong> Victoria Police and<br />
Emergency Services Games at the MCG earlier this<br />
month and presented ESTA’s CEO, Marty Smyth, with<br />
the 2018 Inter-Services Trophy.<br />
ESTA won the trophy because its competitors received<br />
the highest number of points at last year’s games.<br />
This year, ESTA’s competitors will join around 4000<br />
police and emergency services workers from 23 different<br />
agencies to compete in 43 different sports.<br />
ESTA’s CEO, Marty Smyth said, “The 2018 Inter-<br />
Services Trophy was a well-deserved win by our ESTA<br />
participants. It was a great opportunity for our people to<br />
come together with the emergency services sector and<br />
get involved in the events, friendships and spirit of the<br />
Games.”<br />
This year’s games were run on Friday 22 March to<br />
Sunday 31 March.
AUSTRALIAN EMERGENCY LAW with Professor Michael Eburn<br />
A DISCUSSION ON<br />
THE LAW THAT<br />
APPLIES TO OR<br />
AFFECTS AUSTRALIA’S<br />
EMERGENCY<br />
SERVICES AND<br />
EMERGENCY<br />
MANAGEMENT<br />
Spontaneous<br />
volunteers,<br />
emergencies<br />
and insurance<br />
Feb 9, <strong>2019</strong><br />
PHD<br />
Barrister<br />
Leading expert in Law<br />
relating to Emergency<br />
Management &<br />
Emergency Services<br />
Follow Michael Eburn<br />
Facebook- facebook.com/EburnM/<br />
Twitter - @EburnM<br />
For his latest articles on Emergency<br />
Law go to:<br />
www.emergencylaw.wordpress.com<br />
In light of the recent flooding in<br />
Townsville I’m asked:<br />
How are the spontaneous volunteers<br />
helping before, during or after an<br />
emergencies or disasters covered by<br />
insurance, under legislation or other<br />
laws?<br />
This is a big question that we can only<br />
touch the service here. The status of<br />
management of spontaneous volunteers<br />
is a growing issue and the subject of<br />
research – see, for example, the Bushfire<br />
and Natural Hazards CRC Research<br />
Project ‘Out of uniform: building<br />
community resilience through nontraditional<br />
emergency volunteering’.<br />
Spontaneous <strong>Vol</strong>unteers<br />
Spontaneous volunteers are those<br />
that step up in an event to offer what<br />
assistance they can but were not, before<br />
the event, members of any organisation<br />
that was training for and intending to<br />
take part in an emergency response.<br />
Spontaneous volunteering can take<br />
many forms including:<br />
• Those that step up and help their<br />
neighbour;<br />
• Those that step up and create<br />
their own NGO out of need –<br />
think Queensland Mud Army,<br />
Christchurch Student Army,<br />
Tasmania’s ‘Can we help’, Blazeaid<br />
etc (some of which go onto to<br />
become substantial and longrunning<br />
aid agencies); or<br />
• Those that turn up to work with an<br />
established emergency service eg<br />
those that are now being recruited<br />
by NSW SES to help fill sandbags<br />
etc but have never formally ‘joined’<br />
the SES.<br />
Insurance<br />
Insurance is a contract between<br />
the insured (the first party) and the<br />
insurance company (the second party).<br />
It is in effect a gamble. If I pay an<br />
insurer a premium (say for the sake of<br />
round numbers, $1000) then I’m betting<br />
that the risk that I’m insuring will<br />
happen. Again, for the sake of round<br />
numbers, let’s assume the agreed value<br />
of my house is $1,000,000.<br />
In that case when I pay my $1000<br />
premium, I’m betting with my insurer<br />
that my house will burn down or be
otherwise destroyed. If I’m wrong,<br />
then the insurer gets to keep my<br />
premium. If I’m right the insurer pays<br />
me $1m, that’s a payout of $1000:1.<br />
The insurance company gets premiums<br />
from many, many people and most of<br />
them will be wrong, in any given year<br />
their house won’t be destroyed. From<br />
those premiums the insurance company<br />
makes enough profit to give a return to<br />
its shareholders as well as have money<br />
in cash and investments to be able to<br />
pay out to those few insurance holders<br />
who do lose their home.<br />
The critical point is that insurance is a<br />
contract between the insured and the<br />
insurer and the insurer pays out when<br />
the risk that they guaranteed to cover –<br />
that they accepted the bet on – happens.<br />
There are two sorts of insurance. First<br />
party and third party. First party<br />
insurance means I’ve taken out a policy<br />
to cover risk to me. Insurance on my<br />
house, insuring my car against theft or<br />
damage, income protection and health<br />
insurance are all examples of first party<br />
insurance. If the ‘bad’ thing happens<br />
to me I make a claim on my insurance<br />
policy and the insurer pays out to me.<br />
Third party insurance covers my<br />
liability to someone else. There is<br />
compulsory third party insurance when<br />
I register my car, an employer has to<br />
have workers’ compensation insurance<br />
to meet the employer’s liability to<br />
injured workers, home insurance comes<br />
with insurance to meet claims of people<br />
injured on your property. The difference<br />
here is that if someone makes a claim<br />
against me, I claim on my insurance<br />
policy and my insurer stands in my<br />
place. The insurer can settle or defend<br />
the claim, and they pay out if I am<br />
legally liable. The person making the<br />
claim is not claiming on my insurance,<br />
they are claiming against me and I am<br />
claiming against my insurance. That<br />
will be relevant in the context of the<br />
question ‘How are the spontaneous<br />
volunteers … covered by insurance?’.<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>unteers that step up and help<br />
their neighbour<br />
Assume there is a street that goes up<br />
a hill. A flood affects the house at the<br />
bottom of the street (number 2) but not<br />
the neighbouring house (number 4)<br />
that is further up the hill. The resident<br />
in number 4 goes into number 2 to<br />
help with them clean up. This might<br />
happen if the house is one of 1000<br />
affected or if it’s the only house affected.<br />
It might happen if the flood is due to a<br />
rising river, or a burst water pipe in the<br />
wall. This is just one neighbour going<br />
to help another. Are they covered by<br />
insurance?<br />
We have to stop and ask: ‘what risk are<br />
we considering?’ In this context the<br />
biggest risk is injury. The neighbour<br />
from number 4 is covered by insurance<br />
if they have relevant first party<br />
insurance, eg health insurance, accident<br />
insurance, income protection insurance.<br />
If they are injured due to the negligence<br />
of the owner of number 2 they could<br />
sue that person. If number 2 has<br />
relevant insurance then the insurer will<br />
take responsibility for the claim and<br />
either settle it or defend it. As discussed<br />
above, the neighbour from number 4 is<br />
not claiming on that insurance policy as<br />
they are not a party to it. The neighbour<br />
from number 4 is not ‘covered’ by that<br />
insurance, the resident at number 2 is.<br />
Insurance does not however determine<br />
liability, number 4 can sue number 2<br />
whether number 2 has insurance or<br />
not. If number 2 has insurance, their<br />
insurer manages and meets the claim. If<br />
number 2 does not have insurance, they<br />
have to meet the claim themselves (but<br />
number 4 probably wouldn’t bother as<br />
there is little point suing people who are<br />
not insured).<br />
Those that step up and create their<br />
own NGO out of need.<br />
Here the issue becomes more complex<br />
simply because the nature of these<br />
organisations and what they end up<br />
doing can vary so much with the need.<br />
There is also another potential risk, that<br />
is the risk that a volunteer will do some<br />
harm at the place they are volunteering<br />
(either accidentally or maliciously) or<br />
that they will be accused of doing harm<br />
(they are different risks).<br />
It is however unlikely that any<br />
organisation that has just sprung up<br />
out of need will have any insurance in<br />
which case the answer is the same as the<br />
situation for volunteers that step up and<br />
help their neighbour.<br />
Where a person has suffered harm and<br />
believes it was caused by the volunteer<br />
they may look to the organisation for<br />
relief but that would be very difficult.<br />
First it would depend on what role<br />
they were playing. If, for example, the<br />
organisation operated a website where<br />
people who wanted assistance could<br />
list what they needed and people who<br />
wanted to help could then offer to meet<br />
that request, the organisation is in<br />
no way asserting that the volunteer is<br />
competent or reliable or the place that<br />
they are going is safe and the person<br />
seeking assistance is reliable. To the
extent one has a duty of care it’s a duty<br />
to do what you said you would do<br />
with reasonable care, not a duty to do<br />
something you clearly weren’t doing.<br />
One can see therefore that the potential<br />
to ‘claim’ against the organisation<br />
will depend very much on what it is<br />
they were doing. Again the presence,<br />
or absence, of insurance does not<br />
determine whether there is liability<br />
but again trying to sue a spontaneous<br />
group that does not have insurance and<br />
probably does not owe a duty of care to<br />
anyone would be a waste of time and<br />
money.<br />
Those that turn up to work with<br />
an established emergency service<br />
or other organisation used to<br />
dealing with volunteers<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>unteers that assist organisations<br />
that use volunteers will be incorporated<br />
into that organisation. That may be<br />
an SES, a council or even a volunteer<br />
management group eg <strong>Vol</strong>unteering<br />
Queensland. These organisations will<br />
no doubt have insurance (or in the case<br />
of government agencies will be covered<br />
by the governments self-insurance<br />
arrangements). These policies would be<br />
expected to provide some protection<br />
for volunteers that are injured and also<br />
some legal representation if claims<br />
are made against the volunteers or the<br />
agency due to some alleged misconduct<br />
(intentional or accidental) by the<br />
volunteer.<br />
In the emergency service context, there<br />
are legislative provisions that impact<br />
upon the status of volunteers in most<br />
states and territories. Taking New<br />
South Wales as an example, the State<br />
Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW) s<br />
25 extends a protection from personal<br />
liability to a ‘casual volunteer’ that is<br />
‘a person who, with the consent of the<br />
member or officer, assists a member<br />
of the State Emergency Service or an<br />
emergency officer in the exercise of<br />
the Service’s functions’. The Workers<br />
Compensation (Bush Fire, Emergency<br />
and Rescue Services) Act 1987 (NSW)<br />
provides workers compensation type<br />
insurance to members of the Rural Fire<br />
Service, the State Emergency Service<br />
and to any person ‘who, in the opinion<br />
of the Self Insurance Corporation<br />
having regard to all the circumstances,<br />
should be deemed to be an emergency<br />
service worker for the purposes of this<br />
Part’. That would extend, in my view, to<br />
SES casual volunteers.<br />
Every state and territory has legislation<br />
to provide protection from civil<br />
liability for volunteers and that would<br />
include all volunteers, whether they<br />
joined up this morning or many years<br />
ago. In all states other than NSW, the<br />
legislation says that even though the<br />
volunteer is not liable for any mistake,<br />
the organisation they volunteer for<br />
is. In that case if there is an allegation<br />
that the volunteer did some damage<br />
the organisation will have to manage<br />
that and the organisation’s insurer<br />
(if there is one) will meet the claim.<br />
That may feel, to the volunteer, that<br />
they are protected or covered by the<br />
organisations’ insurance but that’s not<br />
quite the correct way to see it. It’s not<br />
that they are covered by ‘insurance’, they<br />
are not liable, the organisation is and<br />
it is the organisation that is covered by<br />
insurance. If there is no insurance, it’s<br />
still not the volunteer who is liable.<br />
Regardless of the legislation, when<br />
a person is volunteering under the<br />
direction and control of an agency like a<br />
State Emergency Service or fire service,<br />
they are not representing themselves.<br />
They are doing the work of that service,<br />
whether they are formally a member or<br />
not. The organisation will be vicariously<br />
liable for any negligent (but not<br />
criminal) damage they cause.<br />
In the absence of a statutory<br />
compensation scheme such as that
in the Workers Compensation (Bush Fire, Emergency<br />
and Rescue Services) Act 1987 (NSW), or required by<br />
the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990 (Qld) s 154C<br />
(Commissioner to insure SES members etc.) an agency will<br />
only be liable to compensate a volunteer if the volunteer can<br />
show that their injury was caused by the agencies negligence.<br />
Even if they are not required to have insurance, there may<br />
well be many cases where organisations do have ‘third party’<br />
insurance that does offer a no-fault benefit. A volunteer<br />
organisation may have a workers’ compensation type<br />
insurance policy to pay out benefits to injured volunteers<br />
without need for that volunteer to prove any negligence (see<br />
for example Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act<br />
2003 (Qld) s 14 Rural fire brigade member; s 15 <strong>Vol</strong>unteer<br />
firefighter or volunteer fire warden; s 17 Honorary ambulance<br />
officers; s 18 Person in voluntary or honorary position<br />
with religious, charitable or benevolent organisation; s 19<br />
Person in voluntary or honorary position with non-profit<br />
organisation). Non-government agencies would not be<br />
required to do that so I can’t say that such a policy exists,<br />
or does not exist, but in most large organisations and any<br />
government organisation you would expect that would<br />
indeed be the case.<br />
Conclusion<br />
There is no simple answer to the question:<br />
How are the spontaneous volunteers helping before, during<br />
or after an emergencies or disasters covered by insurance,<br />
under legislation or other laws?<br />
It depends (as it always does) on what state they are in. It<br />
also depends on the nature of their volunteering and the sort<br />
of risk that is being considered. Fundamentally how people<br />
are covered by insurance depends firstly on whether there<br />
is insurance and then on the terms of that insurance – what<br />
risks in what circumstances.<br />
If the question means how are they covered for compensation<br />
for injuries that is in fact quite a different question. Again<br />
it depends on the state or territory. In NSW there is a<br />
statutory scheme to cover emergency service volunteers, in<br />
Queensland agencies like the SES are required to take out<br />
a workers compensation insurance and other agenices may<br />
chose to do so. If a person is volunteering with an agency<br />
like that then they will have the benefit of that insurance. If<br />
they are simply helping their neighbour then they won’t.<br />
If the risk that you are concerned about is a risk that<br />
volunteers will be liable for honest errors made during their<br />
volunteering, those that are volunteering with and as part of<br />
the response of a community organisation will be protected<br />
by volunteer protection legislation in each state and territory.<br />
Again, those that are just helping their neighbours will not<br />
have that.<br />
But that should not stop people helping the neighbours.<br />
We all do things every day including helping friends and<br />
neighbours without worrying about whether or not we’re<br />
insured. The risk of getting sued is no-existent. The risk of<br />
getting injured whilst helping in a fire or flood may be higher<br />
but a volunteer should think about that, not insurance, when<br />
deciding to help. Wear proper footwear and gloves, and go<br />
for it.<br />
Professor Michael Eburn<br />
This article originally appeared on the blog Australian<br />
Emergency Law (https://emergencylaw.wordpress.com/)<br />
and is reproduced with the permission of the author.<br />
As a blog post it represents the author’s opinion based<br />
on the law at the time it was written. The blog, or this<br />
article, is not legal advice and cannot be relied upon<br />
to determine any person’s legal position. How the law<br />
applies to any specific situation or event depends on<br />
all the circumstances. If you need to determine legal<br />
rights and obligations with respect to any event that has<br />
happened, or some action that is proposed, you must<br />
consult a lawyer for advice based on the particular<br />
circumstances. Trade unions, professional indemnity<br />
insurers and community legal centres can all be a source<br />
for initial legal advice.
Reeling Veterans<br />
find therapy<br />
on the water<br />
There are more than 1.5 million people in Australia who suffer<br />
post traumatic stress disorder. A condition that is the result of<br />
exposure to violence, trauma and shock. First responders and our<br />
defence personnel are the most vulnerable to this disorder due to<br />
the very nature of their work.
PTSD manifests itself in many different ways and each case is very specific to the type of trauma that<br />
has been experienced. There are four main groups of symptoms that occur for sufferers. They are:<br />
• Re-experiencing – re-living the traumatic event through distressing, unwanted memories, vivid<br />
nightmares and/or flashbacks, intrusive thoughts<br />
• Avoidance – avoiding activities, places, people, thoughts or feelings that bring back memories of<br />
the trauma<br />
• Hyper vigilance – constantly alert for danger, sleeping difficulties, irritability, anger, finding it<br />
difficult to concentrate, and being easily startled<br />
• Feeling emotionally numb – Losing interest in day to day activities, feeling detached from family<br />
and friends, thinking negatively<br />
It is not unusual for people with PTSD to experience other mental health problems like depression<br />
or anxiety. Many sufferers feel overwhelmed and may have withdrawn from those around them.<br />
Reluctant to seek help and reach out, people with PTSD are at increased risk of self harm or suicide.<br />
Treatment for PTSD is out there, but having the support of your loved ones and your mates is a vital<br />
ingredient for sufferers to be able to seek help. Reeling Veterans, an organisation founded by veteran<br />
Michael Hurren, provides an outlet where mateship and support is in abundance whilst dropping a line<br />
in and having a chat.
Reeling Veterans grew from a<br />
really simple idea. The idea<br />
that reaching out to veterans<br />
and asking “would you like to go<br />
fishing?” may help them to have a<br />
chat, open up or quite simply just get<br />
them out of the house.<br />
Veteran, Michael Hurren, from<br />
Darwin suffers PTSD after two<br />
deployments to Afghanistan. He was<br />
actively seeking help for his condition<br />
and found it frustrating that there<br />
was very little support for veterans<br />
with mental illness in Darwin. Lack<br />
of funding was always the excuse<br />
given. “Call Lifeline” he was usually<br />
told. The only time he felt completely<br />
relaxed was when he was out on his<br />
boat “wetting a line”. He used fishing<br />
as a form of therapy.<br />
Michael was constantly reading and<br />
hearing about fellow veterans taking<br />
their own lives. Time and time<br />
again he would read the same story.<br />
Young veterans either being denied<br />
treatment or their support being<br />
taken away after they were deemed<br />
“better”.<br />
The turning point was when Michael<br />
found out that another young veteran<br />
had taken his own life. Michael knew<br />
and served with him in Afghanistan<br />
and his death hit Michael very hard.<br />
He felt he needed to do something<br />
to try and stop this epidemic. This is<br />
when Reeling Veterans was born.<br />
Through sponsorship and fundraising<br />
Michael raised the funds to get a team<br />
into the Barra Nationals, a major<br />
barramundi fishing tournament held<br />
at the mighty Daly River about 2<br />
hours south of Darwin.<br />
From there Reeling Veterans has gone<br />
from strength to strength. A news<br />
story was run about them and the<br />
response was overwhelming! They<br />
were contacted by so many people<br />
wanting to be involved and people<br />
who needed help.<br />
The wonderful people from Dhipirri<br />
Barra & Sportfishing Lodge (in<br />
Arnhemland, Northern Territory)<br />
have donated 4 trips per year to<br />
groups of veterans. This has been<br />
an amazing gift and the first trip<br />
occurred at the end of October 2018.<br />
So, what started as an idea to put<br />
a team in a fishing tournament,<br />
has now become a not-for-profit<br />
organisation who run monthly fishing<br />
outings for anyone who would like to<br />
come along. They also hold monthly<br />
catch ups at restaurants around<br />
Darwin.<br />
Reeling Veterans is about mateship.<br />
It’s about people getting together in a<br />
non-judgemental environment where<br />
they feel comfortable and can talk<br />
about their problems, if they want<br />
to. We have one member who, before<br />
hearing about Reeling Veterans, never<br />
left the house. Now he doesn’t miss<br />
an event.<br />
If Reeling Veterans can help even just<br />
one person think twice before taking<br />
their own life, then that is a success<br />
story.<br />
Reeling Veterans is a registered<br />
charity that is based and run in<br />
Darwin, however they are contacted<br />
by people all over Australia. For more<br />
information on Reeling Veterans, visit<br />
their website www.reelingveterans.<br />
com or facebook page: Reeling<br />
Veterans.<br />
With thanks to Michael Hurren<br />
Source: Fearless.org.au/Australia21 for<br />
information about PTSD
Christchurch attack<br />
strains Australian-<br />
Turkish relations ahead<br />
of ANZAC day
Weeks ahead of the ANZAC<br />
commemoration at<br />
Gallipoli, serious tensions<br />
erupted between Australia and Turkey,<br />
after threatening comments by Turkish<br />
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the<br />
wake of the Christchurch massacre.<br />
Scott Morrison on Wednesday called<br />
in the Turkish ambassador to give<br />
him a tongue lashing. He demanded<br />
a withdrawal of the remarks and the<br />
taking down of a nationalist video<br />
featuring footage of the Australian<br />
gunman’s live stream.<br />
The strength of the Prime Minister’s<br />
response has an eye to the emotional<br />
place of Gallipoli in the Australian<br />
narrative. But he also has to be careful<br />
not to cause the Turkish government<br />
to respond by hampering next month’s<br />
ANZAC commemoration.<br />
President Erdoğan, electioneering<br />
at Çanakkale, just across from the<br />
Gallipoli peninsula, referred to the<br />
massacre, saying: “They test us with<br />
the messages they give in New Zealand<br />
[…] We understood that your hatred<br />
is alive […] We understood that you<br />
begrudge our lives.”<br />
He said: “Your ancestors came. […]<br />
Later on, some of them returned back<br />
on their feet, some of them in coffins.<br />
“If you will come here with the same<br />
intentions, we will be waiting for<br />
you. You should have no doubt that<br />
we will farewell you just like your<br />
grandfathers”.<br />
New Zealand Foreign Minister<br />
Winston Peters, visiting Indonesia,<br />
on Wednesday highlighted that the<br />
gunman was “a non-New Zealander,<br />
an outsider”.<br />
Peters also said he thought Erdoğan<br />
had not known the full facts but “since<br />
he’s been apprised, or informed of the<br />
facts, he’s made a very conciliatory<br />
statement today […] which would<br />
stand in stark contrast to what he said<br />
the other day.”<br />
In an opinion piece published in The<br />
Washington Post Erdoğan has written<br />
“all Western leaders must learn from<br />
the courage, leadership and sincerity<br />
of New Zealand’s prime minister,<br />
Jacinda Ardern, to embrace Muslims<br />
living in their respective countries”.<br />
Peters, who is going to Turkey this<br />
week, said when there he would “set<br />
any record straight that needs to be set<br />
straight as to what went on”.<br />
Attacking Erdoğan’s original<br />
comments, Morrison told a news<br />
conference they were “highly<br />
offensive to Australians and highly<br />
reckless in this very sensitive<br />
environment”.
Morrison said he had asked for<br />
the remarks to be clarified and<br />
withdrawn. “I’ve asked for these<br />
comments, particularly their<br />
reporting of the misrepresented<br />
position of Australia on Turkish<br />
television, the state-sponsored<br />
broadcaster, to be taken down,” he<br />
said.<br />
He would wait for the Turkish<br />
government’s response - beyond that<br />
“all options are on the table”. Asked<br />
what these options were, the Prime<br />
Minister would not elaborate.<br />
Morrison said he did not accept as<br />
an excuse that “things are said in an<br />
electoral context”.<br />
The travel advisory for Turkey is<br />
under review. People planning to go<br />
to Gallipoli should exercise common<br />
sense and await further advice,<br />
Morrison said. The present advice is<br />
for people to exercise a “high degree<br />
of caution”.<br />
Morrison said Erdoğan’s remarks<br />
were “offensive, because they insult<br />
the memory of our ANZACs and they<br />
violate the pledge that is etched in<br />
the stone at Gallipoli, of the promise<br />
of Atatürk to the mothers of our<br />
ANZACs. So I understand the deep<br />
offence Australians would be feeling<br />
about this.<br />
“The comments completely<br />
misrepresented the Australian and<br />
New Zealand governments’ very<br />
strong response to the extremist<br />
attack, he said. All Australians had<br />
condemned it.<br />
“We have reached out to embrace our<br />
Muslim brothers and sisters in New<br />
Zealand and in Australia, quite to<br />
the contrary of the vile assertion that<br />
has been made about our response,”<br />
Morrison said.<br />
He said he had spoken with Turkish<br />
Australian leaders on Wednesday<br />
morning. “They have expressed to<br />
me their deep disappointment about<br />
these comments. They don’t represent<br />
the views of Turkish Australians.<br />
“I am not going to single out the<br />
comments of one person and ascribe<br />
it to a people, whether in Turkey<br />
or across Australia. I don’t think it<br />
does reflect the views of the Turkish<br />
people, or certainly of Turkish<br />
Australians,” Morrison said.<br />
He said Foreign Minister Marise<br />
Payne would be speaking to her<br />
Turkish counterpart.<br />
The Australian ambassador to Turkey<br />
was due to speak with Erdoğan’s<br />
advisers.<br />
This article was originally published on<br />
The Conversation on March 1st. Please<br />
refer to current travel advice when<br />
seeking travel information to Turkey.
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ANZAC Day comes around but once<br />
a year and allows us, as a nation, to<br />
commemorate the incredible bravery<br />
and duty that goes along with being a<br />
member of any of the factions of the<br />
Australian Defence Force. We allow<br />
ourselves a minute of silence to thank<br />
those who have served us and saved us<br />
from all manner of threats. But maybe<br />
we should think of them more often,<br />
after all they think of us all year round.<br />
We all have a deep respect and<br />
understanding of what our defence<br />
personnel face on a daily basis to<br />
protect the fundamental rights for us<br />
as Australians. We tend to forget the<br />
work these brave men and women do to<br />
protect us not just on foreign soil, but<br />
here in Australia. They are the first point<br />
we look to whenever there is a natural<br />
or humanitarian disaster, and they never<br />
let us down.<br />
In March of this year, Cyclone Trevor<br />
tracked across the Gulf of Carpentaria<br />
endangering many of the people who<br />
live in the area. So began the largest<br />
mass evacuation of the Northern<br />
Territory since Cyclone Tracy in 1974.<br />
The Australian Defence Force came<br />
to aid and evacuated more than 2,000<br />
people from the remote communities<br />
of Groote Eylandt and Borroloola<br />
to Darwin. With only days to spare,<br />
as Cyclone Trevor tracked towards a<br />
category five cyclone, the ADF rushed<br />
to ensure the safety and livelihood of as<br />
many residents as they could.<br />
Facing weather conditions that put<br />
themselves in danger, but pushing<br />
forward to be of service wherever they<br />
could, they almost certainly saved the<br />
lives of many who could have been<br />
caught in one of the worst storms North<br />
Australia has seen for more than thirty<br />
years.<br />
Again, in the case of the recent<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Queensland flood disaster,<br />
the Australian Defence Force were<br />
immediately boots on the ground. A<br />
disaster that resulted in hundreds of<br />
thousands of cattle perishing, multigenerational<br />
families losing everything<br />
and the deaths of 6 people, including 2<br />
children.<br />
In amongst these horrors witnessed<br />
by those who live in Townsville and<br />
its surrounds, there comes stories of<br />
unbelievable bravery and resilience<br />
that represent the very heart of the<br />
Australian spirit. Stories of volunteer<br />
workers, daring rescues and the strength<br />
of community, but lost in these stories<br />
are the incredible efforts of our defence<br />
personnel helping the community get<br />
back on their feet.<br />
Under the Joint Task Force 646, that<br />
was formed to assist the North and<br />
Northwest Queensland communities<br />
affected by the flood disaster, 32,000<br />
litres of fuel were delivered by<br />
transport aircraft to remote farms and<br />
communities, 41 tonnes of livestock<br />
feed were delivered by helicopter and<br />
there are still approximately 200 defence<br />
personnel assisting with clean up of the<br />
communities in the crisis.<br />
The families of the defence workers<br />
who have assisted with these efforts<br />
have buckled down with the rest of the<br />
community while their husbands, wives,<br />
brothers, sisters, sons or daughters<br />
have been helping all others above<br />
themselves.<br />
They do this with little to no recognition<br />
or thanks. They do this because<br />
Australia is their home and they love<br />
it, and they do this because they must.<br />
When the flood waters are up to their<br />
chests they go on, when their faces are<br />
windburned and chapped from bush fire<br />
they go on, when they’re being pelted<br />
with hail the size of golf balls, still, they<br />
go on. And the reason they do it is us.<br />
We will always need to be rescued from<br />
rising flood waters, and raging fire and<br />
hail storms. We will always need to<br />
be protected from foreign and home<br />
based threats. We will always need to<br />
be helped. And the Australian Defence<br />
Force will always be there to help,<br />
forsaking their own lives and safety for<br />
ours.<br />
So this ANZAC day, give thanks to those<br />
first ANZACs who were felled on the<br />
bloody sands of Gallipoli, and to those<br />
who have given their lives in service of<br />
our country. But also remember to bow<br />
your head in thanks of the brave men<br />
and women who help us today through<br />
all disasters. These men and women who<br />
continue to embody the ANZAC spirit<br />
of grit, determination and loyalty above<br />
all else. Many of us wouldn’t be here<br />
without them.
Lest We Forget<br />
Yesterday and Today’s Heroes<br />
Brooke Turnbull<br />
Writer
THIS WAS AUSTRALIA’S<br />
HOTTEST SUMMER ON<br />
RECORD, WITH A WARM<br />
AUTUMN LIKELY TOO
Australian summers are getting<br />
hotter. Today marks the end<br />
of our warmest summer<br />
on record, setting new national<br />
temperature records. Worsening<br />
drought, locally significant flooding,<br />
damaging bushfires, and heatwaves<br />
capped a summer of extremes.<br />
As we look to autumn, warmer<br />
temperatures overall and below<br />
average rainfall – especially in eastern<br />
parts of the country – are likely.<br />
Very hot…<br />
The starkest feature of this summer<br />
was the record warmth. The national<br />
average temperature is expected to<br />
be about <strong>2.</strong>1° above average, and will<br />
easily beat the previous record high<br />
set in summer 20<strong>12</strong>-13 (which was<br />
1.28° warmer than average).<br />
Australian summer mean temperature anomalies against the 1961–1990 average. Bureau of Meteorology<br />
monsoonal weather was absent for<br />
most of summer.<br />
Australia on the 27th, with mid-tohigh<br />
40s extending over larger areas.<br />
Very low rainfall accompanied<br />
the record heat of summer. At the<br />
national scale, each month was<br />
notably dry, and total summer rainfall<br />
was around 30% below average; the<br />
lowest for summer since 1982–83.<br />
The monsoon onset was delayed in<br />
Darwin until the 23rd of January<br />
(the latest since 1972–73) and typical<br />
In December 2018 Australia saw<br />
its highest mean, maximum and<br />
minimum temperatures on record<br />
(monthly averages, compared to all<br />
other Decembers). Notable heatwaves<br />
affected the north of Australia at the<br />
start of the month, spreading to the<br />
west and south during the second half<br />
of December. Temperatures peaked<br />
at 49° at Marble Bar in Western<br />
The heat continued into January,<br />
which set a national monthly mean<br />
temperature record at <strong>2.</strong>91° above<br />
the 1961–1990 average. Heatwave<br />
conditions which had emerged in<br />
December persisted, with a prolonged<br />
warm spell and numerous records set.<br />
Eight of the ten hottest days for the<br />
nation occurred during the month,<br />
while a minimum temperature of
36.6° at Wanaaring (Borrona Downs)<br />
in western New South Wales on the<br />
26th set a new national minimum<br />
temperature record.<br />
Temperatures moderated a little in<br />
the east of the country for February,<br />
partly in response to flooding rainfall<br />
in tropical Queensland. Even so, the<br />
national mean temperature will come<br />
in around 1.4° above average, making<br />
this February likely to be the fourth or<br />
fifth warmest on record.<br />
…and very dry<br />
Australia has seen dry summers<br />
before and many of these have been<br />
notably hot. The summers of 1972–73<br />
and 1982–83 – which featured mean<br />
temperatures 0.90° and 0.92° above<br />
average, respectively – both came<br />
during the latter stages of significant<br />
droughts, and were both records at<br />
the time.<br />
As the State of the Climate 2018<br />
report outlines, Australia has warmed<br />
by just over 1° since 1910, with most<br />
warming occurring since 1950. This<br />
warming means global and Australian<br />
climate variability sits on top of a<br />
higher average temperature, which<br />
explains why 2018-19 was warmer<br />
again.<br />
A major rain event affected tropical<br />
Queensland during late January to<br />
early February, associated with a slowmoving<br />
monsoonal low. Some sites<br />
had a year’s worth of rain in a twoweek<br />
period, including Townsville<br />
Airport which had 1,257mm in ten<br />
days. Many Queenslanders affected<br />
by this monsoonal low went from<br />
drought conditions to floods in a<br />
matter of days.<br />
Flooding was severe and continues<br />
to affect rivers near the Gulf of<br />
Carpentaria, as well as some inland<br />
rivers which flow towards Kati<br />
Thanda–Lake Eyre.<br />
The outlook for autumn<br />
Spring 2018 saw a positive Indian<br />
Ocean Dipole which faded in early<br />
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summer. At the start of summer sea<br />
surface temperature anomalies in<br />
the central Pacific exceeded 0.8°,<br />
which is the typical threshold for El<br />
Niño affecting the oceans, but these<br />
declined as summer progressed.<br />
Combined with a lack of coupling<br />
between the atmosphere and ocean,<br />
the El Niño–Southern Oscillation<br />
remained neutral, though normal<br />
rainfall patterns shifted to oceans to<br />
the north and east, leaving Australia<br />
drier as a result.<br />
As we move into autumn, the El<br />
Niño–Southern Oscillation and<br />
Indian Ocean Dipole tend to have<br />
less influence at this time of year. The<br />
onset of new Indian Ocean Dipole<br />
or El Niño/La Niña events typically<br />
happens in late autumn or winter/<br />
spring.<br />
Over recent years, autumn rainfall<br />
has also become less reliable, with<br />
declines in cool season rainfall<br />
in the southeast and southwest.<br />
Temperatures are also rising, in a local<br />
expression of the global warming<br />
trend.<br />
The Bureau’s outlook for autumn<br />
shows high probabilities that day<br />
and night-time temperatures will<br />
remain above average for most of the<br />
country. We expect to see continued<br />
below-average rainfall in much of<br />
the east, where drought is currently<br />
widespread.<br />
Looking to the winter, the Bureau’s<br />
ENSO Wrap-Up suggests the Pacific<br />
Ocean is likely to remain warmer than<br />
average. The potential for an El Niño<br />
remains, with approximately a 50%<br />
chance of El Niño developing during<br />
the southern hemisphere autumn or<br />
winter, twice the normal likelihood.<br />
David Jones<br />
Climate Scientist<br />
Lynette Bettio<br />
Senior Climatologist<br />
Skie Tobin<br />
Climatologist<br />
Australian Bureau of Meteorology<br />
This article was originally<br />
published on’The Conversation’<br />
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era in the security of<br />
Australia, not because of<br />
terrorism, the rise of China, or even<br />
the cybersecurity threat, but because<br />
of climate change. If the world warms<br />
beyond 2℃, as seems increasingly<br />
likely, an era of disasters will be<br />
upon us, with profound implications<br />
for how we organise ourselves to<br />
protect Australian lives, property and<br />
economic interests, and our way of<br />
life.<br />
The early warning of this era is<br />
arriving almost daily, in news reports<br />
from across the globe of recordbreaking<br />
heatwaves, prolonged<br />
droughts, massive bushfires, torrential<br />
flooding, and record-setting storms.<br />
In a new special report from the<br />
Australian Strategic Policy Institute,<br />
I argue that Australia is not facing<br />
up to the pace of these worsening<br />
threats. We need a national strategy to<br />
deal specifically with climate disaster<br />
preparedness.<br />
Even without climate change, the<br />
impact of these natural hazards is<br />
enormous. More than 500 Australians<br />
– roughly the same number who died<br />
in the Vietnam War – die each year<br />
from heat stress alone. The annual<br />
economic costs of natural disasters are<br />
projected to increase to A$39 billion<br />
by 2050. This is roughly equivalent to<br />
what the federal government spends<br />
each year on the Australian Defence<br />
Force.<br />
Climate change will dramatically<br />
increase the frequency and severity of<br />
many of these hazards. The number<br />
of record hot days in Australia has
Australia needs a<br />
national plan to face<br />
the growing threat of<br />
climate disasters<br />
Robert Glasser<br />
Honorary Associate Professor<br />
Australian National University<br />
Rising flood waters threaten imminent inundation of homes in the suburb of Annandale<br />
Image: Robert Hiette/Shutterstock<br />
doubled in the past 50 years, and<br />
heatwaves have become longer and<br />
hotter. Extreme fire weather days have<br />
increased in recent decades in many<br />
regions of Australia.<br />
Shorter and more intense rainstorms<br />
that trigger flash floods and urban<br />
flooding are also becoming more<br />
frequent, and sea level has been rising<br />
at an accelerated rate since 1993.<br />
Australians are already exposed to<br />
a wide range of the hazards that<br />
climate change is amplifying. Almost<br />
4 million of our people, and about<br />
20% of our national economic output,<br />
are in areas with high or extreme risk<br />
of tropical cyclones. Meanwhile, <strong>2.</strong>2<br />
million people and 11% of economic<br />
activity are in places with high or<br />
extreme risk of bushfire.<br />
Chronic crisis<br />
As the frequency of extreme events<br />
increases, we are likely to see an<br />
increase in events happening at<br />
the same time in different parts of<br />
the country, or events following<br />
hard on the heels of previous ones.<br />
Communities may weather the first<br />
few setbacks but, in their weakened<br />
state, be ultimately overwhelmed.<br />
Large parts of the country that<br />
are currently marginally viable for<br />
agriculture are increasingly likely<br />
to be in chronic crisis, from the<br />
compounding impacts of the steady<br />
rise of temperature, drought and<br />
bushfires.<br />
The scale of those impacts will be<br />
unprecedented, and the patterns<br />
that the hazards take will change
in ways that are difficult to predict.<br />
Australia’s fire season, for example, is<br />
already getting longer. Other research<br />
suggests that tropical cyclones are<br />
forming further from the Equator as<br />
the planet warms, putting new areas<br />
of eastern Australia in harm’s way.<br />
This emerging era of disasters will<br />
increasingly stretch emergency<br />
services, undermine community<br />
resilience, and escalate economic<br />
costs and losses of life. Federal,<br />
state and local governments all<br />
need to start preparing now for<br />
the unprecedented scale of these<br />
emerging challenges.<br />
Queensland as a case study<br />
Queensland’s recent experience<br />
illustrates what could lie ahead for all<br />
of Australia. Late last year, a major<br />
drought severely affected the state. At<br />
that time, a senior manager involved<br />
in coordinating the state’s rebuilding<br />
efforts following Cyclone Debbie<br />
commented that his team was in the<br />
ironic situation of rebuilding from<br />
floods during a drought. The drought<br />
was making it difficult to find water<br />
to mix with gravel and to suppress the<br />
dust associated with rebuilding roads.<br />
The drought intensified, contributing<br />
to an outbreak of more than 140<br />
bushfires. This was followed and<br />
exacerbated by an extreme heatwave,<br />
with temperatures in the 40s that<br />
smashed records for the month of<br />
November. Bushfire conditions in<br />
parts of Queensland were classified<br />
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as “catastrophic” for the first time<br />
since the rating scale was developed<br />
in 2009. More than a million hectares<br />
of bush and farmland were destroyed<br />
– the largest expanse of Queensland<br />
affected by fire since records began.<br />
Just days later, Tropical Cyclone Owen<br />
approached the Queensland coast,<br />
threatening significant flooding and<br />
raising the risk of severe mudslides<br />
from the charred hillsides. Owen<br />
set an Australian record in dumping<br />
681 millimetres of rain in just 24<br />
hours – more than Melbourne usually<br />
receives in a year. It did not, however,<br />
diminish the drought gripping much<br />
of the state.<br />
A few weeks later, record rains<br />
flooded more than 13.25 million<br />
hectares of Northern Queensland,<br />
killing hundreds of thousands of<br />
drought-stressed cattle. As two<br />
Queensland graziers wrote at the<br />
time: “Almost overnight we have<br />
transitioned from relative drought<br />
years to a flood disaster zone.”<br />
Time to prepare<br />
We need to begin preparing now for<br />
this changing climate, by developing a<br />
national strategy that outlines exactly<br />
how we move on from business as<br />
usual and adopt a more responsible<br />
approach to climate disaster<br />
preparedness.<br />
It makes no sense for the federal<br />
government to have two separate<br />
strategies (as it currently does) for<br />
disaster resilience and climate change<br />
adaptation. Given that 90% of major<br />
disasters worldwide are from climaterelated<br />
hazards such as storms,<br />
droughts and floods, these two<br />
strategies should clearly be merged.<br />
One of the prime objectives of the<br />
new strategy should be to scale up<br />
Australia’s efforts to prevent hazards<br />
from turning into disasters. Currently,<br />
the federal government spends<br />
30 times more on rebuilding after<br />
disasters than it does on reducing the<br />
risks in the first place.<br />
Australia should be leading global<br />
calls for urgent climate action, not<br />
just because we’re so vulnerable<br />
to climate hazards, but also for<br />
traditional national security reasons.<br />
We are the wealthiest nation in a<br />
region full of less-developed countries<br />
that are hugely vulnerable to climate<br />
change. Shocks to their food security,<br />
economic interests and political<br />
stability will undermine our own<br />
national security.<br />
No military alliance, deployment of<br />
troops or new weapon system will<br />
adequately protect Australia from<br />
this rapidly escalating threat. The<br />
only effective “forward defence” is<br />
to reduce greenhouse gases globally,<br />
including in Australia, as quickly as<br />
possible. Without far greater ambition<br />
on this front, the scale of the disasters<br />
that lie ahead will overwhelm<br />
even the most concerted efforts to<br />
strengthen the resilience of Australian<br />
communities.<br />
This article was originally<br />
published on’The Conversation’<br />
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Livestreaming<br />
Terror<br />
New criminal code amendment<br />
in the wake of Christchurch<br />
Robert Merkel<br />
Lecturer in Software Engineering<br />
Monash University
In the wake of the Christchurch<br />
attack, the Australian government<br />
has announced its intention to<br />
create new criminal offences relating<br />
to the livestreaming of violence on<br />
social media platforms.<br />
The Criminal Code Amendment<br />
(Sharing of Abhorrent Violent<br />
Material) Bill will create two new<br />
crimes:<br />
It will be a criminal offence for<br />
social media platforms not to<br />
remove abhorrent violent material<br />
expeditiously. This will be punishable<br />
by 3 years’ imprisonment or fines that<br />
can reach up to 10% of the platform’s<br />
annual turnover.<br />
Platforms anywhere in the world must<br />
notify the Australian Federal Police<br />
if they become aware their service is<br />
streaming abhorrent violent conduct<br />
that is happening in Australia. A<br />
failure to do this will be punishable<br />
by fines of up to A$168,000 for<br />
an individual or A$840,000 for a<br />
corporation.<br />
The government is reportedly seeking<br />
to pass the legislation in the current<br />
sitting week of Parliament. This could<br />
be the last of the current parliament<br />
before an election is called. Labor,<br />
or some group of crossbenchers, will<br />
need to vote with the government if<br />
the legislation is to pass. But the draft<br />
bill was only made available to the<br />
Labor Party last night.<br />
This is not the first time that<br />
legislation relating to the intersection<br />
of technology and law enforcement<br />
has been raced through parliament<br />
to the consternation of parts of<br />
the technology industry, and other<br />
groups. Ongoing concerns around<br />
the Access and Assistance bill<br />
demonstrate the risks of such rushed<br />
legislation.<br />
Major social networks already<br />
moderate violence<br />
The government has defined<br />
“abhorrent violent material” as:<br />
[…] material produced by a<br />
perpetrator, and which plays or<br />
livestreams the very worst types of<br />
offences. It will capture the playing<br />
or streaming of terrorism, murder,<br />
attempted murder, torture, rape and<br />
kidnapping on social media.<br />
The major social media platforms<br />
already devote considerable resources<br />
to content moderation. They are<br />
often criticised for their moderation<br />
policies, and the inconsistent<br />
application of those policies. But<br />
content fitting the government’s<br />
definition is already clearly prohibited<br />
by Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat.<br />
Social media companies rely on a<br />
combination of technology, and<br />
thousands of people employed<br />
as content moderators to remove<br />
graphic content. Moderators (usually<br />
contractors, often on low wages)<br />
are routinely called on to remove<br />
a torrent of abhorrent material,<br />
including footage of murders and<br />
other violent crimes.<br />
Technology is helpful, but not a<br />
solution<br />
Technologies developed to assist<br />
with content moderation are less<br />
advanced than one might hope –<br />
Police in front of the Masij El Noor as they stand guard at the Memorial Service to remember the victims of the Christchurch shootings.<br />
Image: Sheryl Watson/Shutterstock
particularly for videos. Facebook’s<br />
own moderation tools are mostly<br />
proprietary. But we can get an idea of<br />
the state of the commercial art from<br />
Microsoft’s Content Moderator API.<br />
The Content Moderator API is<br />
an online service designed to be<br />
integrated by programmers into<br />
consumer-facing communication<br />
systems. Microsoft’s tools can<br />
automatically recognise “racy or<br />
adult content”. They can also identify<br />
images similar to ones in a list.<br />
This kind of technology is used by<br />
Facebook, in cooperation with the<br />
office of the eSafety Comissioner, to<br />
help track and block image-based<br />
abuse – commonly but erroneously<br />
described as “revenge porn”.<br />
The Content Moderator API cannot<br />
automatically classify an image, let<br />
alone a video, as “abhorrent violent<br />
content”. Nor can it automatically<br />
identify videos similar to another<br />
video.<br />
Technology that could match videos<br />
is under development. For example,<br />
Microsoft is currently trialling a<br />
matching system specifically for<br />
video-based child exploitation<br />
material.<br />
As well as developing new<br />
technologies themselves, the tech<br />
giants are enthusiastic adopters<br />
of methods and ideas devised by<br />
academic researchers. But they are<br />
some distance from being able to<br />
automatically identify re-uploads<br />
of videos that violate their terms<br />
of service, particularly when<br />
uploaders modify the video to<br />
evade moderators. The ability to<br />
automatically flag these videos as<br />
they are uploaded or streamed is even<br />
more challenging.<br />
Important questions, few answers so<br />
far<br />
Evaluating the government’s proposed<br />
legislative amendments is difficult<br />
given that details are scant. I’m a<br />
technologist, not a legal academic,<br />
but the scope and application of the<br />
legislation is currently unclear. Before<br />
any legislation is passed, a number of<br />
questions need to be addressed - too<br />
many to list here, but for instance:<br />
Does the requirement to remove<br />
“abhorrent violent material” apply<br />
only to material created or uploaded<br />
by Australians? Does it only apply to<br />
events occurring within Australia? Or<br />
could foreign social media companies<br />
be liable for massive fines if videos<br />
created in a foreign country, and<br />
uploaded by a foreigner, were viewed<br />
within Australia?<br />
Would attempts to render such<br />
material inaccessible from within<br />
Australia suffice (even though<br />
workarounds are easy)? Or would<br />
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emoval from access anywhere in the world be<br />
required? Would Australians be comfortable with<br />
a foreign law that required Australian websites to<br />
delete content displayed to Australians based on the<br />
decisions of a foreign government?<br />
Complex legislation needs time<br />
The proposed legislation does nothing to address the<br />
broader issues surrounding promotion of the violent<br />
white supremacist ideology that apparently motivated<br />
the Christchurch attacker. While that does not<br />
necessarily mean it’s a bad idea, it would seem very far<br />
from a full governmental response to the monstrous<br />
crime an Australian citizen allegedly committed.<br />
It may well be that the scope and definitional<br />
issues are dealt with appropriately in the text of the<br />
legislation. But considering the government seems set<br />
on passing the bill in the next few days, it’s unlikely<br />
lawmakers will have the time to carefully consider the<br />
complexities involved.<br />
Messages of solidarity, remembrance; grief and commiseration to the families of<br />
the 50 dead. Image: Nigel Spiers/ Shutterstock<br />
While the desire to prevent further circulation of<br />
perpetrator-generated footage of terrorist attacks is<br />
noble, taking effective action is not straightforward.<br />
Yet again, the federal government’s inclination seems<br />
to be to legislate first and discuss later.<br />
This article was originally published on’The Conversation’<br />
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BUDGET <strong>2019</strong> BOOSTS<br />
AGED CARE AND<br />
MENTAL HEALTH, AND<br />
MODERNISES MEDICARE<br />
HEALTH EXPERTS RESPOND
This year’s budget includes<br />
$448.5 to modernise<br />
Australia’s Medicare system, by<br />
encouraging people with diabetes to<br />
sign up to a GP clinic for their care.<br />
The clinic will receive a lump sum<br />
payment to care for the person over<br />
time, rather than a fee each time they<br />
see their GP.<br />
The indexation freeze on all GP<br />
services on the Medicare Benefits<br />
Schedule (MBS) will lift from July 1,<br />
<strong>2019</strong>, at a cost of $187.2 million. The<br />
freeze will be lifted on various X-ray<br />
and ultrasound MBS rebates from July<br />
1, 2020.<br />
The budget announces $461 million<br />
for youth mental health, including<br />
30 new headspace centres, some of<br />
which will be in regional areas. But it<br />
does little to address the underlying<br />
structural reforms that make it difficult<br />
for Australians to access quality and<br />
timely mental health care.<br />
In aged care, the government will fund<br />
10,000 home care packages, which<br />
have been previously announced, at<br />
a cost of $282 million over five years,<br />
and will allocate $84 million for carer<br />
respite. But long wait times for home<br />
care packages remain.<br />
Other announcements include:<br />
• $6<strong>2.</strong>2 million over five years to<br />
train new rural GPs<br />
• $309 million for diagnostic<br />
imaging services, including 23<br />
new MRI licences<br />
• $331 million over five years for<br />
new pharmaceuticals, including<br />
high-cost cancer treatments<br />
• $107.8 million over seven<br />
years for hospitals and facilities<br />
including Redland Hospital,<br />
Bowen Hospital, Bass Coast<br />
Health and Ronald McDonald<br />
House<br />
• $70.8 million over seven years<br />
for regional cancer diagnosis,<br />
treatment and therapy centres<br />
• $114.5 million from 2020-21 to<br />
trial eight mental health facilities<br />
for adults<br />
• $43.9 million for mental health<br />
services for expectant and new<br />
parents
• $35.7 million over five years for<br />
increased dementia and veterans’<br />
home care supplements<br />
• $320 million this year as a one-off<br />
increase to the basic subsidy for<br />
residential aged-care recipients.<br />
Here’s what our health policy experts<br />
thought of the budget announcements.<br />
A hesitant step forward for<br />
Medicare<br />
Stephen Duckett, Director, Health<br />
Program,<br />
Grattan Institute<br />
Medicare funding is slowly creeping<br />
into the 21st century. The 19thcentury<br />
model of individual fees for<br />
individual services – suitable for an<br />
era when medicine was essentially<br />
dealing with episodic conditions – is<br />
being supplemented with a new fee to<br />
better manage the care of people with<br />
diabetes.<br />
The budget announcement, as part<br />
of the Strengthening primary care<br />
package, is for a new annual payment<br />
for each person with diabetes who<br />
signs up with a specific GP. Funding is<br />
provided for about 100,000 people to<br />
sign up – about 10% of all people with<br />
diabetes in Australia.<br />
The new item number is consistent<br />
with the recent MBS review Report on<br />
General Practice, which recommended<br />
a move toward voluntary enrolment.<br />
The precise details of the new fee –<br />
including the annual amount and<br />
any descriptors – have not yet been<br />
released. But it should encourage<br />
practices to move towards a more<br />
prevention-oriented approach<br />
to chronic disease management,<br />
including using practice nurses<br />
to call patients to check up on<br />
their condition, and using remote<br />
monitoring technology.<br />
The budget announcement contained<br />
no evaluation strategy for the<br />
initiative. The government should<br />
produce such a strategy soon.<br />
Support for aged and disability<br />
care<br />
Hal Swerissen, Emeritus Professor, La<br />
Trobe University, and Fellow, Health<br />
Program, Grattan Institute<br />
The budget has short-term measures<br />
to address major issues in aged care<br />
and disability while we wait for the<br />
royal commissions to fix the long-term<br />
problems.<br />
The National Disability Insurance<br />
Agency (NDIA) is struggling with<br />
the huge task of putting the National<br />
Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)<br />
in place.<br />
There has been a major under-spend<br />
on the on the scheme. Price caps for<br />
services such as therapy and personal<br />
care are too low and nearly one-third<br />
of services are operating at a loss. The<br />
under-spend would have been more if<br />
there hadn’t been a last-minute budget<br />
decision to significantly increase<br />
service caps, at a cost of $850 million.<br />
$528 million dollars has also been<br />
announced for a royal commission<br />
to look at violence, neglect and abuse<br />
of people with disabilities – the most<br />
expensive royal commission to date.<br />
There is more funding for aged care.<br />
Currently, 130,000 older people are<br />
waiting for home care packages –<br />
often for a year or more. Nearly half<br />
of residential care services are losing<br />
money and there are major concerns<br />
about quality of care.<br />
The short-term fix is to give residential<br />
care $320 million to try to prevent<br />
services going under. The budget<br />
includes 10,000 previously announced<br />
home care packages, at a cost of $282<br />
million, but that still leaves more than<br />
100,000 people waiting.<br />
Little for prevention,<br />
Indigenous health and to<br />
address disparities<br />
Lesley Russell, Adjunct Associate<br />
Professor, Menzies Centre for Health<br />
Policy, University of Sydney<br />
Prevention<br />
Preventable diseases and conditions<br />
are a key factor in health inequalities<br />
and rising health-care costs. The two<br />
issues looming large are obesity and its<br />
consequences, and the health impacts<br />
of climate change.<br />
There is $5.5 million for 2018-19 and<br />
<strong>2019</strong>-20 for mental health services in<br />
areas affected by natural disasters, and<br />
$1.1 million over two years for the<br />
Health Star rating system – otherwise<br />
nothing for primary prevention.<br />
Indigenous health<br />
The Treasurer did not mention<br />
Closing the Gap in his budget speech,<br />
and there is little in the budget for<br />
Indigenous health.<br />
Just $5 million over four years is<br />
provided in the budget for suicideprevention<br />
initiatives. And the Lowitja<br />
Institute receives $10 million for<br />
health and medical research.<br />
Some announcements in March<br />
contribute a little more:<br />
• an additional $<strong>12</strong>.4 million for the<br />
phase 3 response to the syphilis<br />
outbreak<br />
• $21.9 million for the Connected<br />
Beginnings program to help<br />
Indigenous children in Tasmania<br />
make a positive transition to<br />
school<br />
• $6.3 million to continue the<br />
development of the Health Data<br />
Portal for services funded under<br />
the Indigenous Australians Health<br />
Program.<br />
Inequalities and disparities<br />
Disadvantaged rural and remote<br />
communities will (ultimately) benefit<br />
from efforts to boost National Rural<br />
Generalist Training Pathway, with<br />
$6<strong>2.</strong>2 million provided over four years.<br />
This was a 2016 election commitment.<br />
The announcement of $200<br />
million over three years to index<br />
Medicare payments for ultrasound<br />
and diagnostic radiology services<br />
(beginning from July 1, 2020) came
with claims this will help reduce outof-pocket<br />
costs. But given that these<br />
payments have not been indexed in 20<br />
years, will the money go to providers<br />
or patients?<br />
Hospitals and private health<br />
insurance<br />
Peter Sivey, Associate Professor, School<br />
of Economics, Finance and Marketing,<br />
RMIT University<br />
There are no major changes to public<br />
hospital funding arrangements in this<br />
year’s budget.<br />
Funding for public hospitals is<br />
predicted to increase at between<br />
3.7% and 5.6% over the forward<br />
estimates. However, these figures<br />
are contingent on the new COAG<br />
agreement on health funding between<br />
the Commonwealth and states, which<br />
is due to be finalised before the end of<br />
<strong>2019</strong>.<br />
The states will be hoping to wring<br />
some more dollars from the federal<br />
government given their soaring public<br />
hospital admissions and pressure on<br />
waiting times.<br />
There is no change to the government’s<br />
private health insurance policy which<br />
has just come into force.<br />
Government spending on the private<br />
health insurance rebate is projected to<br />
increase more slowly than premiums<br />
at between 1.8% and 3.2% because of<br />
indexation arrangements which are<br />
gradually reducing the rebate over<br />
time.<br />
Smaller targets for mental<br />
health<br />
Ian Hickie, Co-Director, Brain and Mind<br />
Institute, University of Sydney<br />
Numerous reports and accounts from<br />
within the community have noted<br />
the flaws in Australia’s mental health<br />
system: poor access to quality services,<br />
the uneven roll-out of the NDIS,<br />
and the lack of accountability for<br />
reforming the system.<br />
The next federal government faces<br />
major structural challenges in mental<br />
health and suicide prevention.<br />
Not surprisingly, this pre-election<br />
budget does not directly address<br />
these issues. Instead, it focuses on less<br />
challenging but worthy targets such as:<br />
continued support for expansion of<br />
headspace services for young people<br />
($263m over the next seven years) and<br />
additional support for early psychosis<br />
services ($110m over four years)<br />
support for workplace-based mental<br />
health programs ($15m)<br />
support for new residential care<br />
centres for eating disorders ($63m).<br />
A more challenging experiment is the<br />
$114.5 committed to eight new walkin<br />
community mental health centres,<br />
recognising that access to coordinated,<br />
high-quality care that delivers<br />
better outcomes remains a national<br />
challenge.<br />
Despite the commitment of health<br />
minister Greg Hunt to enhanced<br />
mental health investments, the total<br />
increased spend on these initiatives<br />
($736.6m) is dwarfed by the big new<br />
expenditures in Medicare ($6b),<br />
improved access to medicines ($40b),<br />
public hospitals ($5b) and aged care<br />
($7b).<br />
It will be interesting to see whether<br />
mental health reform now receives<br />
greater attention during the election<br />
campaign. At this stage, neither of<br />
the major parties has made it clear<br />
that it is ready to deal directly with<br />
the complex challenges in mental<br />
health and suicide prevention that are<br />
unresolved.<br />
New funding for research, but<br />
who decides the priorities?<br />
Philip Clarke, Professor of Health<br />
Economics, University of Melbourne<br />
The budget contains several funding<br />
announcements for research.<br />
The government will establish a Health<br />
and Medical Research Office, to help<br />
allocate money from the Medical<br />
Research Future Fund (MRFF). This<br />
will be needed, as the budget papers<br />
commit to a further $931 million from<br />
the MRFF for:<br />
• Clinical trials for rare cancers and<br />
rare diseases<br />
• Emerging priorities and<br />
consumer-driven research<br />
• Global health research to tackle<br />
antimicrobial resistance and drugresistant<br />
tuberculosis.<br />
In addition, the budget includes:<br />
• $70 million for research into type<br />
1 diabetes<br />
• a large investment for genomics<br />
(although that is a reannouncement<br />
of $500 million<br />
promised in last year’s budget)<br />
• a series of infrastructure grants<br />
to individual universities and<br />
institutions, such as $10 million<br />
to establish the Curtin University<br />
Dementia Centre of Excellence.<br />
The government appears to be<br />
moving away from allocating medical<br />
research funding through existing<br />
funding bodies, such as the National<br />
Health and Medical Research Council<br />
(NHMRC), towards allocating<br />
research funds to specific disease areas,<br />
and even to individual institutions.<br />
This is a much more direct approach<br />
to research funding, but it raises a few<br />
important questions. On what basis<br />
are these funding decisions being<br />
made? And why are some diseases<br />
considered priorities to receive<br />
funding? There is very little detail to<br />
answer these questions.<br />
Australia’s allocation of research<br />
funding through the MRFF is<br />
diverging from long-held traditions<br />
in other countries, such as the United<br />
Kingdom, which apply the “Haldane<br />
principle”. This involves researchers<br />
deciding where research funding is<br />
spent, rather than politicians.<br />
* This article has been updated since<br />
publication to clarify the 10,000 home<br />
care packages have been previously<br />
announced.<br />
This article first appeared on ‘The<br />
Conversation’ Authors supplied<br />
throughout article.
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