Vol 15, Issue 5. 2019

Australian Emergency
Services Magazine
Vol 15 2019
EarlyBushfireSeason
DEVASTATION

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Paramedics Australasia International Conference
PAIC19
BROADENING HORIZONS
28–30 NOVEMBER 2019
Wrest Point • Hobart • Tasmania
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CONTENTS
3
Editor’s Note
9
Latest Events
5
6
7
9
13
15
17
19
21
26
29
33
37
40
• Top 50 Public Sector Women
• AFAC 19 Conference Review
Emergency Law with Professor Michael Eburn
Early Bushfire Season Devastation
Backburning & Fuel Reduction
Let’s Talk Mental Health - Dr Erin Smith
Animal Welfare Chatbot Launched
Celebrating SES Week
Code 9 Foundation
Making our hospitals safer
Predicting floods a global effort
Tough Laws & Terrorism
Homeless Veterans in Australia
In the Spotlight - Port Hedland VMR
21
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37

EDITOR’S NOTE
FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome to the latest edition of the Australian
Emergency Services Magazine. What a devastating
month we have had with the early start to bushfire
season in Australia. These fires ripped through
drought stricken areas, bringing destruction
to a landscape already dry and people already
struggling.
Our hearts go out to the families and friends of
Robert Lindsey and Gwenda Hyde who lost their
lives in the latest round of bushfires that swept
through Coongbar in New South Wales. Homes can
be rebuilt, but the loss of life is an absolute tragedy.
If you want to help those affected by the bushfires,
the Red Cross has been on the ground providing
much needed assistance to those who volunteered
to help and those affected. GIVIT is a charity that
provides funds, items and services to those in
need. They are currently partnered with the QLD
government to help manage donations. Check
them out at www.givit.org.au
As the summer season gets into full swing, make
sure you have an emergency plan in place for your
family. Being prepared can make all the difference
when these events occur.
Stay safe
Emma Parker
Editor
www.ausemergencyservices.com.au
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RECENT EVENTS
ESTA’s Executive Director
Operations Support, Dr Amee
Morgans was recognised for
her commitment and inspiring
leadership in the public sector by
being named one of Victoria’s Top
50 Public Sector Women.
Amee received the honour at a
ceremony held by the Institute of
Public Administration Australia.
Throughout her career, Amee has
mentored and helped with the
professional development of many
public sector employees, whether
in her current role or through
the professional development
of several Doctoral and Masters
students in a voluntary capacity
through an adjunct position at
Monash University.
Her career has focused on
equitable health and emergency
service access through optimal
government resource use. This
has been realised through roles
contributing to public health,
primary health, emergency services,
aged care and community settings.
Amee began her public sector
career in 2001, working as a
front-line triple zero call-taker and
dispatcher, prompting doctoral
studies into user experience
and optimal resource allocation
in emergency services. She also
worked at Ambulance Victoria,
focusing on service quality,
innovative research, and workforce
capability development.
ESTA’S DR AMEE MORGANS
NAMED ONE OF VICTORIA’S
TOP 50 PUBLIC SECTOR
WOMEN
After Ambulance Victoria, Amee
focused on innovation and
research within the not-for-profit
aged care and community health
services, serving the community’s
most vulnerable, before returning
to the state’s emergency services
sector.
She has authored and coauthored
more than 70 research
publications that have focused on
a wide array of topics, including
the state of Victoria’s prehospital
emergency health care, emergency
management, emergency service
demand and universal practices
and provisions within the aged care
sector.
Amee’s efforts at ESTA have
focused on driving improvements
to deliver emergency services
that meet community and sector
expectations. This includes securing
key grant funding to support
artificial intelligence in call-taking to
provide a safety net for emergency
communications processes, and
leverage off the next generation 5G
offerings.
Her ability to translate vision into
strategy and operational change
has been critical to supporting a
wave of transformation across the
sector. Congratulations Amee on
this well deserved recognition.

RECENT EVENTS
Over 4,000 attendees made the
AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ
Conference and Exhibition the
largest in the event’s history.
Australasia’s premier event for the
fire and emergency management
sector returned to Melbourne for
the first time in six years, where ‘a
shift to the new norm: riding the
wave of change’ was the central
theme.
Delegates had the opportunity
to explore the concept of change
with presentations covering a wide
variety of topics including climate
change; culture and diversity; land
management; prescribed burning;
flood mitigation; infrastructure and
quantifying risk.
The Bushfire and Natural Hazards
CRC opened the conference with
the annual Research Forum, which
investigated the latest scientific
research for the sector. The forum
connected researchers with
practitioners to embed knowledge
into practice.
AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ
offered the largest trade exhibition
in the history of the event. At
12,000sqm, attendees were able to
witness the latest technology and
operations equipment up close with a
live demonstrations area, expo stage
presentations and 196 exhibitors,
including 46 international exhibitors
from 16 countries.
After a day filled with fruitful
AFAC2019 CONFERENCE REVIEW
A SHIFT TO THE NEW NORM: RIDING
THE WAVE OF CHANGE
discussions and a busy exhibition,
delegates convened for the annual
AFAC powered by INTERSCHUTZ
gala dinner, where they traded their
conference attire for lounge suits
and colourful gowns in tune with the
evening’s theme of ‘endless summer’.
The conference was co-located with
the Institution of Fire Engineers
Conference and the Australian
Disaster Resilience Conference, which
ran concurrently during the event.
The conference also offered
opportunities for professional
development, with a key highlight
being the cultural burning field trip
held on 30 September.
Preparations are already underway
for AFAC20 powered by INTERSHUTZ,
which will take place at the Adelaide
Convention Centre and will run from
25 – 28 August 2020.

AUSTRALIAN EMERGENCY LAW with Professor Michael Eburn
A DISCUSSION ON
THE LAW THAT
APPLIES TO OR
AFFECTS AUSTRALIA’S
EMERGENCY
SERVICES AND
EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
COLLIDING WITH
AN AMBULANCE
IS JUST ANOTHER
CAR ACCIDENT
September 15, 2019
PHD
Barrister
Leading expert in Law
relating to Emergency
Management &
Emergency Services
Follow Michael Eburn
Facebook- facebook.com/EburnM/
Twitter - @EburnM
For his latest articles on Emergency
Law go to:
www.emergencylaw.wordpress.com
A correspondent has sent me a link to
a video on Facebook and said ‘This is
an interesting one… Where do you think
the young tradie stands in a situation
like this?’
The gist of the matter is that the man
the subject of the story was involved
in a collision when he turned right
in front of responding Queensland
ambulance and was involved in a
collision. The ambulance had its
warning lights on but there may be
some dispute about whether the
siren was on.
The young man was driving a vehicle
that did not have comprehensive
insurance and is concerned that the
insurer for the ambulance ‘is not
helping’ him. A passenger in the
vehicle has received advice that the
CTP (compulsory third party) insurer
has accepted liability with respect to
his personal injuries.
This is in fact standard for any car
accident. If you drive a motor vehicle
without comprehensive insurance,
you are accepting the risk that
your car may be damaged, and you
have to wear that cost. You cannot
guarantee that every accident will
be due to someone else’s fault,
that you will be able to identify that
person, that they will be able to pay
the damages and that they will do so
when you first ask.
Legal Aid Queensland set out what to
do if you are in a motor accident and
want to claim the costs of damage
from another driver – see ‘If you want
to make a claim against the other
driver’. That’s the process whether
the other car is a private car or an
ambulance.
The role of the ambulance insurer
is to protect their own interest and
that of their insured. They do not
represent the other party so the
‘other party’ cannot expect them to
help. What the insurance company
has to do is decide if their driver is
legally at fault. That is complicated in
a situation like this by the obligation
on other road users to give way to
emergency ambulances (Transport
Operations (Road Use Management–
Road Rules) Regulation 2009 (Qld)
rr 78 and 79) and the obligation
on the driver of the ambulance
to drive with reasonable care.
Courts can apportion liability so
there can be much argument, and

hence negotiation, on how much
responsibility lies with each driver.
If that cannot be negotiated, then a
court can decide.
So where does ‘the young tradie
stand in a situation like this…’?
Just where he would stand in any
accident. His vehicle was not
comprehensively insured so he
has to carry the cost unless he can
demonstrate that the other driver
was negligent. Demonstrating
negligence does not mean convincing
channel 9 (who are no doubt only
interested because there was
video and it was an ambulance) but
convincing the other side’s insurer,
or a court, that the other driver was
at fault.
But they won’t be convinced just
because the ‘young tradie’ says so,
they will have to speak to their driver
and also consider what defences are
available to them at law. We also
have no idea what steps have been
taken to get quotes and otherwise
make a claim. There’s nothing unique
about the video and the story, it
just another car accident. I cannot
imagine channel 9 running a story –
person has car accident and it takes
time to settle claim for property
damage – but that’s all this story is
saying.
As for the CTP insurer accepting
liability, that is irrelevant. It’s another
insurer (even if owned by the same
parent company) making decisions
under other law, in this case the
Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994
(Qld). The decision by the CTP
insurer in one case has no bearing on
the decision of the comprehensive
insurer in the claim for property
damage.
This article originally appeared on the
blog Australian Emergency Law (https://
emergencylaw.wordpress.com/) and is
reproduced with the permission of the
author.
As a blog post it represents the author’s
opinion based on the law at the time it was
written. The blog, or this article, is not
legal advice and cannot be relied upon to
determine any person’s legal position. How
the law applies to any specific situation or
event depends on all the circumstances.
If you need to determine legal rights and
obligations with respect to any event
that has happened, or some action that
is proposed, you must consult a lawyer
for advice based on the particular
circumstances. Trade unions, professional
indemnity insurers and community legal
centres can all be a source for initial legal
advice.

“Fire weather has
never been as severe,
this early in Spring,”
Inspector Andrew Sturgess

EARLY BUSHFIRES
BRING DEVASTATION
TO QLD AND NSW
A drought ravaged landscape, a dry winter and an unseasonably
rapid rise in temperature was the perfect recipe for a devastating
and early start to bushfire season in Australia.
During the first two weeks of
September there were over 130 fires
burning throughout northern NSW
and Queensland. Destroying homes and
scorching the landscape, these fires took
many residents by surprise with many
unprepared for the speed and ferocity that
a bushfire can tear through an area. The
lives of many residents in the communities
of northern NSW and many parts of
Queensland have since been irrevocably
changed.
In early September authorities called
total fire bans across Qld with warm,
dry and windy conditions expected to
impact South East Queensland. The
temperatures soared and by September
the 4th, fire crews were battling a blaze in
the Scenic Rim on the Gold Coast using
water bombing and crew on the ground.
The situation disintegrated rapidly with 15
significant fires burning across Queensland
over the next 24 hours. Within 72 hours
there were 70 fires burning in Queensland.
17 homes were destroyed, over 60
damaged and the historical Binna Burra
Lodge burned to the ground.
In New South Wales, similar weather and
environmental conditions had resulted in
what was described as an inferno, raging
through the border towns of Stanthorpe
and Applethorpe. The tinder dry towns of
Tenterfield and Drake also saw fire crews
battling exhaustion as large blazes burned
out of control. 65,000 hectares of land were
burned before they were contained.
From September the 4th through to
September the 15th, Northern NSW and
Queensland fire crews and emergency
management personnel witnessed the
worst start to bushfire season ever
recorded. With over 130 bushfires burning
throughout both states, exhausted fire

fighters and distressed residents, the
outlook for the rest of the season was
certainly grim and it still is.
Andrew Sturgess, manager of QFES
predictive services unit, said the fire
conditions were unprecedented in
Queensland. “Fire weather has never
been as severe, this early in Spring,”
said Inspector Sturgess.
The unprecedented early start to the
season had emergency management
discussing the effect of climate
change on our emergency services.
Emergency Services Minister Craig
Crawford has predicted climate
change could result in a difficult end
to 2019 and has appointed a team
to make sure volunteers called on in
times of disasters can cope with what
lies ahead. He said Queensland Fire
and Emergency Services workers are
acutely aware of the dangers climate
change is throwing at them.
Mr Crawford spoke to ABC radio
about this issue, concerned that fire
season and a heightened cyclone
season would cross over during the
upcoming Summer months. The
worry about volunteer fatigue with a
difficult next few months ahead was
at the forefront of his mind.
“What happens if we have a fire
season like we had for the last week
for the next three to four months?”
he said. “How do we manage that?
How do we keep their employers
happy, their families happy, and still
be able to tap into them?”
Over 100 interstate firefighters from
Victoria, South Australia, Western
Australia and New Zealand were
deployed to help fight the fires in
Queensland, giving the Queensland
crews a much-needed respite.

Incident management and specialist
personnel were also sent to support
their interstate colleagues and
communities.
The worry about fatigue amongst the
fire crews and volunteers isn’t the
only concern with such a long season
ahead. The communities that have
been impacted by the recent fires
have already been struggling with
the drought. This coupled with the
devastation of the fires has brought
some families and businesses to the
edge of their ability to cope.
This is the type of event that can have
catastrophic psychological effects,
warned psychologist Susie Burke.
“When the flames go away is when
the real work begins. That will be an
enduring challenge,” she said. “We
can’t sustain this level of distress
and destruction. It’s psychologically
damaging, it’s financially damaging.”
As we go to print another round
of bushfires has torn through New
South Wales and Queensland.
Sadly, two people have lost their
lives during this most recent
fire emergency. Both were wellrespected
members of the wider
Ewingar community.
RFS Commissioner Shane
Fitzsimmons said the deaths were a
“tragic, horrible” outcome.
“[It’s] a truly sobering reminder of
the ferocity of these dangerous and
destructive fires that we have seen
burning across northern NSW for
months now,” he said.
So far 45 homes have been
confirmed destroyed, 5 community
facilities and 87 outbuildings in NSW
alone. These statistics from the NSW
Rural Fire Service were only initial
assessments, with a lot more area
to cover and assess over the coming
days.
As we continue through the next few
months the lessons from this early
fire season are to be vigilant and be
prepared. It is so important to be fire
ready and to have an emergency plan
in place for your family and property.
Know when to leave, where you will
go and the safest way to get there.
Should you be experiencing
emotional stress or personal
financial hardship from these events,
and personal hardship financial
assistance has not been activated for
your community, you are encouraged
to contact your local emergency relief
provider or counselling service.
Australian Emergency Services Magazine
Traumatic Stress Clinic
Sydney Australia
()
02 8627 3314
@

BACK BURNING AND FUEL REDUCTION
The recent surge of bushfire disasters has introduced fire-fighting tactics to everyday language.
Two important approaches that use fire
to fight fire are “back burning” and “fuelreduction
burning”. Unfortunately these
two fundamentally different approaches
are often confused.
Fuel reduction
Fuel reduction (also known variously
as prescribed, planned, controlled
or hazard-reduction burning) is the
targeted burning of bushland to control
fire behaviour.
The idea is to reduce the intensity of
subsequent fires at the same place by
removing fine surface fuels such as leaf
litter. Reducing these hazards increases
the window of opportunity for fire
fighters to control bushfires.
The technique can only be applied to
open flammable vegetation. In dense
eucalypt forests (such as wet sclerophyll
forests) fuel-reduction burning is
impractical because of the risk of
uncontrollable fires sustained by heavy
fuel loads that only become flammable
in dry conditions. This limits the utility
of this approach in heavily forested, wet
regions.
Even in more open, dry sclerophyll
forests, extreme fire weather makes
reduction techniques much less
effective than in milder conditions. For
example, with extreme heat and winds,
eucalypt crowns can catch on fire
regardless of the amount of leaf litter
and surface fuel.
Fuel reduction has to be applied
frequently. Fuel loads build up
quickly, often returning to a carrying
capacity (when litter fall is balanced by
decomposition) between 10 and 20
years.
This underpins fuel-reduction targets.
In Victoria, for instance, the 5% fuelreduction
target means a given area
of bush will be burnt every 20 years.
But ecologists are concerned that such
high frequencies can have damaging
effects on plant and animal species
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that require longer fire-free intervals to
complete their life cycles.
There is also much debate about the
effectiveness of fuel-reduction burning,
given that a huge area of landscape
needs to be treated in order to increase
the chance of significantly influencing
wildfire behaviour.
There is growing evidence that the best
benefits of fuel-reduction burning are
close to the bushland suburbs (also
known as the wildland-urban interface).
It must be acknowledged that such
targeted burning is expensive to
carry out safely given the need
for engagement with numerous
stakeholders (private land owners,
councils, various branches of
government). It is also dangerous
work, which carries a risk of destroying
houses and infrastructure if the fires
escape control.
Finally, a serious side effect is smoke
pollution, which can briefly fumigate
nearby communities. Because of these
constraints, attention is increasingly
being focused on managing fuel
without burning. This can involve using
herbivores and thinning vegetation,
including burning the debris in specially
designed portable furnaces that have
low smoke emissions.
Back burning
The difference between fuel-reduction
burning and back burning is effectively
the same as the difference between
elective and emergency surgery.
Back burning is a last-resort measure to
stop wildfire from burning out specific
areas. It works by setting fires from
containment lines, such as established
fire breaks or hastily contrasted ones
made with a bulldozer or cut by hand.
Back burns are often set at night or
during weather conditions when the
fire danger is low. A spectacular use
of back burning, which stemmed
the threat of two large uncontrolled
bushfires, occurred at the height of
the Blue Mountains bushfire disaster
in Spring 2013. But back burning is
dangerous and carries substantial risks
of exacerbating a bushfire event.
The ecological impacts of back burning
are rarely discussed but may be quite
substantial. Wildlife, which can normally
flee a fire front, can become trapped
between the bushfire and the back
burn. Exacerbating impacts on wildlife
is the technique known as “blacking
out”, involving setting fire to unburnt
areas that escaped combustion by the
back burn. Such unburnt patches can
be critical refuges for wildlife and a sort
of seed for recovery of adjacent burnt
areas.
Another harmful effect of back burning
is the unintentional destruction of
fire-sensitive biological communities.
These include fire-sensitive plants,
habitat for endangered wildlife and
areas recovering from a previous highseverity
fire.
Regrettably, in some situations
ecologically vulnerable areas have
been sacrificed to protect lives and
property. This can be avoided by having
ecologists help design the footprint
of a back burn, but extreme bushfire
situations may not allow sufficient time
for fine-tuning.
One unappreciated aspect of back
burning is that it makes it impossible to
study how a bushfire would naturally
spread across the landscape, given
the coupling of human-set fires with
the wildfire. For this reason, the fires
set by lightning and left to burn in the
south-west Tasmania wilderness are of
considerable interest.
Flammable landscape
We can’t totally suppress fire in a
flammable landscape — nor should we.
Long unburnt areas can accumulate
very heavy fuel loads, resulting in
ecologically destructive fires.
But it is also important to acknowledge
that wildfires achieve fuel reduction
too. This occurs particularly on the
flanks or sides of a fire, which burn
at a lower intensity than the front of
the fire, and during cooler periods
between fire “runs” that are driven by
extreme fire conditions. For this reason
bushfires are sometimes left to burn
if they present no threat to any valued
economic or ecological assets.
We are yet to achieve ecologically
sustainable fire management of
flammable landscapes. Managing
bushfires will become more
complicated given the increased
extreme fire weather driven by climate
change and the need to reduce smoke
pollution to minimise greenhouse gas
emissions and protect human health.
Fuel-reduction burning will remain
a key tool that must be cleverly
incorporated in landscape fire planning.
This will need to involve targeted fuel
treatments around areas vulnerable to
bushfires, as well as the development
of buffer zones that can be used to
contain wildfires using techniques like
back burning and direct attack using
water and fire retardants.
David Bowman
Professor, Environmental Change
Biology, University of Tasmania
Article first published on The
Conversation
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Lets Talk Mental
Health
with Dr Erin Smith
THE PEOPLE BEHIND 000: PROTECTING THE MENTAL
HEALTH OF OUR FIRST RESPONDERS
On the 27th March 2018, the
Australian Senate referred
an inquiry into the role of
Commonwealth, state and territory
Governments in addressing the high
rates of mental health conditions
experienced by the “people behind
000” – Australia’s hundreds of
thousands of emergency service
workers and volunteers.
This inquiry came about as a result
of an individual first responder, Ms
Simone Haigh, reaching out and
relating her experiences after the
death of a close friend and witnessing
the psychological distress of many
other colleagues and friends within
the paramedic profession.
The inquiry stimulated conversation
nationwide regarding the mental
health of paramedics, police, and fire
professionals as well as volunteer and
communications staff working in the
emergency services sector.
What other job requires you to be in
a constant state of hyper vigilance
and alertness yet at the same time be
a counsellor, a social worker, a lawyer,
or a prison warden. What other
profession authorizes you to take a
person’s liberty, or potentially use
deadly force, but then mandates
that you attempt to save the
person’s life that has just tried
to kill you? What job causes
you to wonder whether you will
come home to your loved ones
after you bid them farewell each
and every day as you head off to
work? (1)
The mental health challenges
faced by our emergency services
personnel are well documented.
They primarily relate to affective,
anxiety and stress-related
disorders including posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). The causes
of these conditions are less well
documented, but can be explained
by a range of factors including the
nature of the emergency services
role and environment, exposure
to cumulative stress, and the way
personnel access (or don’t access)
available support.
Anecdotally we know that emergency
services personnel have traditionally
been wary of speaking to formal
support services provided through
their employers for fear of potential
repercussions – being seen as unable
to undertake their role or losing their
job.

We are starting to see a positive shift
in this regard, with many emergency
services around Australia making
comprehensive efforts to change the
existing culture around mental health
and normalising the way we discuss
mental health conditions.
But despite these encouraging
improvements, stigma is still a
pervasive issue when it comes
to talking about what’s going on
above the neck, as highlighted by
the findings of Beyond Blue’s major
research project ‘Answering the call’.
The research – a national survey
exploring mental health conditions in
emergency service personnel – found
that first responders self-stigmatise,
with 33% feeling shame about their
condition and 32% expressing shame
about the burden their mental
health placed on those around
them. But perhaps one of the more
alarmingly results was how 61% of
first responders avoid telling others
that they suffer from a mental health
condition. (2)
But it seems this stigma is largely
directly inward. When asked whether
they would support colleagues
suffering from a mental health
condition, a significant majority
responded positively. Only 1% of first
responders thought that individuals
were to blame for their own mental
health conditions, and only 2%
believed that mental health problems
are a burden on others. (2)
While one in eight Australians
experience high or very high
psychological distress, this research
found that the rate for emergency
service personnel is one in three
– much higher. The research
also reported that one in four
ex-first responders experienced
post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). So the problem is lingering
(and potentially even starting) in
retirement.
Emergency service personnel are
more than twice as likely to report
having suicidal thoughts and are
three times more likely to have
a suicide plan. Rates of suicide
attempts were comparable with
the general population. However, a
National Coronial Information System
(NCIS) report published in June 2015
indicated that the suicide rate among
paramedics in Victoria was four times
higher than the Victorian average
and three times higher than other
emergency services personnel such
as police and fire services. (3)
So what helps?
Personnel who reported having
better social support and higher
levels of resilience had lower levels
of suicidal thoughts and behaviours,
even if they had experienced
traumatic events that deeply affected
them. This reinforces the need for
emergency services to prioritise staff
mental health and wellbeing and for
personnel to actively engage in selfcare
activities that build resilience.
The findings of ‘Answering the
call’ confirm long-held views that
emergency services personnel
have a higher risk of developing
mental health conditions linked to
Dr Erin Smith
PhD, MPH, MClinEpi
Senior Lecturer
Edith Cowan University
Research Consultant
The Code 9 Foundation
cumulative exposure to traumatic
events as well as poor workplace
culture. We now need to continue
to move forward and use what
we have learned as a benchmark
and measure change over time as
emergency service agencies work
towards improving mental health
outcomes. Beyond Blue Chief
Executive Georgie Harman called on
governments, unions, emergency
services personnel and their families
to convert the evidence into further
action and lasting change. We need
to protect the mental health of
the people behind 000 – our vital
emergency services workforce.
References
(1) Mr Grant Edwards (2018). Submission
to the Senate Education and Employment
Reference Committee Inquiry into the
Mental Health Conditions Experienced by
First Responders, 55, p. 2.
(2) Beyond Blue Ltd. (2018). Answering
the call national survey, National Mental
Health and Wellbeing Study of Police and
Emergency Services – Final report.
(3) National Coronial Information System
(NCIS) (2015-16). Annual Report.

New Animal Welfare
Chatbot Enables Quick
Reporting of Pets Left ‘Home
Alone’ in an Emergency
Situate Me, the emergency management crowd sourcing specialist,
behind compassionate Virtual Disaster Assistant, Ema, has launched
a new animal welfare add-on that allows pet owners to register their
animals left home alone in an emergency.
Situate Me Launches ‘Ema for Animals’: Ella Harnish, Helen Wang, Andreas Benz, Rob Gourdie with Mac, the Huntaway

Pet owners who are not at home, or
who are prevented from returning
home, to look after their animals
when disaster strikes, are able to
register their unattended pet with
Ema. Ema takes the pet owner
through a series of conversational
questions to establish the type of
animal, the gender, any medical
issues, special needs or dangerous or
anti-social characteristics.
From a cloud-based dashboard,
authorities who have installed the
platform can gauge the scale of the
operation in advance of heading
into a disaster zone. Emergency
responders can view mapped data to
assess the extent of the unattended
animal issue and plan how best to
prioritise check-ups, rescue and relocation.
Rob Gourdie, Situate Me’s cofounder,
says the unattended
animal bot (a first for the emergency
management industry) will transform
the animal welfare effort in an
emergency situation. He adds that
the operational impact of Ema’s help
for authorities will be huge.
“For pet owners, ‘Ema for Animals’
fulfils a key emotional need. The
extra stress and anxiety that
worrying about a pet adds to an
emergency situation cannot be
underestimated. Importantly, being
able to register an unattended pet
may prevent concerned pet owners
from breaking through cordons and
putting themselves in danger in an
emotionally charged attempt to reach
their unattended animal.
Mr Gourdie also explains that,
currently, in the event of a disaster
a pet owner who can’t reach a
neighbour or a friend, will likely ring
the emergency services or their local
council direct to report that their
animal is on its own.
“It’s then up to the responder to
log the call. With Ema, however, the
platform is set up for pet owners to
self-report their animal’s situation.
The data is collected centrally, visually
presented and accessible in real-time
to the emergency crews.
This means responders’ phones
are freed up and they don’t need
to spend time answering calls.
Instead, with the information at their
fingertips they can devote that time
to the response effort.”
Situate Me launched the Unattended
Animal Registration Bot (‘Ema for
Animals’) at the 58th New Zealand
Institute of Animal Management
conference held in Wellington, in
August. The organisation is now
inviting local councils and emergency
management groups to evaluate
the unattended animal situational
awareness tool with a view to
including it into their preparedness
resources.
Situate Me was formed at a New
Zealand Defence Force sponsored
Start-up Weekend in Wellington in July
2018. With a focus on humanitarian
aid and disaster relief, the workshop
guided the Situate Me team (made
up of experienced emergency
management practitioners, specialist
user-experience designers and data
scientists), through the development
of their project. After 52 hours, the
team - several of whom experienced
the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch
- pitched their idea of a Virtual
Disaster Assistant, Ema, to the
judges and came first. In June this
year, funds of $60,000 were secured
from the Westpac NZ Government
Innovation Fund to pilot Ema.
Emergency groups, as well as pet
owners, can find out more about the
The cloudbased dashboard is geomapped
animal welfare resource – which also
includes a register for unattended
livestock – at
www.situateme.com/animalwelfare
or by emailing Rob Gourdie at
rob@situateme.com

QLD Celebrates SES WEEK
12 October - 20 October 2019
SHINING THE LIGHT ON THE
SPIRIT OF VOLUNTEERING
Each year, the spotlight shines on
the spirit of volunteering during
State Emergency Service (SES)
Week. Queenslanders are given the
opportunity to learn more about the
SES and recognise the efforts of SES
Members in their local community
during this momentous week. It is
a week of community education,
engagement and celebration.
SES Week 2019 will run from
Saturday 12 October 2019 to Sunday
20 October 2019.
It is an excellent opportunity to raise
public awareness of the dedication
and commitment of SES members
and the invaluable services they
perform within their communities.
The celebrations include award
ceremonies held state-wide
throughout SES Week, culminating
in the Queensland State Awards
Ceremony in Brisbane on Saturday
19 October 2019.
The award ceremonies provide a
rare opportunity to say thank you to
particular SES members that have
clocked up several years of service, or
to those that have undertaken their
role in an exceptional way.
SES Groups will hold events
throughout SES Week to celebrate all
that is great about SES volunteers.
The Queensland State Emergency
Service (SES) is a “not-for-profit,
community, volunteer, emergency
service organisation that is enabled
by both State and local governments.
It shares its highly recognised
name with States and Territory
State Emergency Service (SES)
organisations throughout Australia.
With approximately 6,000 active,
unpaid members the SES performs a
diverse range of functions to respond
to local, State and National disasters
and emergencies.
The SES is designed to empower
people to help themselves and
others in their communities in times
of emergency and disaster. The
basic concept is one of self-help and
mutual assistance.
As a community organisation the SES
must balance their services between:
• actual emergency response to
those most in need
• requests that may inadvertently
remove services that should
otherwise be provided by local
businesses.
Help others by helping yourself.
A resilient community frees SES
resources to go where they are
most needed, assisting our most
vulnerable.
For more information about SES
events that are happening in your
corner of Queensland, please phone
an Area Office near you.

‘You Are Never
Alone”
Foundation Provides much needed
support to PTSD Sufferers
Words: Jess Le Fanu

After starting as a small private
Facebook group, The Code 9
Foundation has now grown
into an Australian recognised charity
supporting almost 3,000 members
suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
Founder Mark Thomas knows first
hand the effects PTSD can have
on first responders. In 2003, Mark
was already a seven year veteran of
the Victorian Police force and had
seen his fair share of distressing
scenes. He was young at the time,
but maintained that his resilience
was adequate. However, nothing
prepared him for witnessing the
scene of a suicide. “I can [still] recall
the whole scene,” he says now,
almost 17 years later.
With first responders facing life and
death emergencies on a regular
basis, it’s no wonder that they
experience higher levels of posttraumatic
stress disorder when
compared to the general population.
In fact, around 10% of these
individuals around the globe meet
the criteria for PTSD.
Evidence also suggests that
emergency service personnel such
as firefighters, police officers and
paramedics have a higher prevalence
of mental health disorders across the
board, with paramedics showing the
highest prevalence of PTSD (14.6%)
when compared with their peers.
While the effects of Mark’s grim
incident weren’t immediately
acknowledged by him, he says now, “I

was young and didn’t reach out.” He
admits he was naive about mental
health at the time and ignored the
climbing symptoms of anxiety he
experienced over the next ten years.
Despite there being a general trend
for PTSD symptoms to occur soon
after exposure to a traumatic event,
not everyone’s experience is the
same. On some occasions, the initial
symptoms can present themselves
more that six months after exposure
in what’s known as ‘delayed-onset
PTSD’.
For Mark Thomas, the ten years
following his harrowing experience
eroded his resilience. It wasn’t until
February of 2013 that this erosion
resulted in him being hospitalised
and formally diagnosed with posttraumatic
stress disorder. Looking
back at that time, he states, “My
protective barrier was gone.” He also
acknowledges that during the almost
two weeks spent in hospital, he felt
absolutely alone and didn’t think that
anyone else could possibly feel the
same way.
Mark Thomas - founder of Code 9
However, it was this trip to the
emergency room and subsequent
hospital stay that not only helped
Mark get through this terrible time in
his life, but also inspired his creation
of The Code 9 Foundation. He says, “I
wanted to start a support group to let
others know there are other people
out there that know exactly what
you’re going through.”
Named after the radio code police
officers use for ‘police requiring
urgent assistance’, The Code 9
Foundation aims to create a place
for first responders to support
each other through their PTSD
experiences. “When you hear that
code on the radio,” Mark says,
“everyone stops what they’re doing
and comes for support.” It seems like
the perfect title for a group designed
to make sure its members felt
supported by their peers.
In the beginning, Code 9 was set up
as a peer-to-peer support group that
met in Victoria at various locations.
The idea behind these ‘Peer Support
Catch Ups’ is to provide hundreds
of emergency service personnel
a completely nonjudgmental
atmosphere.

Members can be at ease surrounded
by likeminded individuals who
have had similar experiences. The
Facebook page was only initially set
up by Mark to tell people when and
where these groups would meet.
Little did he know that this private
online group would soar to almost
3,000 first responder members and
be the most beneficial aspect of the
organisation.
“[There are] people with anxiety
that can’t get out of the house,”
Mark explains. In the online forum,
members can choose to be as
involved as much or as little as they
like in the safe private Facebook
group Code 9 has created. While
some members enjoy openly sharing
stories and experiences, others
choose to sit back and be comforted
by reading the experiences of others.
Since it is only available to first
responders, it provides a sense of
camaraderie and support only those
who have experienced this line of
work can fully understand.
Around 70% of Code 9’s online
population is made up of those
in the police department as Mark
Thomas initially started spreading
the word of his organisation through
his workmates. The site has now
grown to include both fire fighters
and ambulance workers as well as
000 dispatchers. While most new
members join through word of mouth
from others in their field, Mark says
he does have requests from those
who have stumbled across Code 9 in
the search for help. He is diligent in
checking IDs and ensuring the group
only contains first responders.
Mark is also adamant that the site be
monitored and kept positive. There
is absolutely no operational talk
allowed on the page as it can act as a
trigger for PTSD symptoms. Negative
comments are also immediately
deleted so as not to bring down
the moral of the forum. He says, “If
the conversation starts negative, it
continues negative.” Luckily, there are
page administrators to help with the
task of moderation. They also check
in with people in the group to see if
they are receiving help and can put
them in contact with the welfare unit
available to first responders through
their workplace. “We refer a lot of first
responders to clinics,” says Mark.
Assistance dogs for members of the emergency services who are suffering post
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.
In addition to the first responders
forum and catch ups available
throughout Victoria, another private
Facebook page is available to the
partners and carers of these first
responders suffering from PTSD.
With roughly 100 members on this
family page, Mark’s aim is to find
out how The Code 9 Foundation
can best help and support these
carers. After asking the members this
very question, he found that what’s
needed most is simple household
chores. Things like mowing the lawn,
basic housework, and collecting
groceries from the shops were the
top requests and Mark was blown
away by the simplicity of the needs.
“I didn’t realise something so easy
would mean so much,” he says.
Mark is currently researching how
to contract out the work that would
make such a difference to the families
of the PTSD sufferers within the Code
9 Foundation and hopes to roll out
these additions in the near future.
These benefits would be added to the
already invaluable donations Code 9
makes to training support dogs who
help PTSD sufferers deal with their
triggers and remain calm in situations
with crowds of people.
Given the culture of first response
work, many responders will attempt
to minimise mental health symptoms
and may not seek support through
the formal programs available to
them for fear of losing their job.
As Mark says, “You can’t fix PTSD.
You have it for life.” This makes the
existence of peer-to-peer support
programs like Code 9 so important,
as they offer responders a safe and
non-judgemental opportunity to talk
about their mental health.
The Code 9 Foundation assists
first responders and their families
with online and in-person peer-topeer
support, advice on recovery
techniques, navigating the WorkCover
process, and so much more. But
most importantly, it is ensuring that
first responders suffering from PTSD
and their families never feel alone.
If you would like to get involved
with The Code 9 Foundation, visit
www.code9ptsd.org.au for more
information.
Thank you to Mark Thomas and Erin Smith for
providing information for this article.

HOW ARE YOU GOING?
NOT TRAVELLING VERY WELL, FRANKLY
HAVEN’T SLEPT PROPERLY FOR TWO WKS
GOT A TIGHT FLING IN MY CHEST
I FL LIKE SOMETHING BAD’S GOING TO HAEN
I’VE GOT THESE ACHES AND PAINS - DON’T KNOW WHY
I FL SAD ALL THE TIME
MY HEART’S POUNDING
CAN’T SM TO CONCENTRATE LIKE I USED TO
I’M ANGRY AND IITABLE WITH EVERYBODY
FINE, THANKS.
EQUIPT - THE APP FOR COPS. DOWNLOAD CHECK IN
PO LICE ASS O CIAT
IO N
O F
S O U TH
I A
AUST RA L

IS BEEFING
UP SECURITY
THE ONLY
WAY TO MAKE
HOSPITALS
SAFER?
Jacqui Pich
Lecturer in Nursing
University of Technology Sydney
The strike in August by NSW hospital staff over
security concerns has highlighted just how
serious the issue of workplace violence has
become for health-care workers.
The Health Services Union, whose members
include administration, cleaning and security
staff, as well as paramedics and other health
professionals, has reportedly called for measures
including 250 more security guards across the
state to better protect workers.
But tackling the growing problems of violence
in our hospitals is about more than beefing up
security numbers. Violence in our health-care
system is also not limited to inner city hospitals,
and it doesn’t just affect staff in emergency
departments.
HOW BIG A PROBLEM IS VIOLENCE IN OUR
HOSPITALS?
The levels of violence in hospitals have been
steadily increasing across Australia.

For example, in NSW there was
a 50% increase in the number of
police-recorded assaults on hospital
premises between 1996 and 2006.
This number has continued to rise
with an average increase of 5.8%
a year between 2010 and 2015.
In Western Australia, there was a
38% increase in assaults on nurses
between 2017 and 2018.
Patients are the main source of
this violence, and this includes the
parents of children admitted to
hospital.
Violence against health-care workers
is also recognised internationally.
The World Health Organisation sees
it as a significant issue. And a US
government report says many healthcare
workers see it as an inevitable
part of their job.
Media attention is often focused on
high-risk areas like the emergency
department and mental health
settings. However, violence occurs
everywhere in the health-care system,
from the community to hospital
wards, even birthing suites.
The impact of violence on healthcare
staff includes physical and
psychological reactions. Symptoms
associated with post-traumatic stress
disorder such as sleeplessness,
nightmares and flashbacks have been
reported and can persist for up to 12
months.
Violence towards health-care staff
has also been linked to perceived
poorer patient care.
WHERE DO SECURITY GUARDS FIT IN?
Rising levels of violence against
health-care workers suggest current
security measures are not a sufficient
deterrent.
Despite union calls for more security
guards, an interim report NSW Health
commissioned looking at how to
improve hospital security did not
recommend this.
But an increase in security guards is
warranted when you consider that
some rural and regional hospitals
have minimal, or no security
presence; staff in these facilities have
to rely on the police for help if they
encounter a violent patient.
In fact, staff in regional and remote
areas experience the same levels
of violence as their metropolitan
colleagues.
A NSW Health spokesperson says
the author of its hospital security
report is visiting hospitals in rural
and regional areas to understand
their security challenges and this
information will be included in the
final report, due by the end of the
year.
While an added security presence
may be warranted in some
circumstances, more security
guards would not impact staff
working outside hospitals, including
paramedics and community nurses.
Then there’s the quality of security
guards.
Health is a unique environment
where traditional security measures
can be counter-productive. For
instance, if guards use inappropriate
communication when people are
anxious and stressed they can
increase the chance of a situation
escalating.
What’s needed are specially trained
health security guards, working
with doctors and nurses, as part of
a multidisciplinary rapid response
team. This doctor-led team would be
called in to manage violent behaviour,
for instance to “take down” a violent
patient.
The Health Services Union has
reportedly called on the NSW
government to commit A$50 million
for a proactive security team at
hospitals, including staff trained in
mental health, drug and alcohol
abuse.
This makes sense as patients under
PERSONAL
PROTECTION TRAINING

the influence of alcohol and/or drugs,
including ice, and those with mental
health issues, are the ones most likely
to be violent.
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT EMERGENCY
DEPARTMENTS
A spokesperson for NSW Health
says A$19 million has been invested
to improve security in emergency
departments at public hospitals, and
more than A$5 million to upgrade
duress alarms for staff in emergency
departments.
However violence in health care
extends beyond the emergency
department to all clinical specialities
and beyond the walls of a hospital.
In a recent study of NSW nurses and
midwives, staff discussed the physical
design and layout of wards, and areas
that should be secure but aren’t, as
reasons they felt unsafe at work.
In particular, they described feeling
unsafe returning to the car park
in the dark, often with no security
personnel present and in poorly lit
conditions. Lack of duress alarms,
poor placement of duress alarms or
non-functioning duress alarms were
also an issue.
TIME FOR GOVERNMENTS TO ACT
The NSW interim report into
hospital security acknowledges
some shortcomings in the current
management of violence in health
care and as such is a positive step in
reducing the risk to staff.
However, the persistent nature and
increasing levels of the violence mean
that the state government needs to
prioritise the safety of all health-care
staff.
First published on The Conversation
Life Fitness Finance
Pty Ltd

FORECASTING FLOODS
SHOULD BE A GLOBAL
COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
Andrea Ficchì
Postdoctoral Researcher in Hydrology, University of Reading
The number of people exposed to
the risk of floods is rising. More
and expanding human settlements
are being built in flood-prone areas,
especially in Africa, Asia and South
America. This is undoubtedly linked
to the dramatic increase in death tolls
and economic damages from floods
experienced in Africa over the past
decades.
The largest flood events in Africa
often cross countries’ borders.
They overwhelm national and
local authorities’ capacities. This
makes early warning and response
challenging, as was seen during
tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth in
early 2019.
Cyclone Idai struck central
Mozambique in March 2019. It also
caused floods in Zimbabwe and
Malawi. Around 1000 people died
and hundreds of thousands were left
homeless across the three countries.
Six weeks later, Cyclone Kenneth
devastated northern Mozambique.
It brought extreme winds and
flooding to the country, which was
still reeling from Cyclone Idai. Dozens
more people were killed. There was
widespread destruction.
These cyclones, and the devastation
they wrought, show how important it
is to integrate local information and
resources with global scale forecasts
and support.
My colleagues and I from the
University of Reading saw this
first-hand during cyclones Idai
and Kenneth. Together with the
European Centre for Medium-
Range Weather Forecasts and the
University of Bristol, we provided
real-time emergency flood hazard
and exposure bulletins to the
UK’s Department for International
Development (DFID).
This ministerial department leads
the UK’s work to end extreme
poverty and tackle global challenges
to support people in developing
countries across Africa, Asia and
the Middle East. A number of other
partners were involved, both from
the affected countries and the rest of
the world.

We harnessed our resources and
access to global data, feeding this
to local partners. Our regular flood
bulletins contained interpretation of
flood forecasts and satellite images
from the Copernicus Emergency
Management Service. Humanitarian
response partners were able to
identify where and when flooding
would occur and recede. They could
also work out when access would
improve, as well as where future
humanitarian need could emerge.
This helped them to better plan their
response and to target those most in
need.
This show
s how crucial it is to pair local
capacity with a growing international
community of disaster managers,
humanitarians and scientists. All
countries would benefit from a better
integration of these services on a
global scale.
Data, science and advice
There are already a number of
international initiatives that show how
this work can be done.
One example is the Global Flood
Partnership. This cooperation
framework between scientific
organisations and flood disaster
managers worldwide allows for the
development of effective tools for
better predicting and managing flood
risk.
Another example is the Forecastbased
Financing mechanism
developed by the Red Cross Red
Crescent Movement. This is used
to kick-start and fund humanitarian
activities before disasters such as
floods have even occurred. It is
supported by scientific evidence on
the accuracy of hydro-meteorological
forecasting systems.
One research project supporting
Forecast-based Financing is the
FATHUM project (Forecasts for
Anticipatory Humanitarian Action).
It’s led by the University of Reading
and funded by DFID and the Natural
Environment Research Council
under the Science for Humanitarian
Emergencies & Resilience (SHEAR)

programme. The project’s
international team includes partners
in different sub-Saharan countries.
We work together on decision-making
from flood forecasting systems to
support humanitarian and local
preparedness actions. This project
includes strengthening forecasting
and research capacities in higher
education institutions in Uganda,
South Africa and Mozambique,
for example through research
placements.
We saw just how valuable such
global partnerships can be in the
immediate aftermath of cyclones Idai
and Kenneth. The governments of
Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe
mobilised their available resources
for early response in the affected
areas. The international community,
meanwhile, sent humanitarian aid.
During Idai, my colleagues and
I worked with DFID in close
collaboration with the European
Centre for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts and the University of
Bristol. Our briefings included
interpreting flood forecasts from the
Copernicus Emergency Management
Service Global Flood Awareness
System (GloFAS) and the University
of Bristol’s flood hazard maps. This
allowed us to identify where and
when flooding may occur. We were
also able to pinpoint where and how
many people might be affected.
These efforts were bolstered
by partners on the ground in
Mozambique. They shared local data
on the state of river flooding and on
the dams’ situation. This contributed
to the production and validation
of some of the information in our
bulletins.
NAAFLS
NORTH AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINAL FAMILY LEGAL SERVICE

The briefings were shared with
international and local humanitarian
partners and Mozambique’s disaster
management authorities. They were
able to use these bulletins alongside
local forecasts and warnings. They
now had data to identify high-risk
areas and decide where to set up
emergency shelters, provide food and
clean water.
Our work around Idai was highly
appreciated by humanitarian
response partners on the ground. UN
humanitarian actors stated that “the
reports produced were tremendously
helpful”. So both DFID and the United
Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs asked the
team to start producing bulletins
ahead of Cyclone Kenneth. Armed
with our forecasts and information,
those on the ground put together
an assessment team and put some
emergency measures in place.
These included contingency stock,
hygiene kits for water treatment, and
tarpaulins.
The importance of transnational
cooperation
It is important to keep building
relationships between national
forecasting and disaster management
services and international
organisations and scientists. This will
help to improve flood preparedness
and early actions. And that is
especially important for large-scale
floods that cross borders.
Intergovernmental meteorological
organisations, such as the European
Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasts and the World
Meteorological Organisation, are
a good example of where such
wide transnational cooperation has
produced better services.
The weather forecasts produced and
disseminated by these international
centres have been improved
significantly, especially in recent
years. That’s happened thanks to
the integration of local observations
and satellite measurements into
global forecasting systems. These are
shared with national meteorological
agencies worldwide.
Such collaboration is urgently
needed, alongside other investments
such as resilient planning of human
settlements outside flood-prone
areas. Working together on a global
scale will likely save many more lives
during future floods.
This article was first published on The
Conversation
Rare and Beautiful, Gemstones
and Crystals, Exhibition and Sales

CAN THE LAW
ALONE ELIMINATE
TERRORISM ?
Australia has enacted 82 anti-terror laws since 2001, but are these
tough laws having any effect on terrorism?
Nicola McGarrity
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UNSW
Jessie Blackbourn
Assistant Professor in Public Law and Human Rights, Durham University

In late September, Home Affairs
Minister Peter Dutton introduced a
new bill that would give him stronger
powers to strip the Australian
citizenship of dual nationals convicted
of terror-related offences or who in
engage in related activities.
In response to the prospect of
foreign fighters returning from
conflicts overseas, the bill proposes
extending the current citizenship
revocation law to any dual national
who is convicted of a terrorism
offence carrying at least three years
imprisonment (compared to the
current six).
It would also be back-dated to
account for any terrorism convictions
or conduct from May 2003 onwards
(compared to the current cut-off date
of December 2015).
To protect the rights of dual
nationals, the bill proposes changing
the process for revoking citizenship.
Instead of it automatically ceasing
when people engage in terror-related
conduct, the minister would have the
sole power to decide if they should
be stripped of their citizenship.
This procedural change is unusual
because moves to repeal or wind
back anti-terrorism laws have been
few and far between.
Unfortunately, however, in all other
respects, the new citizenship bill
fits squarely within the pattern of
overzealous Australian anti-terror
law-making over the past 18 years.
A new law every 6.7 weeks
Since the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks in the United States,
the Australian parliament has
responded to the threat of terrorism
here and overseas by enacting
dozens of new laws or amending
existing laws.
In 2011, University of Toronto
Professor Kent Roach famously
described this response in Australia
as one of “hyper-legislation”.
Another expert, UNSW Professor
George Williams calculated that
between the September 11 terrorist
attacks and the defeat of the Howard
government in November 2007, a
new anti-terror law was enacted on
average every 6.7 weeks.
The declaration of a caliphate by
the Islamic State in mid-2014 led to
another flurry of legislative activity in
parliament.
This started with the National Security
Legislation Amendment Act (No 1)
2014 (Cth), which controversially
exempted undercover ASIO officers
from criminal prosecution, expanded
that organisation’s access to
computer networks, and restricted
the leaking of sensitive information.
In the five years since then, 19
more anti-terrorism laws have been
passed. That brings the total number
of substantive anti-terrorism laws
enacted by parliament to 82 since
the Sept. 11 attacks, with a further
six bills either currently before
parliament or about to be introduced.
This is a staggering number of laws,
and far exceeds the volume in the
United Kingdom, Canada and even
the United States in response to Sept
11.
Draconian and unworkable laws
It is not only the sheer number of
laws, but also their scope, which
makes Australia stand out among
Western democracies.
At the core of Australia’s antiterrorism
regime is a carefully
considered and, in the eyes of most
commentators, balanced definition of
terrorism.
However, as the years have gone
by, increasingly draconian, and
often unworkable, legislation has
spiralled out beyond this definition.
For instance, the mere act of travel
to certain areas, such as Mosul in
Iraq, has been criminalised, as well as
advocating terrorism.
Instead of working with companies
like Facebook and Twitter in the
aftermath of the Christchurch
terrorist attacks, the government
imposed impractical obligations on
them to scrutinise the online activities
of their customers (with further laws
threatened in the event of noncompliance).
In addition to the stripping of the
citizenship of dual nationals, another
bill would prevent anyone from
returning home from overseas
conflicts for a considerable period of
time under a Temporary Exclusion
Order, even Australians who don’t
hold another passport.
Another bill before parliament would
require people who have previously
been charged with a terrorism

offence (regardless of whether they
were ultimately acquitted) to prove
extraordinary circumstances before
being granted bail for a subsequent
offence.
This demonstrates just how far
lawmakers have strayed from the
fundamental human rights and
principles of criminal justice.
What anti-terror laws are intended to
do
In the immediate aftermath of the
September 11 attacks, Australian
lawmakers might have been excused
any overreaction on the grounds the
country didn’t have much historical
experience with terrorism or in
legislating in response to this threat.
At the time, there were no specific
anti-terrorism laws at the federal level
in Australia. This was undoubtedly a
significant oversight which needed to
be remedied.
Even today, more than 18 years
on and with over 80 laws in place,
it’s somewhat understandable
lawmakers react to terrorist attacks
by seeking to take swift action.
One of the (few) downsides of a
democratic political system is that
parliamentarians are hit with the full
force of public hysteria about actual
and perceived terrorist threats. The
most obvious way for the parliament
to address these fears is through the
enactment of laws.
As Roger Wilkins, a former
secretary of the Attorney-General’s
department, said in support of
proposals to strengthen the control
orders laws in the aftermath of
the November 2015 Paris terrorist
attacks:
In a modern, liberal democracy, that’s
about the only thing you can do.
Despite frequent claims to the
contrary, this is not just a case of
political opportunism on the part
of the governing party. The steps
taken by lawmakers are crucial in reestablishing
the community’s sense
of security.
We need to acknowledge, above all,
that the buck stops with our elected
representatives to protect the lives
of the Australian people. They bear
both the personal and professional
responsibility if a terrorist act occurs
which could have been prevented.
It is this, as much as anything else,
that explains the rapid and bipartisan
passage of so many laws through the
parliament.
Terrorism can’t be defeated through
laws alone
Having said all this, it’s unfortunate
successive Australian governments
_

on both sides seem to have learned
little over the course of the last 18
years.
Statements made in the aftermath
of every terrorist attack, and, most
recently in responding to concerns
about foreign terrorist fighters, have
identified the ultimate goal as being
to “defy” and “defeat” terrorism.
While statements such as this are
clearly rhetorical, what underpins
them is a failure to recognise the
permanence of terrorism.
Terrorism in one form or another
has always existed, and will always
continue to exist. Neither legislation
nor anything else will be able to
eliminate this threat.
The idea of managing the threat of
terrorism, in the sense that some
degree of terrorism is acceptable or
at least to be expected, might seem
politically unpalatable. However, open
acceptance of the permanence of
terrorism means lawmakers will no
longer be chasing – and the public no
longer demanding – the achievement
of an impossible goal.
It will also, in turn, facilitate a more
proportionate response to the
challenges posed by the foreign
fighters phenomenon and the threat
of terrorism more generally.
A better way forward
In a quest to eliminate terrorism, laws
have been enacted that make everincreasing
intrusions into people’s
lives and curtail human rights for
diminishing returns in terms of
security.
Some have even suggested these
laws make us less safe. In its
submission to the Parliamentary
Joint Committee on Intelligence and
Security’s inquiry into the citizenship
stripping laws, ASIO said these
measures could:
“have unintended or unforeseen
adverse security outcomes –
potentially including reducing one
manifestation of the terrorist threat
while exacerbating another.”
It will never be appropriate or
desirable for governments to sit back
and take no action in response to the
threat of terrorism. But what we need
is a sharp change in approach.
Countering violent extremism
programs have been used in Australia
and other countries as another tool
for responding to terrorism threats.
Instead of treating such programs as
a “backup” option, as they currently
are in Australia, these should be
brought to the fore.
The critical lesson of the past 18
years is that we must think creatively
about how to combat the threat of
terrorism, rather than continually
reworking existing – and often
demonstrably unsuccessful –
strategies.
Article first published on The Conversation

Veterans
Homeless
in Australia
The number of homeless defence veterans in
Australia is far bigger than previously thought,
according to a new study. Our research puts the
figure at almost 5,800 veterans experiencing
homelessness in a 12 month period.
Veterans are also more likely to be homeless than
other people in the Australian community. We
found the homelessness rate for veterans who
recently left the ADF was 5.3% – significantly
higher than the 1.9% for the general population.
Written by:
Fiona Hilferty
Senior Research Fellow, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW
Ellie Lawrence-Wood
Senior Research Fellow in Traumatic Stress Studies, University of Adelaide
Ilan Katz Ilan Katz is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Social Policy, UNSW
Miranda Van Hooff
Director of Research Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies, University of Adelaide

A lack of data
Before the release of this estimate,
an accurate number of homeless
veterans in Australia was not known,
and estimates varied widely. That is
because there is limited national data
available to count homeless veterans.
Prevalence rates are typically
calculated by dividing the number of
people with a specific characteristic
(such as not having a secure home)
by the total number of people in
the population of interest (such as
veterans).
This method is not possible in
Australia as there is no data set
that defines the veteran population.
We do not even know how many
veterans there are in Australia,
because reliable data of serving
personnel is only available from 2001.
One previous attempt at determining
prevalence of homelessness among
veterans was the Veterans at Risk
report in 2009, funded by the
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
(DVA). This relied on census data
(which does not identify veterans)
and produced an estimate of around
3,000 homeless veterans.
Another attempt was made by DVA in
2016. No information was provided
on how it estimated there to be
around 200-300 homeless veterans
throughout Australia. This knowledge
gap was a concern for government
policymakers as well as veteran
advocates who have been calling for
further research and an increased
service response for years.
Without a baseline count, they are
unable to determine whether veteran
homelessness is increasing, plan
an appropriate service and policy
response, or assess the effectiveness
of any interventions. It is therefore
vital to establish a more robust
estimate.
How we came up with our
estimate
Our estimate is obtained from survey
data representative of all veterans
who left regular Australian Defence
Force (ADF) service between 2010
and 2014.
The survey was done as part of
the DVA and Defence Departmentfunded
Transition and Wellbeing
Research Programme. This is the
most comprehensive study in
Australia that examines the impact
of military service on the mental,
physical and social health of serving
and ex-serving personnel.
The survey was completed by 4,326
men and women who left the ADF
in the five-year time period. The
results were weighted to represent
the entire population of Australian
Defence Force personnel that left
between 2010 and 2014.
We used the Australian Bureau of
Statistics’ definition of homelessness.
This classifies as homeless anyone
who is sleeping rough, couch-surfing,
or living in emergency or temporary
accommodation such as shelters.
We found around 5.3% of these
veterans reported they had been
homeless within the past 12 months.
To calculate the prevalence of
homelessness we extrapolated this
proportion to the total population of
veterans who enlisted after January 1,
2001, and were discharged sometime
between 2001 and 2018.
The veteran population total is
108,825, so taking 5.3% of this figure
gives us an estimate of 5,767 of
veterans who were homeless within a
12-month period.
This extrapolation reasonably
assumes the homelessness rate
is similar between veterans who
transitioned from Regular ADF service
between 2010 and 2014 and the total
population of veterans (2001-18).
Both groups fall within the cohort
described as contemporary veterans
by the DVA. These veterans have
seen military operations from 1999
onward and often share features of
recent service, such as the impact
of multiple deployments in smaller
contingents and the use of new
technologies.
While the 12-month homelessness
rate for veterans (5.3%) and the
general Australian population aged
over 15 (1.9%) were calculated using
different techniques, the comparison
shows veterans are overrepresented
in the Australian homeless
population.

The best estimate, so far
We believe our method provides
the best estimate to date of
homelessness among veterans in
Australia, but it is still likely to be an
underest.
Homeless veterans are an extremely
hard group to reach. It is likely that
many potential survey participants
who were homeless at the time
the survey was conducted, did not
complete the survey.
Our estimate also excludes all
those who served in the ADF prior
to January 1, 2001. Older veterans
such as those who served in Vietnam
do experience homelessness in
Australia, but the prevalence among
this group is unknown.
As part of our research, eight of the
29 homeless veterans we interviewed
were aged over 55, with the oldest
being 74. US research says there
is often a long time lag between
transition from military service and
becoming homeless.
Lest we forget
Our research puts a new number on
the problem. We still do not know
whether veteran homelessness is
increasing over time, but the broader
context of homelessness increasing
throughout Australia suggests this
may be the case.
As Remembrance Day approaches,
and Australians prepare to thank our
military men and women for their
service, we suggest that attention
should also turn to addressing this
national shame.
Our research also identifies ways
that service responses can be
improved. It will require a great deal
of will and significant funding to
address what has until now been an
underestimated problem.
Article first published on The Conversation
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
In each edition the Australian Emergency Services Magazine will feature
a profile on a person, team, partnership, squad or unit to showcase their
unique contribution to the emergency services industry. If you would like to
be featured or know someone who deserves some recognition get in touch
with our team.
PORT HEDLAND VOLUNTEER
MARINE RESCUE GROUP
Led by a strong young Commander, the Port Hedland
Volunteer Marine Rescue Group battles wild weather in
the home of the largest bulk minerals port in the world.
When Commander Zachary Slaughter first joined the
Port Hedland Volunteer Marine Rescue Group in 2014,
there were only a handful of members and the group
was on the brink of failure. “We recruited a couple of
our mates and slowly, but surely people in town started
volunteering,” he said. They have now brought new life to
the Port Hedland VMR with a crew of 36 members.
With the median age of the group sitting at 31, they are
the youngest volunteer marine rescue group in Western
Australia. In fact, over 50% of their volunteers are
between the ages of 25 and 34 with no volunteers over
the age of 54.
The young age of the volunteers is a reflection of the
transient Port Hedland mining community as is the short
tenure period, with most usually remaining in the VMR for
an average of two years.
The transient environment here, combined with the
remoteness of its location and limited recreational

activities, make volunteering attractive to the Port
Hedland residents. Mr. Slaughter says, “They wanted
to increase their marine knowledge, come out and do
rescues and be a part of a community group.”
As a part of the VMR, its members receive regular
training and the senior skippers complete Coxswain
training, a course that equips them with the necessary
skills to command, safely and efficiently, a commercial
vessel engaged in inshore operations.
Marine Rescue Port Hedland are involved with the
busy port of this region by supporting them in Marine
Emergency Management.
This, sometimes dangerous, workload can include
rescuing individuals who have fallen overboard from
commercial vessels, searching for ditched helicopters
and their pilots, rescuing recreational vessels and
clearing them from the main shipping channel,
removing capsized vessels from marine trafficked
areas, and much more.
As Port Hedland has the largest bulk export port in the
world and the largest iron ore loading port in Australia,
it’s no wonder these brave rescue volunteers are kept
busy.
The 2018/19 period saw 6,147 vessel movements
through Port Hedland as well as 513,302,391 tonnes
of commodities shifted through its waters. Though
iron ore is this region’s main export, making up 99.1%
of the tonnage exported here last year, others include
salt, lithium, copper, and manganese.
The busy port of this region not only sees a great
number of vessel movements, but also incredibly
large ocean swells as it sits in the most cyclone-prone
region of Australia. Port Hedland saw a 7.5 metre tide
in March of this year. To make matters worse, this also
coincided with Cyclone Veronica, which brought storm
surges to the Pilbara Coast.
The port of Port Hedland measured an additional
almost 1.5 metres above the high tide of 7.5m. Tides
like these significantly impact the vessel response
operations of the VMR and have sometimes seen
volunteers having to wait hours to retrieve vessels.
The Port Hedland’s Volunteer Marine Rescue group’s
main purpose is to preserve life at sea and the
professionally trained personnel are ready to assist
those within their community 24 hours a day, 365 days
a year. They manage to do this through wild weather
and on top of full- time work. “I work a full-time job
in the railway up here, and when I’m not working, I’m
down here at the rescue service,” says Commander
Zachary Slaughter.
Mr. Slaughter’s commitment to the VMR is evident
as he says, “I try to be out on the water, running this
organisation, training, recruiting new members, and
doing our community days.” It is no wonder that he
has recently been awarded with the Department of
Fire and Emergency Service Award for Outstanding
Individual Achievement in recognition of his tireless

efforts in rebuilding Port Hedland’s Volunteer Marine
Rescue service.
Thanks to a bright young commander who took it
upon himself to rebuild the struggling Port Hedland
Volunteer Marine Rescue, this mining community
on Western Australia’s Pilbara Coast can rest easy
knowing they have a team of skilled, effective and
efficient volunteers monitoring their coastline no
matter what conditions this region throws their way.
For more information visit:
www.vmrsporthedland.com.au
Words: Jess Le Fanu
Zac recieving the award for Outstanding Individual Achievement

In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000)
To contact the police, fire or ambulance in an emergency, call
Triple Zero (000) from any telephone in Australia. Calls are free.
When to call Triple Zero (000)
You should only call Triple Zero (000) in life
threatening or time critical situations when
an urgent response is required from police,
fire or ambulance.
What will happen when I call
Triple Zero (000)?
The operator will ask you which emergency
service you require—police, fire or ambulance
—and will connect you. The operator may also
ask where you are calling from.
What if I have difficulty speaking English?
If you have difficulty speaking English, you
can ask for an interpreter once you have been
transferred to the emergency service you
requested. You will not have to pay for the
interpreter.
When you call Triple Zero (000), stay calm,
stay on the line and clearly answer the
operator’s questions.
www.triplezero.gov.au

IF IT DOESN’T ADD UP,
SPEAK UP.
CALL THE
NATIONAL SECURITY HOTLINE
1800 123 400
Even if you think it’s probably nothing, the smallest piece of information
can be valuable. Calls to the National Security Hotline have already
contributed to investigations. If something doesn’t add up, speak up
by calling the National Security Hotline.

TODAY SHE HAD TO TAKE A DEAD
BABY FROM THE MOTHER’S ARMS.
ANY WONDER SHE’S QUIET
AND WITHDRAWN?
Learn the signs. Watch for the signs.
Put your hand up for help. Reach out to help others.
PO LICE ASS O CIAT
IO N
O F
S O U TH
I A
AUST RA L