A BALANCING ACT HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, DISASTER RELIEF AND THE ADF

By Dr Peter Layton,

Senior Correspondent, WA DEFENCE REVIEW &

Director, National Security Institute, University of Canberra The Australian Defence Force has a long and proud history of delivering Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief on behalf of the nation. Australia’s regional and global contributions have saved many lives and alleviated much human suffering. The Indo-Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world. Climate change, rising populations, growing urbanisation and refugee flows will increase the severity and frequency of natural disasters and the continuing requirement to provide humanitarian support to at-risk populations.

The recently announced strategic objectives for the ADF are to shape, deter and respond. HADR plays an important role in shaping our region where Australia’s prompt and generous support has helped build trust and cement constructive relationships with our neighbours, friends and allies. Two examples are the earthquakes and tsunamis off Vanimo in Papua New Guinea in 1998 and Banda Aceh in Indonesia in 2004. The ADF was able to react quickly and provide extended large-scale support, which was greatly appreciated, and in the case of Indonesia Tempting as it might be, the helped reshape the relationship soon after East Timor. military are not the universal The need for HADR has solution to HADR and steadily increased. In 2020, two Category 5 cyclones impacted domestic support. In time the region. Cyclone Harold in of rising tension or conflict April caused extensive damage in the Solomon Islands, the military will be needed Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga. to do their day job. Priorities Australia gave considerable aid in response, although the may need to be applied or involvement of the ADF was capacities developed in other areas that could substitute unusually constrained due to worries over spreading COVID-19. In December 2020, for the ADF. Cyclone Yasa impacted Fiji, causing further significant damage. The ADF responded with initial relief packages delivered by C-17 aircraft followed by a deployment of 700 personnel, an amphibious ship and some helicopters for almost a month.

As well as demand for HADR into the region and beyond, there is an increasing demand and expectation that the ADF will provide aid to the civil power within Australia. In recent years the ADF has routinely provided support in time of floods, bushfires, pandemics and cyclones.

It is notable that in this era of overlapping disasters that in the week the ADF deployment to Fiji returned, some 700-800 ADF personnel, several helicopters and an uncrewed air vehicle system had been deployed to undertake flood relief in New South Wales. At the same time, some 1000 ADF personnel were also deployed around Australia supporting Operation COVID-19 Assist. Simultaneously, C-17 and C-130J aircraft were delivering COVID vaccines, syringes, medical supplies and medical storage refrigerators to PNG.

There are a range of long-standing rules and guidelines which govern domestic assistance. They emphasise the primacy of the civil power and until recently the need to make primary use of state and territory resources before committing the military. The ADF’s use in domestic disaster situations is only provided in response to requests for assistance from state governments. These requests are made through and to Emergency Management Australia, a division within the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs. The agency prioritises requests and then consults with the Department of Defence on its ability to meet them.

The recent Bushfire Royal Commission recommended that the Federal Government become more involved in combating natural disasters. The wide scale involvement of the military in the current COVID-19 crisis has intensified this discussion. The momentum is for earlier and more extensive engagement and the proactive deployment of the military without a request from the states. This remains a controversial idea. While the ADF has always been available to support and assist the civil power in Australia, in recent years the demand has dramatically increased. The ADF is proud and keen to support their fellow citizens, but there are limits.

In addition to overlapping disaster relief deployments, other operations continue. During the 2019/20 bushfires, the ADF had 2000 personnel deployed across the greater Middle East and on border patrol. These were enduring deployments and so the rough rule of three applies: 2000 getting ready to go, 2000 there and 2000 just back. Adding these 6000 personnel to the 8000 deployed in fighting bushfires meant that some 16% of the overall permanent and reserve ADF were committed. While deployments to the Middle East have been significantly reduced, further ADF global deployments cannot be ruled out.

The increasing scale of support needed for domestic disasters has led to some changes in the army’s force structure. In late 2019, the Chief of Army formally assigned responsibility for leading domestic emergency operations to the 2nd Division. This is the reserve division previously assigned to raising, training and sustaining a battle group to reinforce permanent units in time of war. The 2nd Division is now double-tasked with warfighting and domestic disaster roles. The Major General commanding observes that 2nd Division will re-posture “to support the Australian community during natural disasters and other emergencies as the ADF’s domestic force of choice. It will progressively reorganise to focus on key outputs, like liaison with emergency services and generating the capabilities needed for the high-risk weather season and domestic security incidents – each task having its own intricacies, risks and challenges… Our geographic spread and deep community links mean this is a mission to which we are uniquely suited.”

Soon after this change, there was the first ever Reserve call-out order, as originally authorised under the Defence Act 1903. In January 2020, in response to the extreme bushfire events, the Governor-General, on advice from the Minister for Defence, authorised the compulsory call-out of ADF Reserves “to provide emergency functions to support and enable firefighters and emergency services” initially to New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The call-out order meant that Reserve forces, who usually operate on a voluntary basis, were obliged to provide full-time service for the duration of the call-out order.

During the ongoing COVID-19 national crisis, the various Reserve elements of the ADF have continued to be widely used. They have clearly demonstrated their ability to deploy at short notice and professionally perform a broad range of roles. But even the Reserves have limits and care needs to be taken not to use the military in enforcement roles where authority belongs to the civil authorities.

A plant operator of the Australian Army Reserve’s 11th Engineer Regiment, operates a bulldozer to clear the Narrow Pass Fire Trail, in the Mann River Nature Reserve, for emergency 4WD access to Wytaliba. Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-20 was the ADF’s support to the national bushfire emergency. Copyright: Department of Defence. Photographer: CPL Colin Dadd.

The primary responsibility of the ADF is warfighting and given deteriorating strategic circumstances, maintaining preparedness, training standards and response times for this high-end role must take priority. This means that some force elements may be unavailable for HADR and domestic assistance roles.

Tempting as it might be, the military are not the universal solution to HADR and domestic support. In time of rising tension or conflict the military will be needed to do their day job. Priorities may need to be applied or capacities developed in other areas that could substitute for the ADF.

Three good examples are the Australian Medical Assistance Team, the Disaster Assistance Response Team and Disaster Relief Australia. These and other similar civil agencies have provided essential support to HADR missions and are a welcome supplement to efforts from the ADF. Disaster Relief Australia maintains a roster of ADF veterans who are available to rapidly deploy throughout Australia and the Pacific. They can operate independently or as part of an integrated taskforce and provide a broad range of capabilities.

Serious thought needs to be given to sponsoring and developing these and other civil capacity for planning, logistics and disaster prevention. More than 60 ADF staff are currently embedded into various Australian Government agencies, including the Department of Health and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to undertake COVID associated planning, operational, management and logistics functions. Additional ADF personnel staff are also assisting state and territory governments with contingency response planning. The use of military officers in such roles inhibits military preparedness. PREPARE, PLAN & RESPOND

One way of mitigating this problem is to improve the capacity of federal, state and territory governments to prepare, plan and conduct operations before and during disasters. The Natural Disaster Royal Commission in its 2020 Report has already noted that the Australian Government should expand its national preparedness and response functions, particularly as they relate to interjurisdictional cooperation, coordination and resource sharing.

The ADF has a vital role in providing an international and domestic HADR response on behalf of the nation. This role needs to be balanced with its warfighting responsibilities and how our strategic circumstances are changing. Current trends suggest that work needs to be done on improving the civilian capacity for HADR.