Australia’s states and territories are the first responders to incidents that occur within their jurisdictions. States and territories are responsible for crisis management at the jurisdictional level, including preparedness, response, relief and recovery.
The Australian Government does not seek to replicate the capabilities of states and territories. However, the Australian Government possesses strategic and operational capabilities that can ensure decisive action is taken during significant crises. The Australian Government seeks to harness national resources and ensure they are applied in appropriate, proportionate and equitable ways to secure the safety of all Australians.
The Australian Government:
- provides financial assistance to eligible Australian residents who are adversely affected by a crisis.
- undertakes and improves coordination of threat and security risk assessments and provides national security capabilities for significant crises
- supports a state or territory where, in the judgement of the Australian Government and following consultation with relevant jurisdictions where practicable, the nature of a crisis has or is expected to exceed the sovereign capacities of that state or territory
- jointly manages a crisis with states and/or territories if a crisis has the potential to affect, or has affected, multiple jurisdictions, the broader community or an Australian Government area of responsibility (such as the international dimension of a crisis)
- protects Australians and Australian interests overseas
- manages a crisis that is not the responsibility of states and territories
- works with states, territories, industry and the public to build national resilience against future hazards, particularly those with national consequences
- provides financial assistance to eligible Australian residents who are adversely affected by a crisis.
What is a crisis under the Framework?
For the purpose of this Framework, a crisis is an event that requires an immediate Australian Government response outside business-as-usual arrangements to manage potential or realised acute consequences and mitigate further harm. A crisis may:
- be natural, human-induced or technology-caused2
- cause wide-ranging harmful impacts across multiple sectors or jurisdictions within Australia, or significant impacts on any sector or jurisdiction, either immediately or over time
- adversely impact Australian lives, property and the environment, or our national security, interests or assets
- significantly impact Australian Government interests or assets, such as critical infrastructure or Australian Government services
- affect Australians or Australian interests overseas
- affect public trust in government institutions.
Crises by nature are difficult to predict and are associated with high levels of uncertainty. As each crisis will present unique challenges of varying severity and complexity, there is no standardised response. The Framework articulates the Australian Government’s scalable approach to managing these challenges.
Triggers for Australian Government crisis coordination
Triggers to activate Australian Government crisis coordination arrangements set out in this Framework may include:
- an event meeting the definition of a crisis above
- formal ministerial consideration of the crisis event(s)
- community expectations of national leadership during the crisis
- requests for assistance from affected states, territories or countries
- multiple crises occurring simultaneously or compounding and escalating in complexity which require national coordination, resource prioritisation and de-confliction.
This Framework and the Handbook set out a 4-tier model of crisis coordination to support the application of crisis management arrangements. The Handbook provides guidance on assessing crisis events in the context of the tiers model.
Footnotes
- This includes health and biosecurity events.Return to footnote 2↩