Bills

Emergency Management (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (16:34): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Emergency Management Act 2004. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (16:35): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Recent local and world events, whether within the context of natural disaster or terrorism, remind us of the need to maintain effective emergency management arrangements.

This Government is committed to ensuring that South Australia's emergency management and protective security measures to prepare for, prevent (where possible), respond to, and recover from emergency situations, continue to be appropriate in the interest of community safety.

The State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) initiated a review of the Emergency Management Act 2004 to enable consideration of lessons learned from previous events in the interest of ensuring our emergency management arrangements continue to be relevant and effective.

This Bill is a result of the Review and will:

clarify the authority of the State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP)

enable the efficient operations of the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC)

ensure the emergency management arrangements are clearly defined

provide for protection from Liability

provide Objects and Principles to address clarity on role and function

clarify powers that may be exercised in relation to disconnection of water and drainage

clarify various emergency management definitions.

The Emergency Management Act 2004 (the Act) provides the legislative framework for the management of emergencies in South Australia.

The Act establishes the strategies and systems to enable effective response and recovery from a disaster event, as well as appropriate planning and preparedness to mitigate disasters. In short, the Act ensures that South Australia has the capability to properly manage any emergency, whether it is a natural event, a pandemic or a terrorist act, by making sure that the key elements of the state emergency management arrangements, including roles and responsibilities, are clearly articulated.

This Bill is based on an extensive review of the legislative framework, overseen by the SEMC. The review took into account lessons learned from activations of the state's emergency management arrangements since implementation of the Act, as well as from the experience of disasters elsewhere, to ensure that best practice emergency management arrangements are supported and contemporary practices reflected.

The changes proposed as a result of the review are intended to strengthen the arrangements that support emergency prevention and preparation activity. These changes will ensure the state is aware of potential risk, and is prepared to mitigate or respond accordingly. Clarifying the roles and responsibilities of all government stakeholders will improve the state's ability to respond effectively to an emergency event.

The Government believes that the Act and arrangements are substantially sound, but that a number of amendments to improve the clarity, certainty and operation of the Act are required to support best practice emergency management arrangements. These include more comprehensive definitions of emergency management arrangements and a clearer outline of roles and responsibilities.

The importance of clear arrangements and roles and responsibilities is of particular interest to the Government given the importance accorded to these matters during the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission and the Queensland Floods Inquiry.

The recommendations to update and strengthen South Australia's emergency management arrangements align with the South Australian Government strategic priority 'Safe communities, healthy neighbourhoods'. The process will reassure the community that South Australia's emergency management arrangements are being updated to ensure best practice, and encourage community resilience through coordinated planning and disaster preparedness activities.

The updated Act will contribute to the South Australia's Strategic Plan vision 'We are safe in our homes, community and at work' which makes specific reference to the potential impact of natural disasters and notes that everyone has a role to play to be prepared for such events.

The Bill proposes to clarify the authority of the State Emergency Management Plan (the SEMP).

The SEMP is prepared by the SEMC to provide strategies for the prevention of emergencies in the state, and management of events that do occur. The SEMP is the primary mechanism for defining the roles of government agencies during an emergency. It forms the basis of actions taken by all agencies in response to an emergency incident in South Australia and therefore has far reaching impacts upon individual agency operations.

During the course of the review a number of submissions were made seeking clarification of the legal status of the SEMP and the agencies and community groups it is intended to apply to. Legal opinion obtained during the review confirmed that the current role, function and authority of the SEMP is consistent with the Act and that its application to all sectors of the community is consistent with the intention of Parliament when the Act was passed.

Nevertheless, in the interests of ensuring the status and scope of the SEMP is clear, the Bill contains an amendment to specify that the SEMP applies to all levels of government, business, and the non-government sector.

The Bill seeks to improve upon the efficient operations of the SEMC.

The SEMC is established under section 6 of the Act and currently consists of eighteen members. Following the review, an opportunity was identified to simplify the SEMC appointment process and to make it easier to have appropriate membership in place at all times. This has been achieved through the Statutes Amendment (Boards and Committees-Abolition and Reform) Act 2015 as an outcome of the Review of South Australian Government Boards and Committees.

Section 9 of the Act specifies the various functions of the SEMC including its role in emergency management planning, the preparation of the SEMP and the need to undertake risk-assessments.

Specifically, the Act allows SEMC to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the SEMP and the response and recovery operations taken during or following an emergency if it is declared under the Act. There have been only three declared events in the last ten years, but there have been many other non-declared events from which we can learn more about emergency management.

The Bill will widen the strategic management functions of SEMC to allow it to focus on any emergency, not just one that is a declared event, including interstate and international events. The Bill will allow the SEMC to determine and target, within a set of guidelines, appropriate incidents for examination and review. This will allow the Government to expand on lessons learnt, improve its knowledge base and identify improvements to state arrangements.

The Act currently states that the SEMC must, as soon as practicable after the commencement of this Act, establish an Advisory Group to advise SEMC in relation to recovery operations. This was specifically inserted to ensure that the recovery element of emergencies was adequately addressed during a time when recovery was not clearly understood or appropriately considered.

The State Recovery Committee was established under the Act as the advisory group to advise SEMC in relation to recovery operations. It is therefore proposed that this section be removed as the establishment of the State Recovery Committee renders the clause redundant. The Committee will continue to operate under the general advisory group provisions of the Act. It is chaired by the Chief Executive of the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI).

Ensuring emergency management arrangements are clearly defined is another purpose of the Bill.

Recent reviews commissioned by state governments in response to natural disasters elsewhere in Australia have highlighted the importance of clear roles and responsibilities within emergency management arrangements. While the roles associated with response and recovery activities in this South Australia are considered sound, there is less clarity around those roles associated with planning and preparedness.

To improve the clarity of key roles, functions and responsibilities within the South Australian emergency management arrangements the Bill formalises the role of Hazard Leaders and Zone Emergency Management Committees.

Hazard Leaders provide a leadership role in planning emergency management activities across the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery spectrum for a specific hazard. This role was established in 2005 to support a fundamental shift in emergency management beyond response and reaction, to anticipation and mitigation.

In developing Hazard Plans, the State Mitigation Advisory Group (SMAG) and Hazard Leaders found that a lack of recognition of the role of Hazard Leaders has been a significant impediment when requesting action by State and Local Government, non-government and private sector stakeholders.

To ensure that the hazard mitigation role of a Hazard Leader is clearly articulated within the hierarchy of planning, control and management processes, and to give appropriate status and focus to the planning and prevention aspects of our emergency management arrangements, it is appropriate to include the Hazard Leader role within the Act.

The Government acknowledges that the practice of emergency management requires cooperation between and across all levels of government and with the community. Our Zone Emergency Management Committees are the glue of local communities when it comes to emergency management arrangements.

The state is divided into Emergency Management Zones which are aligned to the government regional boundaries. The SEMP specifies that each zone will have a Zone Emergency Management Committee (ZEMC), responsible for emergency risk management at a zone level, including the development of Zone Emergency Management Plans which support the SEMP.

The Bill appropriately reflects the important role of the ZEMC in the structure of the South Australian emergency management arrangements.

So too, the role of local governments with respect to emergency management, whilst critical, is not clearly defined. Principal emergency management legislation in other states refer specifically to the role of local governments thus providing greater clarity regarding arrangements.

The Bill will include the high level role of local government in relation to emergency management and will reflect the emergency management functions of a Council as described in the Local Government Act 1999.

The inclusion of the role statement will be consistent with the incorporation of Objects into the Act that, among other things, recognise that effective arrangements require a coordinated approach from the community, local government and the State Government to build community resilience, reduce vulnerability to emergency events and ensure a seamless transition to recovery after an emergency.

The Government currently ensures protection from liability for those people who act in good faith in accordance with the Act. The Bill will extend appropriate coverage of individuals executing directions in accordance with the SEMP. This option will allow any group of persons carrying out directions or requirements issued under either the Act or the SEMP to be provided with appropriate protection.

Local government has a particularly important role to play in mitigating risks, and supporting emergency service agencies in response to an emergency as well as during community recovery processes.

The inclusion of a high level local government role statement in the Act, implies that a level of responsibility is assumed by local government within the spectrum of their own emergency management activities. However, it is reasonable for councils to have limited protection from liability when individual workers are directed by an authorised officer of the Crown in an emergency response situation.

During the review, local government identified concerns about council liability if a worker is injured after being directed by an authorised officer of the Crown in an emergency response situation. The government has commenced work on a number of initiatives to address this concern including the provision of appropriate training and equipment to workers, and an initiative to address the specific issue of workers compensation.

The Government believes that the South Australian arrangements would be better formed and explained if the Act contained aims and objectives in a similar manner to the Public Sector Act 2009.

The Objects and Emergency Management Principles address a number of the issues that were raised during the review where clarity on role and function was sought, but where formal legislative change was not deemed necessary or appropriate. The objects also address various agreements reached at national levels to ensure a nationally consistent approach to emergency management.

The Bill contains the following Objects and Emergency Management Principles:

The objects are as follows:

to establish a state emergency management framework;

to promote prompt and effective decision making;

to promote comprehensive and integrated planning; and

to build community resilience and reduce vulnerability to emergency events.

The emergency management principles are:

Comprehensive coverage

Integrated arrangements

Community resilience

Risk-driven approaches

In addition, the Bill proposes a number of other legislative amendments aimed at improving the functioning of the Act, including:

Amending Section 25 to allow disconnection and reconnection of water and drainage so that it reflects the provisions of Section 26.

Proposing standard national emergency management definitions.

South Australia is currently the only state not to include standard definitions within our emergency management legislation. The Bill proposes that definitions of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery are included, consistent with the approach of other jurisdictions.

The Government consulted with key stakeholders on the review and the draft Bill, including all members of the SEMC and the chairs of the SEMC Advisory Groups. The SEMC is chaired by the Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and includes the Commissioner of Police, chief executives of South Australian Government departments, SA Water and the Local Government Association of South Australia, and Chief Officers of emergency response agencies.

The review, upon which the Bill is based, included extensive consultation with State and Local Government stakeholders. Sixteen written submissions were received, as well as numerous oral submissions during a targeted stakeholder interview process.

Changes specific to local government were arrived at following extensive consultation with the Local Government Association and with the agreement of the SEMC.

Key stakeholders were sent a copy of the exposure draft of the Bill on 21 December 2015 with a two week comment period. One agency provided a written response expressing concern that the language in the Bill was too vague and allowed potential for certain provisions to be ignored, and that the scope of Hazard Leaders was not clearly defined in terms of their state-level role.

The Government reflected on the comments and issues raised by the agency and, after meeting with that agency to discuss, determined that both matters would be resolved through amendments to the SEMP, a review of which is occurring concurrently with the passage of this Bill.

The Government believes that the proposed changes will update and strengthen South Australia's emergency management arrangements, providing reassurance to the community and encouraging community resilience through coordinated planning and disaster preparedness activities.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Emergency Management Act 2004

4—Insertion of section 2

This clause inserts the proposed objects and guiding principles for the Emergency Management Act 2004.

5—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

This clause inserts definitions consequential to the new objects and guiding principles inserted by clause 4 and also updates the definition of recovery operations and response operations.

6—Insertion of Part 1A

This clause inserts new Part 1A providing expanded provisions relating to the preparation, review and maintenance of the State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP).

7—Amendment of section 9—Functions and powers of SEMC

This clause updates references to the State Emergency Management Plan to 'SEMP' and also provides that the State Emergency Management Committee may determine to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the SEMP and the response and recovery operations taken during or following emergencies of any kind that it thinks fit. Currently this only applies to any identified major incident, major emergency or disaster declared under the Act.

8—Amendment of section 11—Establishment of advisory groups by SEMC

This clause deletes the requirement for the State Emergency Management Committee to establish an advisory group to advise SEMC in relation to recovery operations. This advisory group will be able to be established under section 11(1) of the Emergency Management Act 2004. Clause 2 in Schedule 1 operates to continue the advisory group in existence under section 11(2), after the commencement of this measure, as if it were an advisory group established under section 11(1) of the Emergency Management Act 2004.

9—Amendment of section 15—Functions and powers of State Co-ordinator

This clause updates references to the State Emergency Management Plan to 'SEMP'.

10—Amendment of section 19—Co-ordinating agency

This clause updates references to the State Emergency Management Plan to 'SEMP'.

11—Amendment of section 20—Control agency

This clause updates references to the State Emergency Management Plan to 'SEMP'.

12—Amendment of section 25—Powers of State Co-ordinator and authorised officers

This clause updates references to the State Emergency Management Plan to 'SEMP'. This clause also extends the powers of an authorised officer to shut off, or cut off, the supply of water or any drainage facility to connect, disconnect, reconnect, shut off or cut off such a facility.

13—Amendment of section 27—Recovery operations

This clause updates references to the State Emergency Management Plan to 'SEMP'.

Schedule 1—Transitional provisions

1—Continuation of State Emergency Management Plan

This clause provides that the State Emergency Management Plan in force under the Emergency Management Act 2004 immediately before the commencement clause 6 of the measure continues after that commencement as the State Emergency Management Plan under section 5A of the Emergency Management Act 2004.

2—Recovery operations advisory group

This clause provides that the advisory group in existence under section 11(2) of the Emergency Management Act 2004 will continue, after the commencement of this measure, as if it were an advisory group established under section 11(1) of the Emergency Management Act 2004.

Debate adjourned on motion of Ms Chapman.