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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 3437 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The Bill formally provides for a position of executive director, who is responsible for emergency management arrangements, which are defined as the establishment of plans, structures and arrangements so as to coordinate the resources of agencies, organisations and others in a comprehensive approach to facilitate prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The Bill provides for the preparation and maintenance of the emergency plan, currently referred to as the ACT disaster plan, and making arrangements for cooperation with the Commonwealth and the States. The Bill formally establishes an emergency management committee that is charged with liaison, providing advice and supporting the executive director in maintaining emergency management arrangements.

In the event of the declaration of a state of emergency in the Territory, the Bill provides for a Territory controller to be appointed and charged with the responsibility of managing the emergency in accordance with the emergency plan. The Territory controller may be, but does not need to be, a dormant appointment made before the declaration of an emergency.

While it is envisaged that the senior police officer responsible for the ACT shall be the Territory controller for most emergencies, the Bill provides sufficient flexibility for the Minister to appoint an appropriate expert should the nature of the emergency require this. There are two reasons for this, Mr Speaker. First, members will recall some recent significant interstate emergencies, such as the Sydney water contamination, the outbreak of the Newcastle animal disease and the Victorian gas crisis, where specific expertise in controlling such events was not the natural responsibility of the police, but was rather the direct responsibility of another agency, such as the public health officer. Secondly, and most significantly, a standing appointment of the senior police officer may create a significant issue about the accountability process.

I know that all members of this place share my concern at the fact that the ACT legislature has no capacity to provide statutory direction to the police, because they are an agency of the Commonwealth. If a standing appointment of an AFP officer was made and that officer received one direction from the Territory Government but another, different and contradictory, direction from his or her Commonwealth masters, which would he or she follow? Mr Speaker, as an issue of principle, the Government maintains the need for a flexible appointment in case issues of direction should arise. In the case that the ACT Government was empowered to give directions, to the exclusion of the Commonwealth Government, in matters affecting the ACT or in the case that the ACT does one day move to establish its own police force, it may be appropriate to revisit this principle. The Territory controller's powers cease when the declaration of the state of emergency ceases.

As I said, this Bill provides that the Territory controller may, during a declared emergency, exercise some extraordinary powers to reduce the risk to life and property and to coordinate any continuing response and the immediate recovery requirements in order to restore the Territory to normal operations. I have no doubt that these powers will be the subject of some comment by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in its role as the scrutiny of Bills committee, because the powers do trespass on the rights and liberties of individuals, but I ask members to consider the circumstances in which that trespass occurs.

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