Matthew Paul Ellis Adv. Dip. (Public Safety (EMgt), BSocSc (EMgt.), BSc. (Hons. First Class), PGDipMgt. MComDev(EMgt). School of Geosciences Faculty of Science THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY 11 August 2020 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ i TABLES ............................................................................................................................... vii FIGURES ............................................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... xii THESIS DECLARATION ................................................................................................. xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. xiv LIST OF ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................... xv GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS .......................................................... xvii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 1.0 Chapter introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Quick overview of the central issues this thesis seeks to explore ...................... 1 1.2 Australia – a disaster prone place in need of experienced emergency managers ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Emergency management as an industry ..................................................................... 4 1.4 What is an emergency manager? ................................................................................... 6 1.4 The continued evolution of emergency managers ................................................... 9 1.5 Personal context, perspective and motivation ...................................................... 10 1.6 Positionality ....................................................................................................................... 13 1.7 Summary of gaps .............................................................................................................. 15 1.8 Study aims and research questions and structure of the thesis ....................... 17 1.8.1 Study aims .................................................................................................................................... 17 1.8.2 Research questions ................................................................................................................... 17 1.8.3 Structure of this thesis ............................................................................................................ 18 1.9 Chapter summary ............................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 2: EMERGENCY MANAGERS – LITERATURE REVIEW .................... 21 2.0 Chapter introduction ...................................................................................................... 21 2.1 A brief introduction to the emergency and disaster ............................................ 22 2.2 Emergency management industry and its evolution ........................................... 22 2.1 Introducing the emergency manager ........................................................................ 26 2.2.1 Entering the new millennium .............................................................................................. 28 2.2.2 The contemporary emergency manager ......................................................................... 34 2.3 Identifying issues ............................................................................................................. 41 2.4 Examining the demographics and knowledge of the emergency management practitioner ............................................................................................................................... 44 2.4.1 Demographics ............................................................................................................................. 44 2.4.2 In search of qualification, training, education, experience and knowledge of practitioners ........................................................................................................................................... 46 2.4.3 The competence and confidence of emergency management practitioners ... 56 2.5 The productivity of the emergency manager ......................................................... 59 2.5.1 In pursuit of a theoretical lens ............................................................................................. 62 i 2.6 The physicians journey to becoming a discreet role – a comparative case to that of the ‘emergency manager’ ........................................................................................ 69 2.6.1 An historical overview of the physician .......................................................................... 71 2.6.2 Comparing the medical profession in Australia against Beaton’s criteria for a profession ................................................................................................................................................ 77 2.6.3 An emergency managers overview ................................................................................... 92 2.7 Key research questions .................................................................................................. 94 2.8 Chapter summary ............................................................................................................. 94 CHAPTER 3: APPROACH AND METHODS ............................................................... 96 3.0 Chapter introduction ...................................................................................................... 96 3.1 An overview of the research design ........................................................................... 96 3.1.1 The location of emergency management within the disaster literature ........... 96 3.1.2 In search of knowledge – an ontological and epistemological discourse ......... 98 3.1.3 Triangulation ............................................................................................................................... 99 3.1.4 Mixed methods research ...................................................................................................... 100 3.2 Methods utilised in the research .............................................................................. 101 3.2.1 Secondary document analysis – analysis of job advertisement, government legislation and reports into disasters across Australia ...................................................... 109 3.3 Governance ....................................................................................................................... 117 3.3.1 Ethics ............................................................................................................................................ 117 3.3.2 Questionnaire instruments ................................................................................................. 117 3.3.3 Data management ................................................................................................................... 118 3.3.4 Software ...................................................................................................................................... 118 3.3.5 Personal bias ............................................................................................................................. 119 3.4 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER 4: QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS – RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 120 4.0 Chapter introduction .................................................................................................... 120 4.1 Practitioners baseline .................................................................................................. 121 4.1.1 Practitioner cohorts for the emergency manager questionnaire ....................... 121 4.1.2 Practitioners versus interviewees ................................................................................... 121 4.1.3 The employment capacity of practitioners .................................................................. 121 4.1.4 Primary versus secondary roles ....................................................................................... 123 4.1.5 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 124 4.2 Context and background .............................................................................................. 127 4.2.1 Context and background – results ................................................................................... 127 4.2.2 Context and background – discussion ...........................................................................