24 VICTORIA’S EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE SUMMER www.oesc.vic.gov.au 2009-10 Victoria leads rollout of national warning system THE community has traditionally relied on Emergency Services Commissioner receiving emergency information through Bruce Esplin said Emergency Alert provides print and broadcast media and personal emergency services with another useful communication channels. way to issue warnings, but it is crucial The telephone is now another way that communities do not rely on receiving communities may receive warning information a telephone warning. following the development of a new system, “Emergency Alert is another tool in the Emergency Alert. emergency services tool kit and will help in Emergency Alert will alert communities the issuing of warnings, but communities to emergencies via a recorded voice message still need to be prepared,” Mr Esplin said. on landline telephones and a text message Following the Council of Australian on mobiles, based on the subscribers’ Governments, decision on 30 April 2009 to billing address. develop the system it was agreed that Victoria The warning messages will provide offi cial would lead the process of the procurement and authorised emergency information and and implementation of the national telephone provide direction to the community on actions emergency warning system. to be taken and where further information or $15.65 million has been made available advice can be sought. from the Australian Government for the In anticipation of the serious bushfi re threat system to be built and implemented. posed across Australia this summer, Emergency An advertising campaign has commenced IN THIS Alert has undergone extensive community testing in Victoria and will run over the bushfi re season ISSUE in Victoria and is now live and ready for use. and during 2010 to help Victorians understand The system has application beyond bushfi re how the Emergency Alert system operates. and can be used for a range of emergency The campaign will include television, press, From the Desk situations such as extreme weather events. radio advertising and will appear online. Victoria, through the Offi ce of the Emergency Services Commissioner, has led the delivery Across the of this critical national system to ensure the Sector News capacity to alert communities in the event For further information about Emergency Alert of a major emergency. visit www.emergencyalert.gov.au EM Events and Awards Minister for Police and Emergency Services Bob Cameron with Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland at the launch of the system. 2 SUMMER 2009-10 ISSUE 24 3 From the Desk Commissioner’s Across the View Sector News OVER the past year, the emergency services landscape has changed signifi cantly. Black Saturday rewrote the rule book, and the Royal Commission’s interim reports have generated tremendous interest, emotion and activity. The pace of change, especially policy change, has increased substantially and emergency services are working harder than ever to make the community safer. If there is one thing I would like to see come from Black Saturday and the Royal Commission it is that we as Victorians specifi cally, and Australians generally, take a more consistent approach to managing our bushfi re risk. Emergency management is so much more than putting fi res out, it is an end-to-end process that begins and fi nishes with the community, and we must make sure this is at the forefront of our thinking for the long term. Recognising the need for change is a precursor to implementing change. We are experiencing heightened interest in emergency management and heightened expectations of the emergency services. There is no room for complacency nor denial; change is required. Coming into summer, the focus is now on building community awareness and confi dence, so people will make sensible decisions based on the advice of the emergency services. My Offi ce Victoria’s first Afghani lifesaver will be on for duty at Edithvale has been working with agencies and government beach this summer ARTICLE COURTESY MORDIALLOC CHELSEA LEADER AND LSV to empower the community through new tools like Emergency Alert and new memoranda of DANDENONG’S Imtiyaz “Minty” Saberi, 16, “It was on the second one that he popular with beachgoers from ethnic understanding with commercial radio stations, ABC will patrol with Edithvale Life Saving Club came up to me and said, `How do you backgrounds but many were wary of and Sky News. Yet, like so many of the projects we this season after intensive training. become a lifesaver?’ lifesavers or didn’t understand their role. are collectively working on, none of these tools is a The Dandenong High School “To the best of my knowledge he “Minty is a real asset on patrol silver bullet. We must remember that the foundation student and his family immigrated from is the fi rst Afghani lifesaver, which is because he understands what it is of resilience is an informed community, one that Afghanistan, a land-locked country, in really special given he has only been all about,” Mrs Montalto said. takes action based on sound information. 2005. He couldn’t swim or speak English. in Australia for four years.” “He is really friendly, outgoing The new pace and the demand for change “I was kind of scared,” Minty said, “There Mr Holland said of all coastal and gets on with people.” will continue throughout the next year, but it’s were no beaches around there. A lot of drownings in Victoria since last July, Minty, who will complete more important to remember that lasting change will swimming pools but they are not that deep.” around a fi fth were people from ethnic training over winter, said his six be the cumulative effect of strategies applied in Minty’s interest in lifesaving was sparked backgrounds, making it vital to raise siblings and parents were proud. combination, not isolation. It’s the result of work after attending two sessions of a Life Saving awareness in areas such as Dandenong He said there was no better feeling applied consistently over time, not simply what is Victoria program that aims to promote water where more than half of residents were than pulling on a patrol uniform. done in any one year. It’s a shared responsibility safety among ethnic communities. born or had a parent born overseas. “It felt great because everyone was Recognising the need for and it’s not a responsibility to be taken lightly. Life Saving Victoria’s culturally and “Hopefully Minty will be able to inspire looking and smiling,” Minty said, “I want change is a precursor to It is important to emphasise that shared linguistically diverse communities (CALD) people from that big proportion to think to encourage other people to do it too.” responsibility is not responsibility transferred. projects manager David Holland, who about water safety and hopefully lifesaving.” For more information on implementing change. oversees the statewide project, said Minty Edithvale Life Saving Club president Life Saving Victoria visit was one of 700 participants at Edithvale. Dianne Montalto said Edithvale was www.lifesavingvictoria.com.au Boost for Multicultural Water Safety Program THE Victorian Government has provided culturally and linguistically diverse community and educate CALD a funding boost of $600,000 over the (CALD) communities. communities on general water next two years for a Multicultural Water It will enable LSV to continue to run safety awareness. Safety Program, an initiative of Life its beach water safety sessions at life LSV is committed to providing Saving Victoria (LSV) and the saving clubs around Victoria. The funding programs for Victoria’s CALD Victorian Government. will also assist with programs that aim communities and these programs The Multicultural Water Safety to recruit CALD volunteer members, just play a vital role in improving water Program will aim to address the rising like Minty, into life saving clubs, promote safety in Victoria. rate of drowning among members of water safety education to the wider 4 SUMMER 2009-10 ISSUE 24 5 DH and DHS staff respond to Uniformed Services in Swine flu – the human swine fl u threat at the Public Health Emergency your Community Expo responding Operations Centre. THE Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) in partnership Vietnamese - and has proved extremely popular. to a health with the Offi ce of the Emergency Services The Expo was marked by a strong presence of Commissioner (OESC), the City of Darebin and families from the new and emerging communities the City of Whittlesea this year launched the fi rst with activities including African music and dancing, emergency Uniformed Services in your Community Expo. an Iraqi bread making demonstration and the The project was recently recognised with ‘workers in uniform’ fashion parade. AN ARTICLE BY DH AND DHS EMERGENCY the 2009 Australian Safer Communities Award The success of the day has encouraged the MFB for the State Government category. and the OESC to present the next expo in the MANAGEMENT The event attracted an estimated 1,000 people Melbourne’s western region. Currently scheduled THIS year’s bushfi re season was swiftly followed from new and emerging communities. More than for 16 March 2010, the Expo is aiming to attract by a global public health emergency, with the 20 agencies including the Country Fire Authority young and adolescent newly emerging communities emergence of a new fl u strain. Victoria’s response (CFA), Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES), in the Brimbank area of greater Melbourne. to the H1N1 (Human Swine Flu) pandemic saw Victoria Police, the Department of Human Services, Primary, secondary schools, English as a up to 200 staff from the Department of Health, the Australian Federal Police, the Sheriff’s Offi ce second language (ESL) and adult education centres Department of Human Services and external and Life Saving Victoria participated in the Expo by will be invited to attend, as well as key family and agencies deployed to the Public Health Emergency displaying information on the role of their agency, community members.