A Tale of Two Floods.. And a Cyclone!

Brigadier Peter Jeffrey

Reserve commitment within a wider ADF commitment 11th Brigade January 2011 Response Observations

The Way ahead Reserve Military Engineers

Joint Task Force 637 was established Headquarters 1st Division (initially) Headquarters 7th Brigade

11th Brigade provided forces to JTF637 RAAF and RAN

Queensland’s Army Reserve Coolangatta to Cairns 1950 part-time/150 full-time Infantry (3x battalions – 1300) Logisticians (1x battalion – 300) Engineers (1x squadron – 100) Signallers (1x small squadron – 40) Others (360)

Keenness to help!

ROMA

DALBY

TOOWOOMBA

STANTHORPE

WARWICK

BRISBANE

GYMPIE

CABOOLTURE

MARYBOROUGH

YANDINA GLADSTONE

MACKAY

AYR

GATTON

EMERALD

ROCKHAMPTON

BUNDABERG

SOUTHPORT

LOGANLEA

MOUNT ISA

CAIRNS

TOWNSVILLE

WONDAI

Floods Rockhampton Toowoomba-Grantham Brisbane

TC Yasi North Queensland

Northern Command and control Liaison Aviation support (primarily helicopter)

Southern Workers! Transport Command and control Liaison Search Security

Prevention Preparation Response Recovery

Theodore water supply First solution: supplement with water

purification unit Second solution: rehabilitate town

supply

Safety Culture Willingness to help

Leadership Community ‘looks to Army’ Every soldier a leader

Mobility Vehicle fleet/capable drivers

Engineers

Force multiplier/skill sets

Defence White Paper 2009 Army to re-balance

Plan Beersheba

To be finalised An embedded concept – Reserve HQs taking a more

formalised responsibility for Disaster Relief

11th Brigade Currently 1x Engineer Squadron (NQ)

Planned 1x Engineer Regiment

Comprised of: 1x Headquarters (SQ) 2x Squadrons (SQ) 1x Squadron (NQ)

Are there better ways for managing engineering resources to deliver improved humanitarian outcomes?

What role is there for defence engineers in domestic disasters?

Could the engineering community be better prepared to undertake recovery from domestic disasters

Does the risk of disaster and cost associated with recovery demand an

improved regime of preparedness of engineering capacity?