New force ready for any enemy

AUSTRALIA will have a rapid response military force to pull together in the event of a future bushfire, flood or another pandemic under a new mandate being created in the wake of the successful troop reaction to COVID-19.

Khaki-clad Australian Defence Force personnel have long been involved in assisting during national disasters but in future they will be integrated into all civilian planning for major operations.

The response is not just postCOVID-19 but follows warnings to a federal parliamentary inquiry that climate change will require more resources, specifically from the military.

A national co-ordination war room for such operations will be created at Randwick Barracks in Sydney, which played a critical role in World Wars I and II.

Today it is home to regular support and Army Reserve units.

It is here that Joint Task Force 629 is running a 24/7 operation to monitor the ADF’s response to coronavirus under the leadership of Lt Colonel Jim McGaan.

Lieutenant General John Frewen, commander of the Defence COVID-19 taskforce, said: “Through this extraordinary year where we have done bushfire assistance and now this very comprehensive assistance nationally, there is going to be more of an expectation on the ADF to lean forward into national events to a greater degree than we have in the past.”

The closed borders during the pandemic showed any domestic crisis force would have to be drawn from “regional nodes” in each state.