Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Attorney-General, upon notice, on 8 November 2011:

In regard to the failure of Emergency Alert in the Mitchell chemical fire in the Australian Capital Territory in September 2011:

(1) When was the department first made aware of the failure of Emergency Alert to function adequately after the Mitchell chemical fire.

(2) Who initially made contact with the department about the failure and when.

(3) What conclusions has the department drawn about the use of Emergency Alert in the Mitchell chemical fire.

(4) Does the Commonwealth issue guidelines to the states and territories for the operation of Emergency Alert; if so, can copies be provided.

(5) Has the Commonwealth issued advisory notices to state and territory emergency services regarding the incident.

(6) With respect to the faulty spelling on the messages, is there a standard suite of 'ready-to-go' messages; if so, why were they not employed in this instance.

(7) Is the department concerned that the emergency services agency of the Australian Capital Territory was under the misconception that the system could send out 170 000 messages in half an hour.

(8) How much training, if any, has the department conducted for state and territory agencies on Emergency Alert and when was this training last conducted.

(9) Why did the Australian Capital Territory Minister for Police and Emergency Services (Mr Corbell) say that he was advised that it would take '6 to 7 hours to reach the target area' of 170 575 landline phone alerts if the system can, according to its website, make 1 000 calls a minute, which would mean less than 3 hours.

(10) Is the Minister aware of any other technologies that can deliver warnings to the same number of people in a shorter period of time; if not, what investigations have been made into such technologies.

(11) Is the department considering reassessing its position on emergency warning, i.e. perhaps looking at sponsoring other emerging technologies.