The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) recently held its 18th meeting, in Canberra. The Council, comprising the Prime Minister, Premiers, the Chief Ministers of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory and the President of the Australian Local Government Association, had detailed discussions on significant areas of national interest. These included the following:

National Action Plan for Human Influenza Pandemic
Leaders signed a statement of cooperation on human influenza pandemic committing to work together and in partnership with the Australian community to meet the challenges faced by pandemic influenza.

COAG endorsed the National Action Plan for Human Influenza Pandemic, which provides for clear national leadership in the event of a pandemic. The National Action Plan sets out how Commonwealth, State, Territory and local governments will cooperate in prevention, preparedness, response and recovery with defined responsibilities and lines of authority to support the communities they serve.

COAG also agreed to work cooperatively to refine the National Action Plan in the light of emerging evidence, lessons learnt from a simulation exercise to be held in Australia later this year, and as national policy directions are further developed.

The National Action Plan for Human Influenza Pandemic is available here: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/publications/pandemic/index.htm

Counter terrorism
At the 27 September 2005 Special Meeting on Counter-Terrorism, COAG agreed to a broad range of counter-terrorism initiatives. COAG noted that, in relation to national counter-terrorism arrangements, substantial progress has been made in implementing these initiatives. Some initiatives, however, require further development. A further report on the progress of implementing the September 2005 initiatives will be provided to COAG at its next meeting.

COAG noted the progress report on the implementation of measures to strengthen the security of mass passenger transport. COAG agreed that mass passenger transport security will be progressed through the Australian Transport Council (ATC) under the umbrella of the intergovernmental agreement for surface transport security, working with the National Counter-Terrorism Committee (NCTC).

COAG agreed the closed-circuit television (CCTV) Code of Practice, which is to be applied on a voluntary, risk-managed basis to mass passenger transport systems, in conjunction with other counter-terrorism strategies and arrangements. COAG also agreed that the ongoing management of the CCTV Code of Practice will be the responsibility of the ATC in consultation with the NCTC. COAG noted that the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services will present the national CCTV review, which will inform future work on CCTV, to the NCTC at the end of August.

COAG also agreed to a strategy for promoting public understanding of the national counter-terrorism arrangements with the NCTC overseeing the strategy’s implementation.

COAG further noted:

The progress report on strengthening counter-terrorism laws which highlighted that:-
- There is still ongoing work, particularly in relation to the implementation of preventative detention orders, and there are some differences in the ACT’s preventative detention regime that are not replicated in the Commonwealth model or legislation in other jurisdictions;
- Progress on the implementation of the Unified Policing Model (UPM) and agreed that implementation of UPM measures will be well advanced by the end of 2006 and fully implemented by July 2007, noting that Queensland and Western Australia will fully implement as soon as possible thereafter;
- Progress on the review on information and intelligence sharing in the aviation sector and agreed that the NCTC will consider the report and its recommendations, including how they may apply to information and intelligence sharing in other security contexts;
- Progress in the development of the National Identity Security Strategy; the refocused counter-terrorism exercise regime and exercise timetable; the progress report on the draft Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Security Strategy, which will be completed by the end of 2006; and the progress made with implementing the support measures to the National Emergency Protocol.

http://www.coag.gov.au/meetings/140706/index.htm

•Date: 21st July 2006• Region: Australia •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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