The Australian Government will provide $52 million to enable the rapid deployment of Australian civilians into overseas disaster or conflict zones.
This will enable the Government to send civilians with expert knowledge and abilities into disaster-struck regions or conflict zones with the urgency required in these terrible situations.
This new initiative is expected to have an interim capability by mid-2010, and is expected to be fully operational by early 2011.
The civilian specialists will be deployed across a wide range of roles. For example, they could be used to help:
* restore the delivery of essential services like health services infrastructure;
* restore essential infrastructure like utilities services, for example electricity and water; and
* rebuild core government institutions to deliver good governance in order to support economic and social stability.
The civilian specialists will be deployed to assist in early recovery and reconstruction efforts after initial emergency response operations have concluded.
The Government will create a register of up to 500 Australian specialists who can be deployed overseas at short notice.
These specialists will be chosen for their technical expertise and their ability to work in challenging environments overseas.
They will be drawn from both the public and private sectors.
These civilian specialists will complement rather than replace existing humanitarian response mechanisms and longer-term development assistance.
Deployed civilians may work alongside the Australian military and police where present or in a stand-alone capability. They may work alongside foreign military, United Nations peacekeepers, police and civilian experts from other countries.
Assignments will range from immediate stabilisation and recovery work to longer-term capacity building roles, recognising that the consequences of disasters can be felt for many years after their immediate impact.
A new Office of the Deployable Civilian Capability will be established within the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to implement the initiative. The Office of the Deployable Civilian Capability will also build strategic partnerships with equivalent civilian organisations overseas, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Deployed specialists will undertake advisory and capacity building roles at the national, provincial and district levels in countries which require assistance across six key stabilisation and reconstruction sectors:
* Security, justice & reconciliation;
* Machinery of Government;
* Essential Services;
* Economic Stability;
* Community and Social Capacity Building; and
* Operational management.
As we have seen in recent weeks with the disasters in Samoa and Tonga, and in East Asia Summit member nations including Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, countries affected by crises require significant assistance to alleviate human suffering and to begin the process of recovery.
Often this assistance is needed urgently, and requires specialised knowledge and skills. By providing skilled professionals through the DCC, Australia can play a greater role in this process.
For those who would like further information or to register their interest in this initiative, AusAID will provide more details in the near future.