The Australian defence force has defended the speed of its response to flooded communities in northern New South Wales, after locals in Lismore resorted to crowdfunding helicopters to drop off supplies to isolated residents.
As of Monday there were 637 ADF personnel on the ground in northern NSW, including in liaison and planning roles, with another 656 due to arrive by Tuesday evening. There were 1,358 ADF personnel deployed in southern Queensland.
Maj Gen David Thomae said the army had been on the ground in Lismore since 27 February and had provided air support to flood affected regions in both states since the 25 February, when federal government activated the commonwealth disaster plan, which allows the ADF to be deployed.
But some locals have criticised the ADF’s efforts. A video appearing to show ADF personnel being filmed unloading a trailer was widely shared on social media, leading to criticism that the army had prioritised a photo opportunity over rendering assistance.
Asked if they could have done more, Thomae told reporters on Monday: “I think we have done all that we can within the conditions we have been faced with.”
“It is great to see other community members supporting their own community,” he said. “It is not just an ADF response, it is the local government and local emergency services who were working very hard over the last week. We support them.
“If local communities are supporting their own community, I think that is a great thing.”
Thomae said the ADF had rescued 113 people from flood waters and conducted helicopter missions to rescue 79 people from roofs.
“I am very sorry for all of those people who have felt that they haven’t been supported,” he said. “I empathise completely with their plight.”
He defended the speed of the ADF response, saying they had moved in “as soon as weather and conditions allowed”.
“We have to operate in a safe matter,” he said. “If our aircraft cannot safely operate to get into those locations because of the conditions last week, then that explains part of what you are asking.”
Thomae said the ADF was not able to respond to the flood crisis until the commonwealth disaster plan was enacted on 25 February, and its initial response was a force of 150 officers kept on standby during summer to respond to national disasters.
The deputy Labor leader, Richard Marles, who travelled to Lismore on Monday, accused the federal government of failing to provide leadership in coordinating the disaster response.
“It’s not enough to treat this as just a normal disaster and business as usual,” Marles said. “This is a catastrophe on a huge scale which demands national leadership and coordination right now, which is missing. Normal responses aren’t going to cut it.”
Labor MP Justine Elliot, whose electorate of Richmond takes in the Byron and Mullumbimby areas, said federal and state governments had failed the area “at every step of the way”.
“People on the ground are doing an incredible job, but they should have had a coordinated disaster plan in place,” she said. “We had poor volunteers in dinghies, we had people coordinating on my Facebook page to rescue people from caravans. It’s heartbreaking.”
Elliot said the situation in Mullumbimby, where some people have been cut off without access to essential services due to floods and landslides, was a “humanitarian crisis”.
The ADF response to that town was “just not happening,” she said. “There’s hardly anyone on the ground.
“We keep getting told ‘they’ll be here tomorrow’, but it’s been the community that has stepped up with food, water, rescuing people, hiring helicopters. The community has been doing what the army and government should be doing.”
The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, defended the deployment of defence personnel, saying the federal government would “only send the ADF in when we’re requested by the states”.
“ADF personnel aren’t trained in the immediate response” the former emergency management minister told Sky News. “They aren’t trained the way SES people are. And so if we send them in too early they can get in the road.”
Neil James, the executive director for independent defence watchdog the Australian Defence Association, said the heavy reliance of the ADF in civilian roles since 2019 had created a perception that the army was “an inexhaustible source of people that you can pump into wherever you need it”.
“That’s just not true, the ADF is quite overstretched,” James said.
The ADF were tasked to respond to the 2019-2020 bushfires and in various parts of the pandemic response, from hotel quarantine to enforcing lockdown orders in Melbourne and assisting in health departments and aged care.
But responding to domestic emergencies is not the ADF’s core responsibility, despite legislation passed in 2020 to streamline the process to call them in to assist. And most resources in Australia are stationed in the far north, making deployment any further south than Townsville a lengthy process.
“There’s this naive belief in parts of the community that if you have a problem, the defence force will turn up immediately to help,” James said. “There’s also this belief that everyone in the defence force is capable of doing everything, but they have not been trained for everything.”
