Who can apply:
Please note this opportunity is available to current Australian Public Service employees and all eligible members of the community.
National Emergency Management Agency :
Be part of something bigger: contribute to building a secure Australia that is prosperous, open and united.
Join a connected team of professionals, where you can be your authentic self; grow your career while making time for all parts of your life.
About our agency:
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is Australia’s leading Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, and a Commonwealth authority under the Home Affairs portfolio. NEMA delivers a national approach to reducing disaster risk, planning, preparing for, responding to and recovering from a full spectrum of emergencies or disasters (all-hazards) across the National Disaster Management and Recovery Continuum.
Australia is facing more frequent and intense floods, storms, bushfires and drought, affecting communities, critical infrastructure and supply chains, and national security remains under possible threat.
NEMA ensures a better national response in times of disaster, while driving long-term preparedness and lasting recovery. NEMA works with local communities, and in collaboration with state and local governments, so all Australians are better prepared for, and supported during, disasters and emergencies.
Overview of the Branch and Section:
The Australian Government National Situation Room (NSR) is part of the National Crisis Operation Branch (NCOB) of NEMA’s Emergency Management Response Division (EMR). The NCOB provides awareness of unfolding and potential situations (situational awareness), decision support, prediction of potential community impacts (predictive analysis) and impact and consequence assessment for crisis that are emerging or underway. These functions support NEMA Crisis Coordination Teams to prepare for and respond to nationally-significant events through the activation of National Plans and coordination of Australian Government non-financial assistance.
The NSR monitors and reports on emerging, current and predicted hazards to support decision making across the Commonwealth, states and territories and industry. The majority of NSR work relates to monitoring and reporting on natural disaster events across Australia (flood, bushfire, cyclone, heatwave and earthquakes), and includes a strong focus on weather forecast and relationships with the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia. Under an ‘all-hazards' remit, the NSR also conducts monitoring and reporting on security incidents including cyber, significant demonstrations, impacts to critical infrastructure, space weather and space debris re-entry.
The NSR issues SMS, verbal and written notifications on all-hazard emergency events to key government and jurisdictional stakeholders. Increasingly this information is available to our stakeholders through the National Joint Common Operating Picture (NJCOP), a web-based platform which provides decision makers with near real-time, automated, situational awareness and decision support for nationally significant hazard events.
The NSR houses the National Security Hotline (NSH), a public facing phone and email line for reporting concerns of national security to law enforcement agencies for further investigation. The NSH operator role is a significant component of the NSR Officer position.
About the role:
The NSR operates with five rotational teams who work 12 hour shifts across 24/7 coverage to achieve their duties. Each team includes 7 permanent members who are supplemented by the Casual Officer cohort, to cover per shift vacancies where teams are under-resourced. Casual Officers work across all teams as vacancies are identified, this may be in advance or at short notice. Casual Officers require availability across days, nights, weekends and public holidays. Study schedules and other commitments can be accommodated so long as reasonable availability of 2-3 shifts per week remain.
Casual Officers complete the same 3 week, full time training program offered to permanent staff before commencing in the role. Further training and development opportunities are available to Casual Officers. This role is suitable for those looking to better understand Emergency Management in the Australian Public Service (APS) setting, as well as growing or expanding general understanding of the APS.
The NSR can escalate rapidly from steady state monitoring, to coordination of reporting across current and emerging hazards and disasters. All NSR Officers will be assigned across both ‘operational support’ and ‘National Security Hotline’ skill sets under the direction of the Shift Leader and supporting team members:
1. APS4 operations tasking includes monitoring a busy group inbox, open source media platforms and external agency reporting to maintain awareness across unfolding situations. Drafting and disseminating reports and other messaging to key government and jurisdictional stakeholders through the incident management system, and upkeep of current information on the NJCOP
2. APS4 NSH tasking includes taking phone calls from the public and employing a line of questioning to capture the situation and report without bias through the database to Australian Government and law enforcement stakeholders.
Our ideal candidate:
We are seeking highly motivated, curious, critical thinkers who enjoy working in a rapidly evolving environment. You will have a high standard of oral and written communication with a developed ability to liaise with, coordinate and support multiple internal and external stakeholders.
Working in the NSR is often high-pressured and unpredictable, and is best suited to team players who are flexible, resilient and able to quickly grasp new concepts. A high level of computer literacy will support your work across several online systems including utilising open source media platforms and search terms, databases and incident management systems. An interest in emergency management and natural disasters will drive your ability to learn across a broad scope of subject content.
Specific duties/responsibilities:
3. Monitor official and open source information, to inform briefs and other information products for decision makers, Australian Government and state and territory departments and agencies
4. Draft routine products and other communications and such as emails and text messages to support situational awareness around emerging and ongoing events
5. Produce maps, diagrams, graphs and written reports to inform NSR briefings and analysis
6. Take NSH calls from members of the public, and prepare reports for NSH stakeholders
7. Coordinate meetings and complete other administrative tasks as directed.
Role requirements/qualifications:
8. Ability to work as a casual staff member across several high performing teams, in high pressure situations, with rapidly changing priorities
9. Availability to work on a on a 24/7 roster, including days, nights, weekends and public holidays, and the support in your personal life to do so
10. Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills
11. Ability to apply critical thinking to problem solving
12. Demonstrated ability to navigate information technology applications such as online databases, geospatial products and social media platforms
13. Ability to satisfy AFP building access requirements
14. Study or previous experience in Emergency Management is desired and advantageous, as well as the ability to understand new concepts quickly.
Applicant response:
As part of your application, you will be required to prepare a response document (minimum 11pt font in MSWord or PDF format), which you will upload in the next section.
Please ensure you read the instructions carefully, noting failure to address identified requirements may lead to your application being deemed ineligible.
Please prepare a one-page Applicant Response in relation to the advertised role, outlining:
15. How your skills, knowledge and experience will be relevant to this role
16. Why you are interested in the role and what you can offer us
17. Any specific examples or achievements that demonstrate your ability to perform the role.
How to apply:
Prior to preparing your response it is recommended you review the Work Level Standards relevant to the classification you are applying to. It may also be useful to refer to the Integrated Leadership System information relevant to the classification. You are required to submit your application in the online recruitment system (ourPeople).
As part of your application, you will need to provide:
18. Your CV
19. Your Applicant Response document
20. Details of two referees
21. Include your full name and the Requisition Number - 127016 in the footer of any documents being uploaded.
Eligibility and Specific Conditions of Employment
To be eligible to work with the NEMA you must:
22. Be an Australian Citizen
23. Fulfil the Agency’s minimum requirements by satisfactorily answering all screening questions during the application process
24. Obtain and maintain the required AGSVA clearance
25. Satisfy a probation period
26. Undergo a health assessment (if applicable).