There have been insufficient IT links between agencies within the portfolio. For example, while Queensland Police Service is committed to WEBEOC as part of an Australia wide connectivity of police organisations, local governments are committed to GUARDIAN, which is consistent with many other local governments around the country. The Department of Community Safety has advanced a model of an event management system using Microsoft SharePoint technology; however this is recognised by all as interim, and insufficient.
As was highlighted during the January 2013 flood event there was no direct link between the local government, police, the Department of Community Safety and other government department systems. This is critical both in disaster situations and in terms of ongoing connectivity and investment.
There is no end-to-end event management system for emergency and non-emergency situations meaning that there is no single point of truth upon which agencies and the government can base decisions. This is a crucial issue, given that the core of all coordination and cooperation is ease of access to information.
The building of a technical solution, which has been managed by the Department of Community Safety, commenced in 2010 and has to date cost over A$6.5 million (US$6 million). A single event management system is not expected to be delivered before the 2014–15 storm season.
This issue, according to the review team, has been raised to the Department of Community Safety in numerous meetings.
The review was to cover the two departments within Minister Jack Dempsey‘s portfolio i.e. the Queensland Police Service and the Department of Community Safety. It is to be noted the Department of Community Safety is comprised of a number of discrete operational agencies – the Queensland Ambulance Service, Queensland Corrective Services, the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (which incorporates the Rural Fire Service) and Emergency Management Queensland (which incorporates the State Emergency Service).
The portfolio of Police and Community Safety has a combined budget of approximately A$4 billion (US$3.7 billion) and more than 25,000 full-time equivalent staff.
The full report can be found here.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Kelly Ng
Quelle/Source: futureGov, 30.09.2013
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