COUNTER-TERRORISM & STATE SECURITY
Exercise Management
In September 2005, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) considered the usefulness of exercise programs in enhancing preparedness for terrorism. This consideration was prompted by the effectiveness of the United Kingdom's response to the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London, which demonstrated the value of the regular 'drill-style' exercises. COAG agreed to refocus the exercise regime in light of the lessons learned from the London attacks.
An Exercise Steering Committee with representation from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Fire and Emergency Services Authority and Western Australia Police oversees the development and implementation of an exercise program that tests the State's consequence management capability. This program is integrated with existing exercise arrangements conducted under the auspices of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee and exercises organised as part of the State's emergency management arrangements.
The Office of State Security and Emergency Coordination has established an exercise management capability and coordinates the State's counter-terrorism drill-style exercise program.
Completed Drill Exercises
Drill 207
Undertaken in September 2007, this Drill validated safety and evacuation strategies for the new Southern Suburbs Railway infrastructure, specifically the new tunnels and underground stations in the Perth CBD.
Drill 307
This was a “no notice” drill to test Western Australia Police (WAPOL) response to a terrorist incident in the State's south west.
Drill 107
To practise and validate the response procedures of Westralian Airports Corporation, Australian Federal Police, other Commonwealth Government agencies and Western Australian Police to an incident at Perth International Airport.
Drill 206
This was a “no notice” drill to test Western Australia Police (WAPOL) real time deployment procedures in response to a terrorist incident in Karratha.
In addition the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) tested their Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) notification and response procedures for an incident in a remote location.
Drill 106
To test Public Transport Authority (PTA) Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to possible terrorist related incidents on a train and a bus at two (2) disparate locations.
The train scenario assisted PTA officers to test their immediate response and train evacuation SOPs, while the bus scenario tested PTA procedures to isolate a suspected explosive device and then the successful disarming of that device by WAPOL.
Multi-jurisdictional Exercises
The National Counter-Terrorism Committee regularly conducts multi-jurisdictional exercises to test and evaluate national strategic level coordination. Western Australia participated in exercises conducted in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Western Australia, together with Queensland, was a principal participant in another multi-jurisdictional counter-terrorism exercise in October 2008. The deployment phase of the exercise, titled Mercury 08, tested frontline response agencies and whole of government strategic decision-making and coordination arrangements.