Exercise Deerubbin

Large-scale exercise management

The State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) conducted a strategic review in 2018. Exercise themes and priorities will now be tied to the State Risk Assessment and regularly occurring hazards (flood, storm and bushfire) will be exercised at the catastrophic level to test planning, capability and capacity assumptions. These exercise priorities and themes will be cascaded to regional and local levels.

Exercise Deerubbin 2019 was conducted by Risk-e Business Consultants, in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Management, after 10 weeks of planning and writing, over three distinct phases involving Response, Mass Care Facility and Recovery. The exercise was designed to test command and control, consequence management and recovery arrangements resulting from catastrophic flooding of the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system.

Phase 1 (Response)

Phase 1 of the operation was conducted on the 18th June 2019 with the State Emergency Operations Centre and NSW SES State Operations being activated in Wollongong and the SES Sydney Metropolitan Zone activated at Sydney Olympic Park. In total over three (300) staff played an active role in this eight-hour Exercise. Over three hundred injects exercised the command and control structures of the SES but also communication with other combat agencies and liaison officers. This was the first time that the SEOC was activated and exercised in Wollongong and also the first time that the NSW SES exercised the Sydney Metro Zone at Sydney Olympic Park. The Exercise included two mock media simulations involving the Bureau of Meteorology, SES and State Emergency Operations Controller.

Phase 2 (Mass Care Facility)

Phase 2 (Mass Care Facility) was conducted on the 26th June 2019, involving the activation of a Mass Care Facility.

Risk-e Business Consultants exercised over 600 participants (agencies and role players) over an eight-hour period to simulate a Mass Care Facility operation. This was the first time in NSW that such a facility had been exercised on such a large scale. Many valuable lessons were learned.

Phase 3 (Recovery)

Phase 3 (Recovery) was held on the 3rd July 2019 at Sydney Olympic Park with approximately 100 participants representing local councils, state and commonwealth agencies, not-for-profits, and the private sector. The workshop was to better understand the catastrophic impacts of such a large-scale event along with the resources required for a recovery effort to occur.

The lessons learned will be documented in a final report to the SEMC. This exercise is also a foundation stone to a national program to be held in NSW later this year.