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Speaker 1: This embedded meteorologist has been appointed within the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Fire and Emergency Services. Now the roles supported by funding

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Speaker 1: from the Australian Government's Disaster Ready Fund, and it's established

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Speaker 1: under a thirty six month service agreement with the Bureau

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Speaker 1: of Meteorology. It seems like a sensible move to me,

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Speaker 1: and I guess we're all sort of wondering what exactly

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Speaker 1: is this position going to mean for our fire and

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Speaker 1: emergency services. Well, I am pleased to say that. Joining

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Speaker 1: me live in the studio is Andy Wharton, the Commissioner

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Speaker 1: of NT Fire and Emergency Services. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Wonderful to have you in the studio. Now, tell me

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Speaker 1: how is this embedding of the meteorologists from the Bureau.

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Speaker 1: How does it sort of change the way that you

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Speaker 1: guys respond to some of those big weather events that

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Speaker 1: we have in the NT.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, Katie, since we moved away from police into

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Speaker 2: our own standload agency, we've really taken the focus that

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Speaker 2: we're an all hazards agency, so we're dealing with all

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Speaker 2: sorts of hazards. Mother Nature's changing, right, the seasons are

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Speaker 2: starting to merge. Fires one day floods, the next, cyclones

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Speaker 2: the next We've always had the support from the Bureau

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Speaker 2: of Meteorology. We have had an excellent working relationship with them,

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Speaker 2: but this is taking it to the next level. So

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Speaker 2: embedding the meteorologists into our agency means that we can

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Speaker 2: use that resource whatever the hazard of the day is,

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Speaker 2: so we can move it around as we need and

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Speaker 2: we can use the experience of Billy you know, who's

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Speaker 2: got two decades plus of experience in Northern Australia and

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Speaker 2: Central Australia to make safer communities.

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Speaker 1: Basically, a lot of people will know Billy Lynch. He's

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Speaker 1: been around the traps for quite some time, hasn't he.

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Speaker 1: He's the blog that we speak to at different times

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Speaker 1: when there is a weather event. Look to me, Andy,

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Speaker 1: it seems like common sense, you know. It sort of seems,

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Speaker 1: you know, like a really good move so that then

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Speaker 1: anti emergency services you've got that information, they're ready to go.

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Speaker 1: I know, like you said, you work really closely with

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Speaker 1: the Bureau, But I think that it means that you're

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Speaker 1: able to be a bit more agile and fast moving.

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Speaker 1: I guess it does.

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Speaker 2: And it's not just in times of response. That's the

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Speaker 2: other thing. I mean, we cover the whole spectrum. We prepare,

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Speaker 2: we plan, we prevent, we respond, so we can use

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Speaker 2: that resource in the intelligence gathering stage to start to

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Speaker 2: force us. We've got to start looking more over the

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Speaker 2: horizon at what's coming and not. You know, we always

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Speaker 2: have to respond, but the over the horizon stuff is

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Speaker 2: where we're taking this agency, and this embedded meteorologist is

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Speaker 2: the start of that.

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Speaker 1: What do you reckon? It'll mean sort of in that

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Speaker 1: real practical sense day to day as well.

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Speaker 2: Well, it'll mean a lot of things. One of the

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Speaker 2: key aspects is we'll actually have that person in the

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Speaker 2: emergency operations center during the event, dedicated to the event

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Speaker 2: for the duration of the event. And that's something we've

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Speaker 2: never had. Look, other states are doing it. We're not

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Speaker 2: claiming a world first, we're certainly claiming a territory first.

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Speaker 2: It's worked across the board in other states, and we

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Speaker 2: have no doubt that it's going to work with us.

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Speaker 1: So tell me, I mean, how's it going to work

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Speaker 1: then in terms of in terms of funding and for

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Speaker 1: what period of time are you then going to have

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Speaker 1: Billy there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we've got a three year agreement of thirty

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Speaker 2: six month agreement and the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: government of each put in four hundred and ninety five

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars, so it's a fifty to fifty split.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So we've been talking a little bit this morning as

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Speaker 1: well about the rain radars and the fact that some

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Speaker 1: of those different radars aren't working in some of our

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Speaker 1: more remote areas at the moment. I know that that well,

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Speaker 1: my understanding is that falls under the responsibility of the

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Speaker 1: Bureau and some of that federal funding. But does it

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Speaker 1: make it difficult when some of those radars aren't working,

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Speaker 1: or aren't or there's not one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, obviously, wherever the technology is working across Australia,

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Speaker 2: it benefits everything in the whole cycle of emergency response.

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Speaker 2: So there's lots of technology out there, there's lots of

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Speaker 2: radars across Australia and they're all really important. But we

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Speaker 2: acknowledge that, you know, there's always as technology moves, there's

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Speaker 2: always room to keep improving.

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Speaker 1: And I guess in the meantime, you know, while that

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Speaker 1: advocacy work will happen, no doubt about that. In two

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Speaker 1: of these radars, do you think that when you look

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Speaker 1: at some of those more remote communities and more regional areas.

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Speaker 1: I know the Bureau keeps a close eye on them anyway.

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Speaker 1: But when it comes to emergency response, then is having

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Speaker 1: that sort of practical measure by having Billy Lynch in

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Speaker 1: there as a meteorologist for you guys, will that help unequivocally.

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Speaker 2: And it comes back to the two p's in the equation,

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Speaker 2: the prevention and the preparedness. You know, in the times

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Speaker 2: when it's not flooded, we can start to really crunch

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Speaker 2: some of the data, We can start to really do

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Speaker 2: the work and start to be a lot more predictive.

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Speaker 2: Having the resource in the house will will increase our

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Speaker 2: predictive capability.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, now, Andy Wharton, you are indeed the Commissioner of

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Speaker 1: NT Fire and Emergency Services. But mate, you've just come back.

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Speaker 1: You've just thought out from being in Antarctica, haven't you?

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Speaker 2: How I have.

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Speaker 1: It would have taken you about five minutes to thaw

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Speaker 1: out when you got back.

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Speaker 2: I came back at half a day off and was

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Speaker 2: into cyclone Fenus. Nature didn't give us a lot of choice.

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Speaker 1: Oh goodness me, what was that experience?

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Speaker 2: Like, Katie? As close to going to space as you

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Speaker 2: will ever get on Earth. It was an astronomical experience

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Speaker 2: landscape wise, but also people wise. You know, being on

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Speaker 2: the edge of the earth through the dark of a winter,

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Speaker 2: responsible for thirty three people in a place where you

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Speaker 2: can't get out of unless there's an absolute emergency. It

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Speaker 2: just changes your whole perspective on what it means to

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Speaker 2: run a small operational team and what it means to

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Speaker 2: look after your people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so then how do you like in terms of

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Speaker 1: your skill that you gain as well or on you know,

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Speaker 1: going away on a mission like that, How does that

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Speaker 1: skill sort of come back, do you think and you

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Speaker 1: translated into the job that you're doing now.

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Speaker 2: The people side, absolutely, but also just that experience of

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Speaker 2: running a station and having to do everything yourself. So

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Speaker 2: we made our own water, we had our own emergency

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Speaker 2: response teams, we had our own fire crews. Twenty four

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Speaker 2: to seven. Everyone had three or four different jobs and

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Speaker 2: you were absolutely self sufficient. And you know the takeaway,

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Speaker 2: it's community, right. That place functioned because we were a

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Speaker 2: community again with emergencies preparing responding. Places function when the

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Speaker 2: community shares the responsibility, and that's what emergency management is, right,

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Speaker 2: It's a shared responsibility here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, and there's always so much going on around the place,

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Speaker 1: I mean here in the Northern Territory at the moment,

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Speaker 1: even we had been keeping a really close eye on

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Speaker 1: things in Central Australia. How is that all going from

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Speaker 1: your perspective right now?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so broadly speaking, that system is continuing to move south.

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Speaker 2: I'm told this morning that the conditions are easy in

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs as well. But obviously, you know, the wet

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Speaker 2: season's not over, the high risk weather season's not over,

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Speaker 2: and as you said before, these events they're starting to

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Speaker 2: become more frequent. They're concurrent, their consecutive and in some

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Speaker 2: cases they're compounding as we've just seen.

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Speaker 1: Well it's been a really busy sort of wet season

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Speaker 1: this year as well, you know cyclone Fena of course,

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Speaker 1: and we've had just lots of other sort of smaller events,

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Speaker 1: even in Alice Springs, the flooding a couple of weeks ago.

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Speaker 1: How are you guys going then, in terms of all

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Speaker 1: your volunteers, jin always looking for more volunteers, always.

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Speaker 2: Looking for more volunteers, and under this standload agency, you

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Speaker 2: know there's the options are plentiful. You know, there's Ntest volunteers,

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Speaker 2: there's Anti Fine Rescue Service volunteers and auxiliaries as well,

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Speaker 2: and then there's bushfires in TA volunteers. So we are

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Speaker 2: always on the outlook for volunteers. And look, I mean

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Speaker 2: the whole agency has been remarkable during all of these events,

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Speaker 2: but you've got to give the shout out to the volunteers.

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Speaker 2: They turn up after hours, they leave their jobs, they

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Speaker 2: leave their families. You know, we've had volunteers down at

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Speaker 2: the search near channel point.

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Speaker 1: Of course, how's that going this morning?

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Speaker 2: Actually I was advised just before coming in here that

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Speaker 2: they've actually located the person.

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Speaker 1: Fantastic and she's alive and okay.

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Speaker 2: As far as far as we know yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Right, definitely alive. That is really good to hear, Commissioner

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Speaker 1: obviously just going through that right now, so we know

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Speaker 1: that there had been search and rescue crews working through

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Speaker 1: the night to find sixty nine year old Sonya. And

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Speaker 1: she was with her dog as well, wasn't she understand

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Speaker 1: she was hopefully still I'm assuming they're both still together.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, just as I was out the door, that was well.

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Speaker 1: I'm really pleased to hear that g I hope she's

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Speaker 1: all right. Andrew Wharton, the Commissioner of NTY Foreign Emergency Services,

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Speaker 1: wonderful to catch up with you. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Cotie, thank you,