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Keeping the task clear

Louise Butcher spoke with CDF General Peter Cosgrove about the beginnings of Operation Sumatra Assist.

Sapper Dave Duckett, from the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, fills a water purification bladder in Banda Aceh. Photo by AB Phil Cullinan, 1JPAU

When did you first hear the news of the tsunami?

Like all other Australians, my first notice of the tsunami was from the early news bulletins on Boxing Day [December 26], that there had been a seismic event somewhere in our region and then, after that, of course, further news bulletin updates.

We first appreciated how serious it was in the late hours of Boxing Day, leading into the early hours of the morning of the 27th. Then it became plain from the media footage of Phuket and Sri Lanka that the outcome of the undersea earthquake had been a major series of tsunamis in the region.

I came to the belief that it would have implications for the Australian Government and particularly for Defence in the early hours of the morning of the 27th.

What was your immediate response and thought processes on hearing of the disaster?

Sadly we are now becoming experienced at assessing and reacting to disasters, following the tsunami that hit Papua New Guinea in mid-1998, the various other natural disasters over the past couple of years and, of course, our need to react very quickly to the terrorist bombs in Bali.

In these situations, speed is of the essence and you can bet that certain humanitarian stores will always be needed, such as medicines, bandages, drinking containers, water purification materials and expedient shelter.

To that, you can add generally a high priority for our marvellous medics, doctors, nurses, preventative health workers and, of course, communicators to pass back updated information and requests.

So that's what we did. Just as we have done on several earlier occasions in recent times, Air Force leapt in to action, preparing, loading and dispatching C-130s, while we also looked at what would be needed for follow-on support.

I have to stress that even though we in Defence have this clear idea of what would be useful from within our resources, and we worked hard to prepare and send our people and our equipment, we had to coordinate this with a number of other government departments to ensure that we also supported them and did not have gaps or too much overlap.

What did you do up to the point that Australian troops started moving into action?

In all of these military operations, my job is to achieve the best clarity of what it is we have to do, then to give clear instructions to the best people to get the job done by establishing responsibilities, priorities, coordinating and supporting roles and timelines.

Once I do that, my job is to be in touch with what is happening, to monitor it, to be available for further consultation where change may be necessary and to be able to report at any time necessary to Government.

That, in a nutshell, is what you do to start with and that process repeats many times during any protracted operation.

A word on our people - I don't think anyone ever gets sick of being told when they have done a good job, so this should be no exception. Everybody, and I mean everybody, who had a role to play in this operation - the most important natural disaster relief operation offshore that the ADF has ever conducted - everybody performed flawlessly.

After 40 years' service and many years involved in planning and conducting operations, I have never been more proud than I was of the public's admiration for what our people did and how they went about it.

The relief effort in Aceh will soon change to being a reconstruction task. While the ADF is ready to play any part desired by our Government and the Indonesian Government, I suspect that effort will rest mostly in civilian hands.

But in case any of us in uniform think that this will involve a significant shrinkage in our operational commitment, I would say things like the tsunami show that you should always be ready.

With assistance from Tina Turner, Strategic Communications Adviser to CDF.

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