Senator Brown asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 24 November 1998:

(1) Has Emergency Management Australia (EMA) assessed the likelihood of disruption or emergency posed by the `millennium bug'; if so, can a copy of the analysis be provided.

(2) What steps has EMA taken to develop contingency plans for such emergencies.

(3) (a) Who has been consulted in developing contingency plans; and (b) what agencies and community organisations would be involved.

(4) What funding has been allocated to strengthen the capacity of the community to respond to contingencies or emergencies created by `Y2K'.

Senator Newman (Family and Community Services; Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women) —The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The protection of life and property is the responsibility of State and Territory Governments and, on behalf of the Commonwealth, Emergency Management Australia (EMA) has been working with peak State and Territory emergency management bodies to assess the likelihood of disruption to community lifelines due to Year 2000 remediation failures. A national workshop to share strategies for reducing the risks to health and safety of the community and for managing the consequences of remediation failures was held on 10-11 December 1998. State and Territory emergency managers noted that the extent and duration of the effects of failures are unknown but were hopeful that effects would not be catastrophic and that, with adequate funding, they could be dealt with. Notwithstanding, given that there is uncertainty, contingency planning should be based on the worst case.

(2) The main responsibility for developing contingency plans rests with States and Territories. However, EMA will be developing a sub-plan to the Commonwealth Government Disaster Response Plan (COMDISPLAN) to ensure that the Commonwealth Government is prepared to respond to Year 2000 specific requests from States and Territories for Commonwealth Government assistance.

(3) (a) In developing a contingency plan EMA has undertaken preliminary consultation with Commonwealth agencies through the Commonwealth Counter Disaster Task Force and with State and Territory emergency management agencies.

(b) The main government agencies being consulted are the Office for Government Online at the Commonwealth level and State and Territory emergency management peak bodies. No direct community consultation is planned by EMA as this will be undertaken by State and Territory emergency management agencies in developing their plans.

(4) EMA has not received any additional funding for Y2K planning. Costs for activities conducted to date have been met from within existing resource allocations or on a shared basis with States and Territories.