Today’s correspondent asks if I
…can find somewhere in the legislation that requires the local Council to provide a facility for the local SES?
Another interesting question is, if not required under legislation to provide a facility, can a local Council charge a lease fee to the NSW SES for the facility it uses/occupies?
The obligations of local governments are set out in the State Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW). Section 17 says (emphasis added):
(1) The Commissioner may, on the recommendation of the council of a local government area, appoint one or more persons as a local commander for the area…
(5) The council of a local government area must, within 3 months of the appointment of a local commander for the area, provide (free of charge) suitable training facilities and storage and office accommodation to enable the local commander to exercise his or her functions.
(6) Any such facilities and accommodation are to be of a standard approved by the Commissioner.
The local commander is the ‘commander of [all] SES units in a local government area…’ (s 3). Where there is only one SES unit within a local government area, the unit commander is also the local commander (s 17A(3)). Section 17(5) makes it clear that council cannot charge a fee for the premises provided under s 17.
Australian Emergency Law 
With the new structure put in place in NSW SES, there are many areas now vacant of a “Local Commander”.
If there is only one SES unit in a local government area, the unit commander and local commander are the same person.
Would this be the same requirement for council to provide a suitable building for VRA?
No; s 17 of the State Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW) only relates to the SES. The VRA is not a government or statutory body so there is no VRA Act. The State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW) does not impose any obligation on councils to provide suitable buildings for accredited rescue squads, nor does the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW). Even if there is no obligation to provide ‘a suitable building for VRA’ for particular councils that may well be an appropriate part of the councils preparation for emergencies (State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW) s 29).
Hello Michael,
Regarding your comment in the latest article: “Where there is only one SES unit within a local government area, the unit commander is also the local commander (s 17A(3)). “
I would be curious as to your thoughts with the new Cluster structure with the SES.
A Unit within an LGA is now considered a Unit Commander, who reports to a Local Commander which is in charge of a “Cluster” of unit’s (about 2-3) across multiple LGA’s.
The Local Controller (now Local Commander) is appointed by the Councils, and now would be appointed by all the Councils within a Cluster.
Local Controllers, appointed by the SES and the local Council, have now been changed to the position of “Unit Commander”. It seems like a “Unit Commander” is really a defunct role as per the legislation. Section 17 Local Commanders and Section 17A Unit Commanders are almost identical.
Or is it simply the case that with the way it is written allows that the Commissioner can do want they like in relation to who actually runs a unit (Local Commander or Unit Commander)?
I’m not sure I understand the question.
Each SES unit has a unit commander (s 17A). Where there is more than one unit in a local government area (LGA) then the Commissioner may appoint a local commander for the entire local government area (s 17). Where there is only one unit in a local government area, the unit commander is also the local commander (s 17A(3)).
Under the earlier version of the Act there were unit and local controllers. I can’t see that the changes made on 26 October 2018 did anything but replace ‘controller’ with ‘commander’. The local controller (as it was) or commander as it now is, is not appointed by Council but by the Commissioner on the recommendation of council. Unit commander is not a defunct role, the unit commander commands a particular unit. Local commanders don’t have direct control of a unit (save where there is only one unit in the LGA) rather they have the unit commanders report to them.
As for clusters, a circular to Councils from the Office of Local Government (Circular No 18-29 / 27September 2018 / A621142, New structure for NSW State Emergency Service) says:
“In the new structure, Local Commanders are determined by clusters and not by Local Government Areas (LGAs). The Local Commander’s role is to support the Units within their cluster and facilitate collaboration within the cluster with external stakeholders.”
The word ‘cluster’ does not appear in the State Emergency Service Act 1989 (NSW).
The State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (NSW) s 27 says:
If the councils of 2 or more local government areas agree (with the approval of the Minister) to combine their emergency management arrangements under this Part, a reference in this Part:
(a) to a local government area is a reference to the combined local government areas concerned, and
(b) to the council of that combined local government area is a reference to the principal council nominated in the agreement.
There is no similar provision in the SES Act.
Presumably then, the Commissioner determines the ‘clusters’ for SES service delivery and appoints the same person as the local commander for more than one LGA. That would give that commander authority over all the units within the combined local government areas and would in effect create the local government clusters.
To return to this comment I don’t really understand the question ‘Or is it simply the case that with the way it is written allows that the Commissioner can do want they like in relation to who actually runs a unit (Local Commander or Unit Commander)?’ A unit is run by a unit commander. If there is only one unit in the local government area and no local commander is appointed, the unit commander is the local commander. I also cannot see that this is any different to when they were called unit and local controllers.