MESSAGE FROM THE PREMIER

David Bartlett Premier Chair, Ministerial Security Committee

Keeping Tasmanians safe is a high priority for my Government. We are constantly working to improve our security and ensure that emergency services are adequately equipped to respond to terrorist threats.

This website outlines some of the activities of Government and provides information for individuals and businesses in relation to security. We hope that it will be a valuable resource for all Tasmanians.

INTRODUCTION

Jack Johnston Commissioner of Police Chair, State Emergency Management Committee

Many Tasmanians will remember the bushfires in 1967, the Mt St Canice explosion in 1974 and the Tasman Bridge collapse in 1975. More recently, in 1996, we faced the tragedy of the Port Arthur massacre.

These incidents affected us all very deeply but our emergency services learned valuable lessons from their experiences. By 2001 our emergency management arrangements were the most effective in Australia. Committees have been created at all levels of the community to plan for, and manage, disasters. Overseeing the work of these committees is the State Emergency Management Committee.

The terrorist attacks of September 2001 in the USA and in Bali in October 2002 caused us to re-examine our assumptions about the nature and immediacy of the terrorist threat to Australia.

In Tasmania we established the State Security Unit to facilitate the development of whole-of-government policies relating to counter-terrorism and enhance operational capabilities for prevention, response and recovery in relation to terrorist threats.

The level of counter-terrorism alert in Australia is at MEDIUM under the National Counter-Terrorism Alert System and the security arrangements we have in place are directly related to this level of alert.

This website includes information on some of these security arrangements, including measures for protecting your home and business, and guidelines for the handling and reporting of suspicious post and parcels.

The site also provides links to other sites that contain information that will help us to minimise the risk to Tasmania. The site will be continually updated.