Q&A: perspectives from the sector

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SECTOR

STUART ELLIS AM

Chief Executive Officer, AFAC In this regular series, AFAC CEO Stuart Ellis usually interviews a senior AFAC leader. However, on the cusp of Stuart’s retirement, AFAC President Paul Baxter has turned the tables and asks Stuart to reflect upon his career, his professional observations and the future.

Right Stuart Ellis addresses delegates at the annual AFAC Conference and Exhibition event. You’ve had a highly distinguished and dedicated career spanning 40 years of service to Australia as both a Senior Executive Leader and Senior Defence Officer. What have some of the highlights been? The sense of service is something I have been very comfortable with and proud to deliver. Much of that service both in Defence and with emergency services has been, to some degree, out of the spotlight. This provided me the opportunity to build levels of preparedness and readiness, which is a great contribution to our way of life in Australia, ultimately generating community resilience. Perversely, some of the career highlights for me have been reviewing events that were disasters: the Defence Inquiry into Black Hawk collision in 1996; the review of Canberra bushfires in 2003; the Victorian Black Saturday Royal Commission in 2009; and the review of Christchurch earthquake in 2011. Deploying overseas with Defence was also significant and my time in Somalia left strong impressions. The last nine years with AFAC has been an honour, and I am very grateful for the opportunity.

You’ve witnessed a great deal of change in the fire and emergency services industry. What are some of the most significant, and what do you think some of the key changes will be over the next 40 years? We are a conservative lot and find change challenging. Projecting 40 years ahead is quite an ask. Over the last ten years we have progressed our national arrangements, through the Commissioners and Chief Officers Strategic Committee, the AFAC National Resource Sharing Centre, improved aerial firefighting capabilities, better integration with Emergency Management Australia and the Federal Government as examples. We need to become more engaged in generating community resilience and I see that as a future trend—shifting more to mitigation and integration into community. Technology will present opportunities over the next 40 years we have not yet imagined and so we

PHOTO: AFAC need to become more comfortable with change, while remaining focused on community safety.

The recent Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements (RCNNDA) ‘forensically’ inquired into AFAC’s role in emergency preparedness and response. What do you think were the takeaway lessons, and what do you think AFAC members should be proud of? I doubt AFAC has undergone greater scrutiny than during the RCNNDA. We came through that largely unscathed. While the Commissioners were clearly uncomfortable that many of the functions undertaken by AFAC were not occurring in government, in the end they made no recommendations for this to change and the Federal Government endorsed the current arrangements. AFAC works very well drawing together 33 agencies across nine jurisdictions and, when it is appropriate to do so, progressing national projects, initiatives and responses. AFAC maximises the opportunities for the fire and emergency sector, and we should be proud of that.

You leave a tremendous and unparalleled legacy of achievement, having improved the lives of so many. All of us wish you, your wife Jo and your family the very best for the future, and a happy and healthy retirement. Any retirement plans (once COVID-19 restrictions lift and you can leave your house!) that you’d like to share? We are keen gardeners and while that may sound pedestrian, we are planning a largely self-sustaining home and garden in SA, so we are looking forward to developing that. We are also keen travellers and with one son in the UK with a grandchild on the way, that will be a priority. I have also been with Rotary for almost 20 years and will be living near the local CFS Brigade, so that may also be a calling. Finally, we love walking with the dog and that keeps us fit and on the move.

PHOTO: AFAC

You’ve been instrumental in many improvements to the industry. In your view, what are some of the key challenges it will need to overcome? Better accepting diversity and inclusion and changing our collective culture to accommodate women is a major challenge that will not be resolved quickly and will require sustained effort from the top down and the bottom up. We need to accept more women into our sector and this, in turn, will help us better reflect the communities we serve, improve our mental health and provide greater opportunities to improve our operational capability.

We need to be more data savvy. While we collect the data that individual agencies need, we are not good at analysing that nationally and promoting to governments and communities what we do and how we are making communities safer. In today’s world, data will do this better than anything else and we need to focus on using it effectively, or risk being left behind.

We also need to identify what we need to recognise them as such through our Emergency Management Professionalisation Scheme (EMPS). Be proud of the skills and currency we maintain and have it recognised through EMPS.

agencies cannot achieve alone and ask AFAC to help. AFAC is very effective at bringing agencies and jurisdictions together to progress issues. At a time when the Federation is being challenged, using AFAC to work together to progress the sector is a real opportunity.

You led the establishment of the Champions of Change Fire and Emergency Group and initiated the National Emergency Memorial Service in Canberra, just to name a couple of your many achievements, what are you personally most proud of achieving in your career? Improving the professional standing of fire and emergency services. We need to elevate our thinking and stop considering fire and emergency activities as vocational training only. Incident management and many other specialist tasks (aviation management, urban search and rescue, technical search and rescue, fire behaviour analysis) demand professional skills and

Above Stuart Ellis visits the Singapore Civil Defence Academy. International collaboration has increasingly become part of AFAC’s remit. Left Stuart Ellis initiated the annual National Memorial Service and the Memorial Wall in Canberra.