Coming together to counter terrorism

Editorial: Jesse Wray-McCann

Photography: Jesse Wray-McCann and Australian Defence Force

It's a fictional scenario that was played out in a very real way — Victoria Police uncover a terrorism plot to attack Australia's largest power station, so they call on the might of the Australian Defence Force to help protect.

The simulation was the setting of a major joint training exercise designed to refine the response of Victoria Police and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to domestic terrorism incidents.

More than 250 Victoria Police, ADF and Department of Home Affairs personnel descended upon the Loy Yang Power Station in the Latrobe Valley over three days in October, as part of Exercise Southern Magpie 19.

The exercise was run to test recent legislative changes that make it easier for states and territories to request ADF support in response to ongoing or anticipated situations on Australian soil, such as a terrorist incident.

Loy Yang Power Station is crucial to the nation’s electricity network, so in the scenario, Victoria Police called upon the ADF and Home Affairs to help protect the power station and thwart the threat.

With help from role-playing personnel, police and soldiers joined together over the three days to act out situations such as cordon and search operations and vehicle checkpoints.

Victoria Police’s Counter Terrorism Command Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther said the aim of the exercise was to have Victoria Police lead the response, backed up by the ADF and Home Affairs.

Police and army personnel worked side by side to enhance the way they protect Victoria.

On top of frontline police and army personnel working together, Victoria Police’s Special Operations Group was involved along with police and ADF legal teams.

“From top to bottom, we have learned a lot at each of those levels on how we can work together,” AC Guenther said.

“The more practice we do around this, testing our own arrangements in practical terms, it is going to make it safer for our community.”

Police and army personnel worked side by side to enhance the way they protect Victoria.

Throughout the exercise, participants in both the blue of police and the camouflage green of the army were constantly talking over the intricacies of how their different units approach certain situations and how their interoperability can strengthen their response.

Discussions included the optimal positioning of police vehicles and army troops, how the different radio systems worked, and even the differences in police and army speak.

ADF Wing Commander John Leo, one of the main exercise organisers, said the ADF learned a lot from Victoria Police.

“In some ways, the police and ADF are very similar, and in other ways, they’re actually quite different,” Wing Commander Leo said.

Exercise Southern Magpie 19 involved police and army personnel acting out a fictional terrorism threat scenario.

“The police are used to operating in and around the Australian public and generally the ADF is not.”

He said the ADF made it their aim as part of the exercise to “blend with the blue”.

“In a crawl, walk, run sense, this is very much a crawling exercise,” he said.

“The legislation is only a few months old, so this is about developing those initial procedures.”

Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr visited Loy Yang along with Victoria Police’s Specialist Operations Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam to see the new legislation in action.

“This has been a great chance to get together and test out how we can work together,” Lieutenant General Burr said.

“Victoria Police is always highly professional and to see the levels of cooperation here is inspiring.”

Loy Yang Power Plant in the Latrobe Valley was the scene of the large counter terrorism training exercise.