Login
iscover
The Australian Defence Force has approved the request from NSW Police for defence assistance amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Greater Sydney, Defence Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The request from NSW Police was received by Defence from Emergency Management Australia via the NSW State Emergency Operations Centre.
It is expected that some 300 Defence Force personnel will deploy to support the police in coming days.
The deployment will begin on Friday, 30 July, with training over to be conducted over the weekend, before deploying to support the NSW Police.
There are currently 250 Defence members supporting the COVID-19 response program in NSW, with 1,385 helping the COVID-19 effort across Australia.
The NSW government welcomed the invitation from the police, acknowledging the close partnership between the emergency services and Defence Force.
“There is a longstanding and highly-professional relationship between the NSW Police Force and the ADF,” Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said.
“As I have said previously, support from the Army will add another line of defence to the NSW government’s crackdown on COVID-19 compliance.
“The Army’s unique skills and training have combined many times with those of our police officers to serve the people of NSW in times of crisis, such as the floods and severe bushfires we’ve experienced in recent years.
“This will be a functional, effective and dynamic team to fight this pandemic.”
[Related: NSW Police Commissioner requests ADF support]
