The Australian Civil-Military Centre (ACMC) is evidence of Australia’s commitment to a sustainable peace and prosperity within the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Their mission is to support the development of national civil-military-police capabilities to prevent, prepare for, and respond more effectively to disasters and complex emergencies, including conflicts, overseas.
The ACMC achieves this mission through a collaborative multi-agency approach. This includes its own staff with personnel drawn from Australian Government departments as well as those of the New Zealand Government and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs). ACMC measures success by how well Australia prepares and mobilises our national efforts in response to disasters and other crises.
Challenges in complex contingencies, such as warfare, security breakdown or unrestrained violence are often complicated by contentious relationships between security actors. Humanitarian aid and protection of the civilian population from harm are complicated when mandates overlap and interests are in competition or indeed conflicting. Those seeking to provide aid or security must be first accepted by political, religious and other leaders and the community. Protection is also not quite so straight forward, as a ‘bunkering’ approach may invite attacks both physical and rhetorical. More proactive measures are similarly vulnerable to miscalculated application of force or spiralling escalation of violence. Australia’s military challenge is further complicated given the Australian Defence Force’s multi-national approach to global operations. Each national actor will come with their own intentions and limitations requiring careful understanding to navigate towards an enduring desirable outcome.
Recently, the Executive Director of the ACMC, Nicola Rosenblum, announced the launch of ACMC's newest publication ‘Same Space – Different Mandate’. Whilst the document itself speaks to an international mission and overseas, the concepts do lend themselves to military support and stability operations in the homeland. Specific military challenges include: strict military protocols that limit options, NGO reliance on military in-extremis support and protection, as well as the need for neutrality in some contentious environments. Therefore, it is vital to form a fit-for-purpose understanding of each civil-military arrangement as there is never a template or one-size-fits-all solution. Each context requires a unique and nuanced approach, this is where the ACMC can help to provide literacy and illuminate the civil-military-police-government and non-government landscape.
Nicola Rosenblum delivered some prepared remarks on the complexity of interagency collaboration on Tuesday, 18 April, at 1700h AEST, as part of the 2 DIV PME Series from the Randwick Barracks Officers Mess. In her role as Executive Director ACMC, Nicola Rosenblum brings more than two decades of experience across the Australian Government on a broad range of foreign policy, crisis response and national security issues. She served as Australia’s High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam, and has held other diplomatic postings to Australia’s High Commission in Pakistan and Australia’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna. Prior to taking up the role at ACMC, Nicola was the Deputy Head of the ANU National Security College, managing the delivery of research, international dialogues, workshops and events. Nicola has contributed to a broad range of Australian civil-military operations at headquarters and in the field, including the consular evacuation from Lebanon (2006); Medical Task Force in Pakistan (2010); Joint Agency Taskforce for Operation Sovereign Borders (2013-14); response to MH17 (2014); medical response to Ebola in West Africa (2014); humanitarian response to Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu (2015); and humanitarian response to Nepal earthquakes (2015).
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