The Framework is underpinned by the following principles and administrative arrangements to assist Australian Government decision-makers navigate priorities and decision-making in time-limited and challenging situations. These principles and arrangements should be considered and applied in all supporting documents identified in the Framework’s hierarchy of documents, including all national plans (see Figure 1).

The Framework:

• contributes to:
  • protecting lives and reducing harm
  • protecting property and the environment and safeguarding national interests and assets, including the protection of Country and cultural heritage sites
  • providing national leadership and maintaining public trust and confidence in government systems
  • national capability sharing and prioritisation
  • continuous improvement of Australia’s crisis coordination arrangements
• promotes a unity of effort across Australian, state and territory governments, civil society and the private sector
• acknowledges human rights considerations to ensure that measures enacted during crises are necessary, reasonable and proportionate
• acknowledges community at the core of response and recovery and the consideration of the needs of Australians who may be disproportionately at risk of harm
• acknowledges the importance of recognising and engaging with First Nations people and their communities before, during and after crises, in keeping with clauses 59(f), 62 and 64 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap²
• supports near-term crisis planning and preparedness, immediate crisis response and early recovery arrangements for events that impact Australians and Australian interests, domestically and internationally
• is underpinned by the principle of subsidiarity³ and supports state and territory government crisis response and early recovery
• takes an all-hazards approach to crisis management
• is for significant imminent, current and future crises
• is a scalable and adaptable model that supports a coordinated approach across domestic and international crises.

Footnotes

2. The National Agreement on Closing the Gap is available at the Closing the Gap website.Return to footnote 2↩
3. Subsidiarity refers to the proximity of government to the community. The principle of subsidiarity is a core feature of federalism. Under a federal system such as in Australia, powers are distributed between a central government and regional governments.Return to footnote 3↩