REGISTER - Casual National Situation Room Operations (Shift Positions) - 2026/2027

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was established on 1 September 2022 as a single, accountable Commonwealth authority that delivers a whole-of-nation approach to reducing disaster risk, planning, preparing for, responding to and recovering from all hazards across the emergency management continuum. 

NEMA works closely with states and territories to deliver the best outcome for communities across Australia. To help communities respond and recover, while preparing Australia for future emergencies, we:

• Fund programs and initiatives, big and small, that help communities in times of emergency, as well as to recover and prepare, including through disaster recovery funding and the Disaster Ready Fund to help reduce the risk and impact of disasters
• Have officers located across Australia, working in partnership with states and territories to support disaster-affected communities to collectively build resilience, reduce risk and harm, and effectively respond to and recover from disasters
• Provide national leadership to share knowledge, situational awareness, and trends in disaster efforts to inform, guide and shape the national picture and decision-making at the Commonwealth, state and local government level – including through policy development and strategy to improve risk reduction, resilience and recovery
• Provide round-the-clock all-hazards monitoring and operational coordination for domestic and international emergencies, including supply chain disruptions, critical infrastructure outages, biosecurity risks and widespread cyber-attacks, and through supporting preparedness and response activities, including through the operationalisation of the Australian Government Crisis Management Framework.

For further information on NEMA’s purpose, vision and values, please see About us | NEMA 

Overview of the branch and section:

National Crisis Operations Branch (NCOB) structure includes four sections and additional embedded capabilities from other Australian Government departments and agencies. The largest section, National Situation Room (NSR) Operations, is made up of seven teams; five of which provide 24/7 situational awareness of potential crisis incidents.

The NSR monitors and reports on emerging, current and predicted hazards to support decision making across the Commonwealth, states and territories and industry. The majority of NSR work relates to monitoring and reporting on natural disaster events across Australia (flood, bushfire, cyclone, heatwave and earthquakes) and includes a strong focus on weather forecast and relationships with the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia. Under an ‘all-hazards' remit, the NSR also conducts monitoring and reporting on security incidents including cyber, significant demonstrations, impacts to critical infrastructure, space weather and space debris re-entry.

The NSR issues SMS, verbal and written notifications on all-hazard emergency events to key government and jurisdictional stakeholders. Increasingly this information is available to our stakeholders through the National Joint Common Operating Picture (NJCOP), a web-based platform which provides decision makers with near real-time, automated, situational awareness and decision support for nationally significant hazard events.

The NSR houses the National Security Hotline (NSH), a public facing phone and email line for reporting concerns of national security to law enforcement agencies for further investigation. The NSH operator role is a significant component of the NSR Officer position.

The Crisis Intelligence Section (CIS) assesses hazard drivers, trends and forecasts to anticipate crises and their first and second-order consequences before they occur. CIS produces intelligence to enable NEMA and its partners to effectively pre-position attention and resources and trigger timely and appropriate assistance.

The Crisis Planning Section (CPS) contributes to executive decision support through specialist analytical and planning capabilities, including coordination of the Crisis Coordination Team (CCT).

The Capability and Readiness Section (CRS) support the rest of the branch with culture and retention initiatives, recruitment, budget management, facilities support, project management, change management, professional development opportunities, and mental and health wellbeing initiatives.

About the role:

The NSR is scalable from steady state monitoring to coordination of reporting across current and emerging hazards and disasters. NSR positions are designated shift work roles, and the occupants are required to perform duties on a 24/7 rotational roster, including days, nights, weekends and public holidays, and are remunerated in line with these shift work requirements. Staff may be required to perform higher duties to fill operational vacancies. All NSR Officers will be assigned across both ‘Operational Support’ and ‘National Security Hotline’ skill sets.

At times staff within NEMA may be required to work outside of standard business hours, particularly during the higher risk weather season.

Our ideal candidate:

We are seeking highly motivated, curious, critical thinkers who enjoy working in a rapidly evolving environment. You will have a high standard of oral and written communication with a developed ability to liaise with, coordinate and support multiple internal and external stakeholders.

Working in the NSR is often high-pressured and unpredictable and is best suited to team players who are flexible, resilient and able to quickly grasp new concepts. A high level of computer literacy will support your work across several online systems including utilising open-source media platforms and search terms, databases and incident management systems. An interest in emergency management and natural disasters will drive your ability to learn across a broad scope of subject content.

We encourage applications from First Nations people, people with disability, LGBTQIA+ people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, mature age people and people from other diverse backgrounds. We are committed to providing a working environment that values diversity and inclusion and supports staff to reach their full potential.

• Monitor incoming agency feeds, open-source media and the NSR's information systems on both emergency management and national security events, to inform development of briefing and analytical products for senior executive decision makers, Australian Government and jurisdictional agencies
• Draft written information products based on collected information
• Produce maps, diagrams, graphs and written reports to inform NSR briefing and analytical products
• Support the Crisis Coordination Team undertake other tasks related to the role, including project work, as directed by the NSR Shift Leader, Assistant Shift Leader and Senior Officers
• Participate in crisis response planning meetings as required
• Take NSH calls relating to matters of national security and accurately record and report that information
• Prepare and log information accurately into the NSH database and forward to relevant agencies.

Role requirements/qualifications:

• Must be able to obtain and maintain an AGSVA Negative Vetting 1 security clearance and must have the ability to satisfy AFP building access requirements
• Ability to work as a high performing team member in high pressure situations, with rapidly changing priorities
• Availability to work full 12hr shifts, on rotations over days and nights, working in a 24/7 operating environment
• Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to apply critical thinking to problem solving
• Demonstrated ability to navigate information technology applications such as online databases, geospatial products and social media platforms
• Ability to process content which may be confronting, challenging and or triggering including terrorism, natural disasters, child sexual abuse material, domestic violence and mental health issues.

To be eligible to work with the NEMA you must:

• Be an Australian Citizen
• Fulfil the Agency's minimum requirements by satisfactorily answering all screening questions during the application process and successfully undergo a National Police Check
• Obtain and maintain a Negative Vetting Level 1 (AGSVA) security clearance
• Satisfy a probation period (if applicable)
• Undergo a health assessment (if applicable).

Remuneration: The Agency offers an attractive remuneration package, including salary, superannuation benefits and flexible working conditions appropriate to the level of the position.

If you have identified as having a disability, please indicate whether you require any support throughout the selection process. For further information please contact Recruitment.

If you will not have access to your agency email during the process of this requisition, please advise the contact officer and provide alternate contact information.