ISSUE 107 : Jul/Aug - 1994 - Australian Defence Force Journal

46 AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL NO. 107 JULY/AUGUST 1994A "hostage" is executed and the Special Operations Team go in.cooperation. SAC-PAV is widely regarded as one ofthe most successful Commonwealth/State cooperativeforums.Membership includes senior representatives of allpolice services, senior officials of the State Premiers'Departments and the Territories Chief Ministers'Departments and senior Commonwealth officers fromthe Departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.the Attorney General, and the Australian DefenceForce. Other Commonwealth departments and agenciesserve the committee as advisers, including theAustralian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).the Australian Protective Service (APS) and Departmentsof Finance and Transport and Communications(Aviation Security). Recently, the Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade and the New ZealandPolice and Prime Ministers Department were grantedobserver status.Through SAC-PAV, the Commonwealth and theStates have sought to enhance the national capabilityto deal with terrorism by developing and testing thearrangements necessary for a joint Commonwealth/State Government response to a terrorist act. Theyhave achieved this by coordinating the developmentof agreed strategies and policy responses to terroristthreats and demands and by sponsoring the developmentof the appropriate operational capabilities. Thishas included the provision of specialist equipmentand training and the conduct of periodic exercises totest the arrangements.Day-to-day coordination, planning and monitoringof protective security arrangements is facilitated bythe Protective Services Coordination Centre (PSCC).a branch of the Federal Justice Office of the CommonwealthAttorney-General's Department. The PSCCprovides executive and secretariat support for SAC-PAV and its various sub-committees and projectgroups. If a terrorist incident occurs, it will arrangethe activation of the national crisis managementresponse arrangements and maintain an informationlink with all SAC-PAV members.Within the Commonwealth Government there isanother committee that forms an integral part of thenational arrangements, the Special Inter-Departmental