We hosted Exercise Disconnect & Reconnect with key stakeholders from the telecommunications sector, emergency services and government to explore and strengthen national preparedness for the 2025-26 Higher Risk Weather Season (HRWS).
The event was held on Monday 20 October and was facilitated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), was aimed at strengthening emergency response to telecommunications outages – including impacts on the Triple Zero network – by identifying gaps, testing coordination, assessing alternatives, and addressing impacts and restoration barriers.
NEMA put participants through their paces, ‘war gaming’ a set of catastrophic and nationally significant scenarios based on the projected forecast for the HRWS.
Undertaking exercises like this ensures all stakeholders are working together and are prepared for a range of scenarios before Australia enters the HRWS in earnest.
We will use observations and learnings from Exercise Disconnect & Reconnect to identify priority actions for industry and government, and to inform future policy, planning and capability development efforts.