12 October 2007
Biosecurity tests refugee border ‘operation’ to limit
31 October 2005
By Fiona Peat: Te Waha Nui Online
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It would have made great viewing on the television show Border Patrol, but the lines of refugees on Princes Wharf earlier this month were not trying to break any immigration laws.
Instead they were actors in an intricate role play, testing how New Zealand’s authorities react to an influx of immigrants by sea.
The operation, code name Exercise Barrier, had been planned over several months and is a continuation of an exercise programme that started a couple of years ago says Paul Smith, manager of the New Zealand Customs risk response group.
“At the moment we are a looking at the management of a mass arrival of immigrants by sea. Last year we focused on intercepting and boarding a vessel suspected to be carrying immigrants. This year the focus was on a mass arrival and the border processing function and port arrival that is part dealing with such an event,” he says.
Exercise Barrier took place over a full day and involved over 200 people, including 170 staff from various agencies and 70 role players.
The story started with an offshore fishing vessel carrying men women and children from the imaginary country of Calchois being escorted into Princes Wharf.
Real action
From that point the real action started with agencies moving in to perform their roles. The staff involved had not been given any background information on the event other than what was learnt as the exercise proceeded.
There were 10 specific incidents that took place during the day including a woman who went into labour and another woman who escaped from the processing centre.
“The events were scripted to test interagency operations, communications and protocol functions,” says Smith.
These operations included screening for illness and disease, issues surrounding biosecurity such as whether food or animals were on the vessel and the availability of interpreters.
Another key part of the operation was to test the application of legislative powers and agencies response to legal and justice issues, says Smith.
In addition to the government agencies the exercise involved a media centre was also set up and staffed by students from the Christchurch Broadcasting School.
The students produced articles from press releases and press conferences were also held where agency representatives came under questioning from the students.
Working together
Zelda MacKenzie, communications manager at New Zealand Customs, ran the media centre and said the exercise was a chance to see how the departments worked together, including how information was fed through the agencies.
“It’s very important that although we all have our individual bits to do, we are all able to work together to achieve the overall aims of the government,” she says.
Smith agrees, saying that New Zealand agencies cooperate to form the working plans for these operations and this was a chance to test the “interoperability” of the agencies.
“We have a responsibility to keep New Zealand safe and protect the sovereignty of this country. This was to test the application of procedures the execution of the response plan and operation capabilities between facilities,” he says.
Smith says that multi-agency operation such as Exercise Barrier are “extremely important” because it provides the opportunity for agencies to walk through the planning and management of events.
Fire drill
“If you have a fire drill the reactions you see will change dramatically if you add in smoke. In the same way this represents a real event but you can observe the reaction,” he says.
Overall Smith says that he is “extremely pleased” with how Exercise Barrier was executed.
Exercise Barrier was run by the New Zealand Customs Service and involved the New Zealand Defence Force, the Department of Labour, the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in conjunction with New Zealand Maritime, St John and Ports of Auckland.
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