Dear National Emergency Management Agency,

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request information regarding emergency communications infrastructure and resilience planning:

1. Current emergency communications plans and protocols, including what percentage of critical communications capacity relies on satellite systems, and specifically, what proportion depends on foreign-controlled commercial satellite providers.

2. Any risk assessments, contingency plans, or advice regarding service continuity scenarios where satellite communications providers become unavailable, whether due to technical failure, withdrawal of service, foreign government direction to the provider, or geopolitical disruption.

3. Backup communications arrangements and redundancy planning for scenarios where primary satellite services are degraded or unavailable, including assessment of whether terrestrial alternatives provide adequate coverage for emergency response.

4. Any advice or analysis on the resilience implications of geographic concentration in critical communications infrastructure, or conversely the benefits of maintaining diverse technology platforms and multiple service providers.

5. Any review or assessment conducted following recent civil defence emergencies (such as Cyclone Gabrielle) regarding the performance and reliability of different communications technologies during extreme weather events or natural disasters.

6. Correspondence with telecommunications providers regarding service level expectations, prioritisation arrangements, or mandatory service continuation requirements during declared emergencies.

Context: I am seeking to understand whether emergency management planning adequately addresses resilience risks associated with critical infrastructure dependency on single providers or technology types, particularly foreign-controlled services.

Yours faithfully,

Sam Brown