Australian army calls on reservists to tackle coronavirus crisis

The army has called on reservists to assist with Defence’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, an email obtained by Guardian Australia reveals.

The email sent last week from Carmen Sieger, the acting director of the directorate of contingent workforce management army, called on reservists for help if they had the willingness and capacity for work “likely to result from our current environment”.

Reservists were asked to provide their skill set or résumé, as well as the type of work they would be willing to provide and their capacity to work.

People using the defence communications network ForceNet were told they would be automatically assigned to regional sub-unit groups based on their postcode, but were warned it was not likely to be an ongoing role.

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“Please note this request for help may not result in an employment opportunity; it is a contingency created to cover any current and future time sensitive work,” Sieger said.

A spokesman for the defence department told Guardian Australia it was not targeted at people put out of work by the pandemic, rather that all reservists were being contacted regardless of their current job status.

“This is normal practice for Defence – to plan and prepare for support to Commonwealth, state and territory authorities in times of need,” the spokesperson said.

“We are focused on ensuring the continuity of our essential tasks and functions to enable us to respond to, and sustain, current and potential commitments.”

Guardian Australia has also learned that the army is providing logistics, communications and medical support to three Northern Territory border control locations on the Stuart Highway, the Barkley Highway and the Victoria Highway, with three personnel at each location.

Planning teams have been embedded in state coordination centres in Victoria, Queensland, the NT and Western Australia, with teams also on hand to assist the other states and territory.

Defence has also set up contact-tracing teams to work with New South Wales and Queensland.

“These ADF teams will provide logistics, transport, health and general planning assistance as the workload of civilian medical teams continues to increase as more Australians are diagnosed with, or affected by, Covid-19,” the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, said in a statement released this week.

In Victoria the department has provided a team of engineers to help a surgical face mask factory in Lemnos meet the increased demand for the masks.