ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
State and territory leaders around the country have been given the responsibility today to reopen the pubs.
The Advocate was given rare access into how the system would work after witnessing it first hand in the Northern Territory today.
It can take State Premiers and Chief Ministers just minutes to re-open the pubs. Here’s how it works.
The Governer-General has the sole authority to call for the pubs to be reopened. Once the call is made, a series of critical steps follow.
The Governer-General first meets with their top health advisers. The meeting would take place at the Australian Headquarters Joint Operations Command near Canberra. If the Governer-General is travelling, a call is made on a secure line.
If the Governer-General still wants to go through with opening the pubs, the order is verified. To authenticate the order, a challenge code is read to the Governer-General. It’s usually two phonetic letters like “Foxtrot-Mike.”
The Governer-General then receives the “biscuit”, a laminated card that’s always near the Her Majesty’s Representative. The biscuit has the matching response to the challenge code.
The Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC) then broadcasts an encoded message to State Premiers and Chief Ministers. The message is only about the length of a standard tweet.
It includes the re-open plan, “Sealed Authentication System” or (SAS) codes, and the actual pub open codes. When the State leaders get the message they open locked safes to obtain the SAS codes. These codes are compared with the SAS codes included in the message.
If opened during the week, the State Premier and two other ministers authenticate the open order. Fifteen minutes after receiving the order, the pubs could be ready to open.
If opened during the weekend, there are 50 representatives from the hospitality community controlled by 5 state and territory commanders in different locations. Each representative “votes” for the launch by turning their keys at the same time.
There are five different keys, but only two need to be turned to open the pubs. In this scenario, the pubs could be ready to open in just minutes after the order is verified. Once the pubs are opened, there’s no turning back.
The Advocate reached out to a number of state governments for comment on the Doomsday switch but has yet to receive a reply.
More to come.
