Australia is establishing a federal inquiry to review and update national civil defence preparedness for the first time since World War II, according to reports from PerthNow and The West Australian. The coverage says the process is intended to develop a new plan for preparing Australia for possible war conditions, reflecting concerns about growing global uncertainty and the risk of conflict in the region.
Both outlets describe the inquiry as part of a renewed effort by the federal government to ensure that civil defence arrangements are current and fit for purpose. They note that this will be a significant change from the last major period of such planning in the 1940s. While the articles emphasize the motivation—fear of a conflict in the region and broader international instability—they do not describe specific terms of reference, membership, timing, or the scope of operational reviews.
Overall, the reporting agrees on the core development: a new federal inquiry is being launched to examine civil defence readiness and produce updated planning for war-related scenarios, after decades since the last comparable effort.
