Australian Defence Force support for Greater Sydney

Release details

Release type

Related ministers and contacts


The Hon Peter Dutton MP

Minister for Defence

Media contact

Defence Media: media@defence.gov.au

Release content

29 July 2021

This afternoon Defence received a request from Emergency Management Australia on behalf of the NSW State Emergency Operations Centre to provide Australian Defence Force personnel to support the NSW Police with their response to the COVID-19 situation in Greater Sydney.

Up to 300 Defence personnel will deploy in the coming days to assist NSW authorities with COVID-19 restriction compliance measures.

Defence members will commence deploying on Friday 30 July to undertake training over the weekend and commence working under the direction of NSW Police on Monday 2 August.

So far more than 13,000 ADF personnel have deployed around Australia as part of Operation COVID-19 Assist

Currently 1,385 Australian Defence Force personnel are supporting Operation COVID-19 Assist nationwide.

In New South Wales, approximately 250 Australian Defence Force personnel are supporting state authorities in tasks such as quarantine compliance management at hotels and airports.

Other related releases