>From ABC on-line news on 23/4/99 - in case you've missed it!
Defence Force on Y2K alert
The entire staff of the Australian Defence Force has had its
Christmas-New Year leave put on hold until contingency plans for
the year 2000 computer bug are in place.
The Defence Force says it is not anticipating mayhem from the
glitch but is not turning its back either.
A leaked memo shows that for the moment, any Christmas leave for
more than 60,000 Defence staff has been frozen.
The memo, from the vice chief of the Defence Force, Air Vice
Marshall Doug Riding, says plans are being prepared.
It is not just a case of Defence looking after itself - personnel
will be in place to help the wider community.
Senator Ian Campbell, who is overseeing the Government's Y2K
program, says the move is in line with hundreds of other large
corporations across the country.
But he will not say exactly what the military will be needed for.
"I'm not prepared to speculate at the moment and what we're doing
now with 252-odd days to go is making contingencies and looking at
those contingencies, there's a whole range of them," he said.
"To speculate about what sort of risks are particularly involved
doesn't even help anybody at this stage."
The Defence Force says it hopes to finalise by next month how many
staff will be needed on stand-by.
Colonel Keith Jobson, the director general of Defence public
affairs, says rather than troops being required in large numbers,
it is more likely that teams of specialists will be used.
The Government says it is all part of good planning.
Communications Minister Richard Alston is confident all provisions
will be in place in good time although the latest quarterly report
on Y2K readiness shows a number of Government agencies still have a
lot of work to do.
For instance, the Australian Taxation Office has only repaired
one-quarter of its computer systems and the Civil Aviation Safety
Authority has also been criticised for lagging behind.
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