Strategic Command Program 2026

The Strategic Command program is delivered by AFAC at the AIPM Manly campus in Sydney. The program is designed to enhance the command and leadership capabilities of senior leaders responsible for managing emergency management events of national significance.

Senior leaders working in emergency management are faced with increasingly complex and novel challenges. These situations demand more than just operational competence; they require advanced strategic and conceptual skills.

To successfully lead in such environments, senior leaders must be able to strategically analyse problems, synthesise information from a range of sources, anticipate trends, balance interests, and make decisions in environments characterised by ambiguity and rapid change.

The Strategic Command Program focuses on building strategic command and leadership capabilities to respond to these events with the highest level of performance.

2025 participant quotes

‘The opportunity to be immersed in a weeklong program with people across the sector, country and internationally cannot be underestimated for the collective strengthening of senior leaders in Emergency Management. The honesty and commitment from all participants made for refreshing armour’ down experience to learn from each other on a deep level – beyond our roles and titles.’

‘This program has empowered me to believe in myself as a person and as a leader. I often wondered what and how the commissioners think and feel. The opportunity to have this interaction was very special. They pace and syndicate involvement provided a relaxed and ample opportunity to talk and share thoughts with others.’

How is the program designed?

The program is designed to address the demands of emergency management senior leaders during a major event with national implications for public safety. The capability areas of exercising command during complex crisis events, political astuteness, decision making acumen during continuity and change, executive presence and personal adaptive capacity are weaved throughout: all placed against the context of a multi-jurisdictional response to large scale and often protracted emergency management events.

The program is designed around three key elements: a cohort welcome; a residential workshop experience; and development of an individual leadership philosophy. 

A pre-residential virtual workshop of half cohort size will provide a relaxed and informal environment for participants to meet the AFAC SCP Program facilitators, fellow participants and be both welcomed by the CEO of AFAC and provided a general overview of the program.

A weeklong intensive residential workshop experience provides a range of presentations, syndicates, case studies, off-site activities, reflective sessions and skills workshops; all supported by Commissioners/CEOs, a range of executive leaders in public safety and AFAC SCP alumni. Together, they provide unique value in contextualising the design and offering tacit professional knowledge, experience and perspectives to complement research, theories and development approaches.

Participants are given the opportunity to create and present an individual leadership philosophy to their peers, drawn from the residential experiences and intended to deliver organisational value to the teams and communities they serve. All stages of the program are led and delivered by the AFAC SCP faculty to ensure a tailored, challenging and supportive environment for all participants.

Who should attend?

• Superintendents, Commanders and public safety senior managers from emergency management sector from Australia and in the region. 
• Executive level 2 and SES 1 officers from Commonwealth agencies.

Key dates

Duration

• 5.5-days residential program

Dates

• Nominations due: Early April 2026
• Onboarding: May 2026
• Residential: Sunday 14 to Friday 19 June 2026

Price

• $9000 + GST

Nomination form

*Please note:

The nomination form for the Strategic Command Program for 2026-27 is found below as a PDF file. Save the form to your computer or device to fill in fields on those forms (fields will not appear active if the PDF is opened in a browser), or print off, write in, scan and submit via AFAC Ltd Submission Manager.