National Emergency Medal

The National Emergency Medal (NEM) was instituted in October 2011 for award to members of eligible organisations or individuals who rendered qualifying service in response to nationally significant emergencies within Australia.

Individuals must satisfy the prescribed eligibility criteria within the response phase of the declared emergency. Individuals who rendered service in the recovery phase of and served outside of the date ranges specified in a determination are not eligible for this award.

ADF personnel are not required to submit an application for the NEM.

Defence Honours and Awards, in conjunction with HQJOC and the Services will draw a nominal roll from operations logs sourced from PMKEYS.

Defence provides Government House with a list of eligible personnel for approval.

The medal is administered by the Australian Honours and Awards Secretariat at Government House which provides a Secretariat to the National Emergency Medal Committee. The NEM Committee is responsible for determining new emergencies eligible for award, and recommending eligibility criteria for the award.

In order to be eligible for the NEM, individual service rendered under declared emergencies must meet the eligibility requirements determined for each emergency.

The eligibility requirements for each emergency differ. Further information can be found on the Governor-General’s website.

The NEM recognises individual contributions during the response phase of an emergency, in direct response to the protection of lives and property. Service must be in the protection of lives and property in direct response to the emergency (including support that enables or facilitates the emergency response).

Service rendered during recovery operations following an emergency is not considered eligible service for the purposed of the award of the NEM.

All organisations that participate during an emergency are subject to the same eligibility criteria.

The following clasps have been issued for the medal:

• VIC FIRES 09
• QLD 2010-11
• TC DEBBIE 2017
• NTH QLD 2019
• BUSHFIRES 19-20
• FLOOD FEB 2022

On 11 June 2024, The Hon Patrick Gorman MP, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Assistant Minister for the Public Service, announced the introduction of an additional Clasp the NEM “FLOOD FEB 2022”.