David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—Today I would like to update the House about the critical work that the government has done to reduce natural disaster risks and increase Australia's resilience.

In February this year, in my first statement to parliament on the disaster risk reduction framework, I spoke to you about the long-term work underway across the nation to reduce the potential for harm from natural disasters, and to enable a prosperous and resilient future.

At the time, we were in the midst of the unprecedented 2019-20 bushfire season.

The loss and devastation we saw is heartbreaking. Numerous communities continue to bear those scars.

Our thoughts go out to the families, friends and communities who have lost loved ones and the Australians who lost homes and businesses, and have been working hard to rebuild their lives—in the middle of a global pandemic.

I reiterate my thanks to all those Australians, volunteers, charities and not-for-profit organisations, and paid personnel, involved with emergency management for their dedication and tireless effort as we come into this high risk weather season.

This season, the Australian government is working closer than ever with state and territory governments, industry and the private sector to continue to deliver outcomes and services to the public in the challenging context of COVID.

The National Coordination Mechanism and Emergency Management Australia are leaning into a number of substantial challenges we are collectively facing by developing measures such as COVID-safe guidelines for evacuation centres and protocols to enable our emergency services personnel to deploy across state and territory borders where required.

The 2019-20 bushfires exemplified the value and importance of emergency services workers to the protection of life and property, and Australia's resilience and prosperity.

The mental health of Australian emergency services personnel is paramount as there is increasing recognition of the potential impact of repeated workplace trauma and the stressors associated with these occupations.

The Australian government remains firmly committed to taking actions that ensure our career and volunteer emergency services workers, retired emergency services workers, and their immediate families and kinship groups receive the necessary support to prevent and treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illness arising from their service.

The Australian government is investing $15.9 million to support the mental health of emergency service workers and their families who responded to the 2019-20 bushfires through Black Dog and Fortem, two leading mental health organisations. Included in this is the development of the first mental health national action plan to reduce suicide and mental illness among emergency services workers.

After the year that was 2020, it is more important than ever, that we—the Australian government, states and territories, and the community—work together to reduce our vulnerability to risks and build our resilience as we adapt to a changing climate, and prepare ourselves for the potential of further devastating seasons.

As I said in my previous statement and repeated on many occasions in this chamber, our emergency services are world class. Our state and territory emergency management and resilience personnel have proven themselves in the face of consecutive disasters to be of the highest calibre. For that, I thank them.

But there is always more to be done, and a greater role the Commonwealth can play. And we do not shy away from this role.

The Australian government is taking the lead to increase our recovery from, and resilience to, natural disaster. We are tackling some of those deep, underlying issues which put us, as Australians, at risk.

Today, I am pleased to be able to update you on the government's significant progress over the last few months towards building Australia's resilience towards natural disasters and our plans moving forward.

The National Bushfire Recovery Agency (NBRA), established early in 2020, is leading nationally coordinated recovery and resilience activities to support communities and families, volunteer emergency service personnel, farmers and foresters, and small businesses recover from the devastating fires.

Since I last addressed parliament on this matter, the Australian government has committed more than $2 billion to the National Bushfire Recovery Fund to support relief, recovery and resilience activities across bushfire ravaged communities. We have spent $1.2 billion from the fund so far, as well as $659.6 million from other disaster support funding mechanisms including disaster recovery payments and allowances.

Of the $2 billion, our commitments include:

NBRA continues to work closely with impacted communities, local and state governments, charities, industry groups, insurers and peak bodies to ensure communities are supported in their journey to recovery.

Along the way, we are working to boost resilience of these local economies, infrastructure and communities through Local Economic Recovery projects, and we look forward to continuing this work.

We want to learn from past experience.

The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements (Royal Commission) handed down its final report in October 2020.

On 13 November, in response to the royal commission, the Prime Minister announced the Australian government will:

These reforms will assist the government to provide strong leadership in emergency management and to drive a reduction in disaster risk.

All national initiatives like this require coordination with our state and territory counterparts. National cabinet has agreed the National Emergency Management Ministers Meeting will be initially responsible for driving and coordinating implementation of the royal commission's recommendations, including design of ongoing governance mechanisms.

We have also made progress on a number of initiatives since my last statement.

The first National Action Plan to implement the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (the Framework), was endorsed by emergency management ministers in May and captures efforts across the nation.

The framework sets the five-year foundation to 2023 to address systemic disaster risk in all sectors. The framework outlines four priorities, which are: understand disaster risk; accountable decisions; enhanced investment; and governance, ownership and responsibility.

The Australian government is driving this program of measures, in partnership with states and territories, to realise the outcomes of the framework and increase the resilience of Australian communities.

The total investment in resilience initiatives across the Commonwealth identified in the national action plan is $1.7 billion—this is in addition to the value of initiatives in the state and territories, private or community sectors. Spanning the period 2015-2027, these initiatives support the four priorities of the framework.

We have completed or made considerable progress towards completing a number of initiatives set out in the national action plan. Of note:

In June 2020, the Department of Home Affairs concluded a pilot project in the freight and supply chain sector to test the feasibility of a national climate and disaster intelligence capability. The pilot was conducted in partnership with other government agencies and the research sector. The pilot validated the need for a national capability and showed a clear benefit for Australian communities and businesses having better decision-ready information and advice. The pilot outcomes will inform options for establishing the Resilience Services Australia.

$145 million is also being invested from 2015-2021 into the first phase of National Environmental Science Program—a long-term commitment funding environment and climate research; $149 million invested from 2021-2027, including for systems that will advance understanding of Australia's climate, its extremes and associated drivers, including the fundamental drivers of rainfall, drought and bushfires.

Continuation of the Regional Land Partnerships, the Australian government's flagship natural resource management program to support delivery of on-ground natural resource management actions across the country also continues.

The Australian government and state and territory governments are also developing measurement, evaluation and learning arrangements to support implementation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. These arrangements will track the effectiveness of our collective national efforts, and facilitate ongoing learning, to reduce disaster risk.

Further, we have committed $8 million to the development of a Public Safety Mobile Broadband proof-of-concept trial. In July, the Commonwealth reaffirmed its commitment to making available dedicated spectrum. It's going to ensure our emergency services are equipped with the best possible communications technology to assist their work.

Delivery of these programs and initiatives is critical to achieving the vision set out in the framework. Australia is projected to see more heat extremes and fewer cold extremes. We need to plan for and adapt to the changing nature of climate risk now and in the future. We are committed to researching and understanding what the best technologies and risk reduction methods are so that we can adequately adapt to, and prepare for, our changing climate.

On 23 July 2020, the Minister for Science, Industry and Technology and I announced $88.1 million in funding to extend and scale up critical research into bushfires and natural hazards. This includes $86.1 million to support a new, world-class research centre for natural hazards resilience and disaster risk reduction, building on the work of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre. Our departments are currently working to implement the new centre, which is expected to be operational from 1 July 2021.

We have also renewed funding for the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, committing an additional $12.8 million over four years from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2024. The institute delivers a range of disaster resilience products, programs and services, and it shares this knowledge and learning across all governments, the private sector and communities to advance the collective approach to disaster resilience. We have committed to spend $50 million from the Emergency Response Fund on mitigation and resilience, and I can advise the House that it will be spent during this financial year.

This work demonstrates our commitment to the Australian people to build a prosperous, resilient nation. I ask the Australian people to consider what you can do to reduce risk, to better prepare for natural disasters and to come with us on this national journey towards a safer, more secure nation.

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