Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on the Senate Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience inquiry and the final report. I commend both the committee chair, Senator Lambie, and Senator Davey, as well as all the senators who were on that committee. The comments passed so far by Senators Lambie and Davey on this report have given important insights on the work done on this report and this inquiry. I certainly commend and strongly support a lot of the considerations of this report. I also commend the comments passed by the previous two speakers. It's incredibly important that we also commend our fellow committee members, the secretariate staff and everyone who shared evidence through 17 public hearings and the 175 submissions that were received.

Since the select committee was established in November 2022, I've had the privilege of hearing from responders, from recovery agencies, from peak bodies and charities, from unions, from state and territory governments, from local councils and from disaster impacted communities across Australia. I'd particularly like to acknowledge the individuals recovering from disasters who shared their personal stories and reflections with us, despite the many challenges they continue to face. I'd also like to thank the frontline responders and defence personnel the committee heard from. They shared their experiences and expertise and that gave us some wonderful insights, but also some very moving insights into the challenges they see in this space.

A key theme that emerged throughout the inquiry was the importance of empowering communities in disaster recovery and response by strengthening and harnessing local capacity, leadership and also knowledge. This was outlined by the emergency management and public safety manager of the City of Moreton Bay, Mr Christopher Barnes, who said:

… locally led responses provide the most effective mechanism to manage and respond to disasters in our communities.

This was echoed by the mayor of Lismore, Mr Steve Krieg, who explained:

… local people should be driving their local recovery; it is as simple as that.

Evidence suggested that community led responses and recovery were best achieved by arrangements that cascade upwards through local, state and national frameworks. Queensland Inspector-General of Emergency Management, Mr Alistair Dawson, characterised these best-practice arrangements as follows: locally led, regionally coordinated, state facilitated and supported by the Commonwealth.

Another key theme that arose throughout the inquiry was the need to continue optimising disaster funding arrangements so they remain sustainable and equitable into the future. This was particularly important for councils, many of whom spoke about the financial impact that increasingly intense disasters as a result of climate change are having on local governments. As president of the Australian Local Government Association, Linda Scott explained, '… there is a mismatch between the amount of local government infrastructure exposed to climate change risks and the resources that local government have to carry out effective adaptation to manage these risks.' Mr David Ross Crawford, a council worker at Lismore City Council, described the situation, saying, 'Being starved of funds over a long period means it is getting harder and harder to provide the service to the community.' Councils, along with not-for-profits, charities and community organisations, also raised the complexity of application and acquittal processes, the lack of funding transition once programs end, and the need for greater focus on preparedness, mitigation and resilience in funding models.

Evidence throughout the inquiry highlighted the important role that industry, charities, non-government organisations and volunteer groups undertake in disaster mitigation, response and recovery. For example, we heard about the recovery work that Disaster Resilience Australia is doing to support communities across the country, as well as the school programs being run by young change agents to empower disaster-impacted youth, giving them back some control and helping them to make a difference in their communities. Jali Tan Costello, a young change agent from Lismore, described her experience after getting involved following the 2022 floods. She said, 'The programs … offered me important opportunities to reconnect, activate my resilience and find purpose in my learning. As a class, our opinion was valued. We instigated change and our impact was far-reaching.' Some lovely words. These are two examples of the many ways in which civil society organisations are supporting communities, leading witnesses to suggest the need for better integration into response and recovery structures, coordination and support. The CEO of National Hazards Research Australia, Mr Andrew Gissing, said, 'There is a need to adopt a whole-of-community approach to disaster management to further embrace capability for other sectors through collaboration and information sharing.'

Another key issue that emerged throughout the inquiry was the decline in volunteerism, and the importance of strengthening the volunteer workforce into the future, particularly encouraging greater participation of youth. As explained by the regional director of Queensland State Emergency Services, Mr Daryl Camp, 'Unfortunately with increased demand on volunteer services to respond to the ever-increasing number of events and the longer duration of events, we see a negative impact on volunteer numbers. As volunteer numbers decrease, we are also seeing a rise in the number of requests for assistance coming in.' Witnesses spoke about different strategies to recruit and co-ordinate volunteers across the country and of the need to improve coordination and management of spontaneous volunteers. Suggestions included the possible introduction of employment incentives and volunteering schemes in the public and corporate sectors, as well as the further expansion of existing cadet programs run by state and territory response agencies.

Evidence throughout the inquiry suggested that our current emergency systems and framework should continue to be reinforced, strengthened and better coordinated. Several witnesses advocated for working within and improving current arrangements rather than trying to create new models, as outlined by Carlene Yorke, President, National Council for Fire and Emergency Services, who said:

The current emergency and disaster response system provides an agile, community based workforce for disaster and emergency response that is interoperable across the country and can be and often is deployed across jurisdictional boundaries to provide national resilience. AFAC advocates for working within existing arrangements rather than trying to create a bureaucracy of layers of management for emergency and disaster response … We think this is best done by reinforcing existing arrangements—

and subsequently by improving them.

Throughout the inquiry, witnesses across Australia also raised the important auxiliary role that the ADF plays in response to disaster events. Mr Chuck Berger from the Kimberley Development Commission described the ADF as providing 'not only material support but also a reassuring presence'. As Air Vice Marshal Stephen Chappell summarised, there is a need to balance Defence's mission to 'defend Australia and its interests' with its 'support to civil communities and the Commonwealth, states and territories in our population's hours of need'. The Albanese government has been progressing several important bodies of work that address the key themes and issues raised throughout the select committee inquiry. The committee inquiry will be again important to reinforce the very issues that the committee has brought forward.

We as a government have enhanced the Commonwealth's capabilities and capacity across civil society to ensure Australia is prepared to face the increasing number of frequent and severe natural disasters due to climate change and reduce our reliance on the Defence Force in times of disaster. We've conducted several reviews with the aim of improving governance and funding arrangements, including the Independent Review of Commonwealth Disaster Funding, commonly known as the Colvin review, and the Independent Review of National Natural Disaster Governance Arrangements, or the Glasser review, and of course the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements Review, which is ongoing. We have rolled out the Disaster Ready Fund, which is providing up to $200 million per year for natural disaster resilience and risk reduction initiatives, helping to improve local resilience and capacity. We held the first ever National Disaster Preparedness Summit and spent an additional $11.4 billion in the 2024-25 budget to continue supporting ongoing recovery efforts across Australia.