New national agency announced to help communities recover from natural disasters
The Federal Government has announced that it will establish a new national agency – National Recovery and Resilience Agency – to help support local communities respond to large-scale natural disasters and undertake new initiatives to manage the impact of future events and the changing climate.
The new agency will provide support to local communities during the relief and recovery phases following major disasters and will also guide the government on policies and programs to mitigate the impact of future major disaster events.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said $600 million would be invested in a new program of disaster preparation and mitigation, managed by the new National Recovery and Resilience Agency. It will be led by Coordinator-General Shane Stone and bring together the former National Drought and North Queensland Flood Response and Recovery Agency and the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, including the $2 billion National Bushfire Recovery Fund.
“The new Agency will help communities rebuild and recover from natural disasters, helping many Australians in their greatest time of need, while strengthening our defences against future major disasters,” Morrison said.
“Immediate funding will support resilience projects across the community and for individuals’ homes, such as bushfire and cyclone proofing houses, building levees and improving the resilience of telecommunications and essential supplies.”
The Agency will also take responsibility for supporting the long-term recovery of communities rebuilding after the recent storms and floods in New South Wales and Queensland and cyclones in West Australia.
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud said Emergency Management Australia will also receive support to upgrade their National Situation Room to include a real time ‘common operating picture’, for all natural disasters.
“We will also provide $4.5 million to support disaster recovery scenario training to help regional communities prepare for high-risk hazards,” Littleproud said.
“This funding will provide accredited training for people working in disaster recovery and two pilot Resilience Hubs to coordinate regional training and capability development across all levels of government when responding to a natural disaster.”
Littleproud said the final, critically important part of these national reforms was the establishment of a world-class climate service with detailed climate and disaster information.
“Through the Australian Climate Service we will draw on the expertise of our best and brightest scientists to help us better anticipate, manage and adapt to climate impacts to inform the work of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency and Emergency Management Australia,” he said.
Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley added that the Australian Climate Service would strengthen Australia’s position as a world leader in anticipating and adapting to the impacts of changing climates for decades to come.
“We do face more extreme weather events due to changing climate and this is about being prepared, and being able to take steps to make our communities more resilient,” Ley said.
“By bringing together critical data from the nation’s key climate research institutions, the Australian Climate Service will not only help save lives and money through a more informed emergency response, it will inform long-term planning for infrastructure, housing and basic services like power, telecommunications, and water.”
“It will help shape the way we build communities and underpin Australia’s future adaptation strategies, including the new National Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategy announced in January.”
“The collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO, ABS and Geoscience Australia is critical to delivering rich insights drawn from an expanded range of data sources.”