Boosting our resilience against natural disasters
The floods and fires that have ravaged Australia recently are data points on a curve climbing to ever higher levels of destruction.
Climate change is turbocharging natural hazards. We know that disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity—threatening lives, destroying infrastructure, and devastating communities. The floods and fires that have ravaged Australia recently are data points on a curve climbing to ever higher levels of destruction.
The scale of the threat demands correspondingly significant action. Already, natural disasters are stress testing our emergency management systems to breaking point. We must become much more resilient against natural hazards, much more prepared in responding to disasters, and much swifter at reconstruction. Otherwise, climate-induced disasters will attrit our communities and economy faster than we can bounce back.
To that end, Australia will look to enhance its resilience, mitigation, response, and relief capabilities in the following ways:
Develop robust disaster-resilient construction standards. We will work with industry and government stakeholders to integrate these standards into all relevant building codes.
Mitigate natural hazards through proactive land management. Preventative measures such as burn-offs, dam releases, and mangrove planting can play a significant role in containing the impact of natural hazards. We will work to ensure that relevant agencies are appropriately resourced to implement these measures at the scale, scope, and frequency required. We will also ensure that hazard reduction efforts more actively centre First Nations knowledge, people and practices, including via an expanded Indigenous Ranger program.
Review the National Immunisation Program Schedule. Climate-induced natural hazards, particularly floods, are increasing incidences of water and insect-borne diseases. Australia will therefore investigate the merits of updating the immunisation schedule to cover vaccination against diseases such as cholera, Japanese encephalitis, typhoid, and hepatitis A.
Scale up and accelerate support under the National Recovery and Resilience Agency. The recently established NRRA has the potential to play a critical, high-impact role in helping communities prepare for and recover from natural disasters. To ensure the Agency contributes meaningfully in this regard, we will aim to double funding towards grants and loans available under the Agency's various programs. Just as importantly, we will work to streamline and accelerate disbursement to impacted communities. This will involve increasing the Agency's administrative processing capacity, slashing red tape for applicants seeking support, and where feasible distributing funds automatically to people in designated disaster zones.
Federally co-fund paid leave for SES volunteers in declared emergencies. It is inspiring that so many Australians are willing to volunteer their time and labour to help fellow citizens in their hour of need. It is a disservice to their sacrifice, however, that we expect them to do so at such great personal cost. Beyond being unfair, it also discourages the many would-be volunteers who cannot afford to take time off work to serve. We will therefore move to federally co-fund up to 14 days' paid leave for SES service in declared emergencies. The Federal Government will also subsidise up to four weeks' annual paid service for unemployed Australians.
Acquire a national waterbombing fleet. In light of increasingly frequent and severe fire events, Australia can no longer rely on existing state resources or seasonal loaning arrangements. We need a significant, federal capability that can be dispatched as needed to States and Territories battling bushfires.
Establish a civil defence corps. It is not sustainable to continue leaning on the ADF to provide stop-gap disaster response, diverting resources from its central defence function. Nor is it fair to continue relying on volunteer civilians. Over the longer term, Australia must look to build up a permanent and professional civilian disaster-response force.
Publicly subsidise disaster insurance. Climate risk is producing insurance market failure. In some cases, private insurers preclude coverage of natural disasters altogether. Those that do offer insurance face the risk of commercial ruin in significant payout events. To ensure that Australians have guaranteed access to affordable disaster insurance, the Federal Government will subsidise and guarantee privately offered disaster insurance.