To increase shared understanding of risks and enhance capability integration and collaborative planning, both Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG) participate in the exercising of the Paradise Dam Emergency Action Plan. 

That Government supports the anticipated SES State Flood Warning proposals aimed at improving public warnings and communication, and that the proposed warning system is consistent with the National Frameworks.

That emergency management authorities react with heightened awareness and action when BoM issues flood watches and related warnings.

As part of the above, both the Banana Shire Council and SunWater ensure Emergency Alert messages are pre-formatted, consistent, polygons are identified according to risk, and that they are tested and practiced with the State Disaster Coordination Centre.

Prior to September 2015, SunWater and the Banana Shire Council jointly develop a multi-channel, common warning strategy, including common language and consistent messaging, for residents downstream of
SunWater assets within the Banana Shire Council, and clearly articulate procedures for dissemination.

Prior to September 2015, the Banana Shire Council develops a multi-channel warning strategy and associated public information campaign, including common language and consistent messaging, for the Banana Shire.

The Department of Human Services should develop an improved model for communication for future disasters that provides a single point of information and contact for disaster affected communities

Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy will work with the Communications Sector Group within the Trusted Information Sharing Network to develop best practice guidance for owners of critical communications infrastructure regarding public messaging during a prolonged telecommunications outage covering:
- the provision of early and accurate advice to the community;
- the dissemination of information to business, government, community service providers and critical industry sectors such as banks;
- engagement with emergency service providers and the appointed local incident manager;
- public communications over radio, by personal contact etc. - avoiding a reliance on phone and internet;
- communications with other wholesale providers including on matters dealing with compensation;
- public notices, such as the use of prominent notices on websites, explaining the outage to customers and clients outside the affected area; and
- the use of recorded voice announcements to inform incoming callers of the outage.

Governments and other stakeholders consider reviewing their existing emergency management arrangements to ensure public communications are clear and the public is kept informed of the incident response.

Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) to work with the Triple Zero Awareness Work Group through Australian Communications and Media Authority's (ACMA) Emergency Service Advisory Committee to review Triple Zero awareness messages with regard to telecommunications outages.

The Australian Department of Health and Ageing consult with members of the general public or representatives of health consumers in the pandemic planning process, including in pandemic exercises designed to test the ability of government to respond to a pandemic event. Consumer involvement should include testing the ability of any communication strategy designed to inform and engage consumers about a pandemic event.

The Australian Government, in consultation with consumers and other relevant federal, state and territory agencies, develop a national communication strategy for consumers to be used in the event of an infectious disease outbreak.

The Australian Government test Australia’s ability to respond to a widespread outbreak of infectious disease other than influenza, by undertaking a pandemic exercise across the relevant Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies.

Efficient and effective supporting tools and processes: streamlining the authorisation processes for urgent warnings.

Efficient and effective supporting tools and processes: developing tools and workflows to quickly and reliably transform technical data into intelligence that can be used to construct messages for community information that are timely, relevant, tailored and effective.

Fire services can improve outcomes by implementing standard procedures that ensure the welfare and safety of crews and the public are not compromised

the state require that agencies operate in compliance with the guidelines of the Victorian Warning Protocol to ensure efficacy of warning messages.

the state review its Memoranda of Understanding with official emergency broadcasters to take account of increased usage of internet based information, including social media and the ability to broadcast community meetings

the state develop and implement standards for Emergency Alert to ensure consistent use, training and application by accredited operators within agencies across ‘all hazards’.

the state investigate the ability to refine the Flood and Storm Information Line to enable it to receive as well as provide information.

the state develop and implement a single web portal as a means of providing emergency information to communities and local government on an ‘all hazards’ basis, including the information referred to in recommendations 74, 89 and 92.

the state engage with local government to ensure emergency services’ public information and warnings reflect the community demographic.

the state develop a flood warning system for each basin and location with community input and make relevant documents publicly available. Each warning system should include key performance indicators.

the state develop a standard approach to the provision of emergency warnings and information in formats – spoken and written – that recognise diverse community needs, including language and disability

the state and the commonwealth, during a flood event, make information available on providers who have capacity to accommodate patients and residents who require evacuation.

the state put in place appropriate measures to inform the community of the intended purpose of the Emergency Alert warning system.

the state actively pursue the use of social media as part of its emergency warning and public information system.

To improve response preparedness, DPI should clearly link the selection of simulation exercises to the risk management framework to target coverage of high risks.

DPI should formalise the approach and framework for evaluating simulation exercises and response to Emergency Animal Disease incidents with guidelines to define the nature of the review process. This should include:
• developing a standardised internal evaluation framework to provide guidelines on the review process
• introducing periodic external evaluations of simulation exercises to enable comparison over time and to demonstrate independence and rigour
• developing guidelines for commissioning external evaluations of response to EAD incidents
• recording the implementation of recommendations from simulation exercises and response to EAD incidents
• introducing a system-level review of lessons learned.

We recommend that NSW Health continue with its good work and continue to develop and test the capability of its contact tracing system to deal with a public health emergency.

We recommend that NSW Health continue with its good work and continue to develop and test its surveillance systems for early detection of infectious diseases.

We recommend that NSW Health continue with its good work and formally establish and oversight a comprehensive program of training, testing and evaluation of plans at the state, area and facility level.

We recommend that NSW Health continue with its good work and apply the lessons learnt from Exercise Cumpston to further improve preparedness for major infectious disease emergencies.

We recommend that NSW Health continue with its good work and continue to improve communication mechanisms with those, such as GPs, likely to be affected in major infectious disease outbreaks.