Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC325-4338 | 17 - Assets and technology | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and the Bureau of Meteorology investigate options for the consolidation of ownership, renewed capital and maintenance in the flood warning network in consultation with flood warning infrastructure asset owners. |
REC325-4339 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends that Queensland Fire and Emergency Services review and update the State Disaster Risk Report, including re-evaluating the risk of flooding by all types. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services should publish the updated State Disaster Risk Report by 1 November 2023. |
REC325-4326 | 17 - Assets and technology | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends Queensland Fire and Emergency Services lead an inter-agency IT system assessment with Queensland Police Service and local governments to identify disaster management systems currently in use and develop options to enhance connectivity and interoperability between systems. Outputs to be considered include, but are not limited to, consideration of requests for assistance (RFA) and the production of situation reports. |
REC325-4327 | 17 - Assets and technology | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends all local governments that offer an opt-in system develop strategies to increase the number of subscribers who elect to use this service. As part of the annual disaster management plan assessment process for the period 2023–2025, the Office of the Inspector-General of Emergency Management will request information from the relevant local disaster management groups to highlight and share innovative practices that have led to an increase in subscription levels for opt-in services. |
REC325-4330 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends Queensland Fire and Emergency Services review the Queensland Emergency Alert Manual – M.1.174 in its entirety by 1 November 2023. The manual should specifically address the authorising environment, legislative obligations and the capability and complexities of the Emergency Alert system. |
REC325-4330 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends Queensland Fire and Emergency Services review the Queensland Emergency Alert Manual – M.1.174 in its entirety by 1 November 2023. The manual should specifically address the authorising environment, legislative obligations and the capability and complexities of the Emergency Alert system. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC324-4312 | 17 - Assets and technology | Impact to essential services: That, to minimise disruption to essential services, including outages which compromise basic communication coverage, and to ensure access to safe water supply and power during flood events, Government work directly or together with the Australian and other state governments and/or their relevant power and telecommunications regulatory, policy and market bodies to: |
REC324-4315 | 36 - Volunteers | The Community First Responders Program: That, to better coordinate community efforts to save life and property during a disaster, Government create a ‘Community First Responders Program’, funding appropriate community equipment and training, particularly in high-risk catchments along the east coast of NSW. This training would be delivered by combat and/or other appropriate government agencies. This program could support and empower community led initiatives such as disaster response, evacuation centres and the provision of services such as psychological first aid. |
REC324-4293 | 17 - Assets and technology | Essential services and floodplain infrastructure: That, to minimise disruption to essential services (power, communications, water, sewerage) and to ensure flood infrastructure is fully serviceable before flooding, Government ensure: |
REC324-4294 | 34 - Local knowledge | Environment: That, to maximise protection for the environment in and around floodplains, Government, working with local communities especially Indigenous communities, the NSWRA, other agencies and local councils ensure Indigenous voices are well heard in land use planning and natural resource management by: |
REC324-4295 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | Roads: That, to improve the planning and protection of road infrastructure and to ensure communities, freight movers, combat agencies and emergency services have appropriate access and egress during and following a flood event, Government, through TfNSW and NSWRA and working with combat agencies and local and federal governments as needed, should: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC323-4276 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the NSW Government ensure that community groups, both existing and emerging, including First Nations groups, are well integrated into disaster recovery, by incorporating them into state recovery plans and engaging with them in between and in the lead up to natural disasters. |
REC323-4264 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the NSW Government work in partnership with key Aboriginal stakeholders, including the Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council, to prioritise the rebuild of Cabbage Tree Island, and ensure a safe and resourced evacuation plan is in place. |
REC323-4278 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That the NSW Government ensure that the current review of evacuation centres considers the role, accreditation and support of community evacuation centres, with the outcomes of this review to be made public and incorporated into the update of state emergency plans. |
REC323-4265 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the NSW Government work with First Nations peoples to support Aboriginal organisations in their capacity to operate and respond in times of natural disasters. |
REC323-4285 | 17 - Assets and technology | That the NSW Government, in consultation with telecommunication providers and satellite communication providers, investigate ways to minimise the complete loss of telecommunication services in natural disasters, including: |
REC323-4268 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That the NSW Government accelerate its caravan program and ensure it is made available as an option to all displaced residents from the February-March 2022 floods. |
REC323-4286 | 17 - Assets and technology | That the NSW Government advocate through the National Cabinet for the Bureau of Meteorology to review its rain data infrastructure and flood modelling tools, to ensure forecasting locations, rain and flood gauges and other infrastructure are appropriately placed, maintained and updated. |
REC323-4274 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That the NSW Government establish a standing workforce from within the public service to staff evacuation and recovery centres, with this workforce to be trained ahead of time and mobilised as soon as a natural disaster occurs. |
REC323-4256 | 17 - Assets and technology | That the NSW Government work with relevant agencies and local landowners to find ways to improve the management of drainage channels including looking for recommendations to reduce red and green tape. |
REC323-4287 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the NSW State Emergency Service, in partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology, investigate ways in which local communities and local media with local knowledge can play a stronger role in flood predictions and warnings. |
REC323-4275 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the NSW Government, in partnership with community groups, including First Nations groups, develop initiatives to build community resilience, particularly in regions at high risk of future natural disaster events. |
REC323-4263 | 17 - Assets and technology | That the NSW Government prioritise support for the full restoration of sewage treatment facilities on the Richmond River, for the benefit of communities in the Northern Rivers region. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC309-2472 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | A single point of truth be established for accurately capturing and reporting on disaster management group activation levels for any given timeframe. |
REC309-2471 | 17 - Assets and technology | As part of the annual Emergency Action Plan review for the Ross River Dam, consideration should be given to the potential impacts of operating the gate outside automatic mode and whether this event has provided any new information and learnings which can be incorporated into the Emergency Action Plan. This should occur prior to the 2019/20 wet season. |
REC309-2470 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | Evacuation centre plans be revised to better manage vulnerable persons, including the safe storage of medications and providing alternate arrangements for evacuees with additional needs. (e.g. evacuation centre for aged persons). |
REC309-2479 | 34 - Local knowledge | Local groups should plan for and establish clear arrangements to effectively manage offers of assistance including the management of goods, services and volunteers. |
REC309-2477 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | The Department of Housing and Public Works should be included within Local Disaster Management Group evacuation centre planning and plans and assist with decision making around the relocation of evacuees from evacuation centres. |
REC309-2476 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | Energy Queensland and local groups consider establishing formal arrangements that embed measures that assist evacuation plans to increase levels of safety. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC295-1305 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That the annexure to the State Emergency Management Plan, ‘Traffic management during emergencies’, be updated to include: responsibilities and processes for road closures; and, Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure requirements in regards to provision of road closure information, notification of changes in road closure status and publishing of that information. |
REC295-1300 | 17 - Assets and technology | That the State Emergency Service explores options for providing suitable personal protective clothing to personnel from supporting emergency services during major flooding events and sandbagging operations. |
REC295-1299 | 17 - Assets and technology | That systems for Automatic Vehicle Location and personnel tracking be implemented within the emergency services sector. |
REC295-1326 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Establish a State-wide resourcing capability to support incident management teams, regional coordination centres, zone emergency centres, relief centres, recovery centres and State control centres. some of the features of such a capability should include: a) multi-agency, cross-government, State-wide pool of incident management and emergency management personnel building on the State incident management team concept currently facilitated by the Country Fire Service, and expanded to include all hazards, multiagency teams with a roster that provides year-round coverage b) a system that enables staff and volunteers from any agency to identify their availability for upcoming shifts c) a rostering system that enables one or more incident management teams, staging areas, regional coordination centres, State control centres and relief centres to develop, maintain and distribute rosters and structure charts in a more coordinated manner d) identifying areas of expertise for key incident and emergency management functions (e.g. public information, alerts and warning, media liaison, logistics and resource management) that would benefit from a coordinated and resource pooling approach and take steps to implement (consider the Mapping Functional Support Group model as a potential service delivery model). |
REC295-1320 | 17 - Assets and technology | Review existing electronic information systems used by emergency services organisations and other government agencies, and: a) establish a single incident information system across the Emergency Services Sector (MFS, CFS and SES), and b) identify opportunities to consolidate incident information systems of other agencies |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC271-1533 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | State Disaster Coordination Centre considers requesting a representative from critical infrastructure owners be present as a liaison officer in the State Disaster Coordination Centre during activations for events that may impact on their assets. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC267-1154 | 36 - Volunteers | Coordination of Volunteer Support |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC238-0799 | 18 - Access to fire ground | Develop and implement a program of cost-effective road improvement works that can enhance flood evacuation capacity in the short-medium term. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC234-2813 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | To strengthen its oversight of Queensland reconstruction progress, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) recommends that the National Disaster Recovery Taskforce: |
REC234-2810 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) recommends that the Australian Government Reconstruction Inspectorate and the National Disaster Recovery Taskforce seek to maximise the benefits from their value for money review activities by obtaining more timely and comprehensive information on project progress and completion from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, to enable the preliminary value for money assessments to be finalised based on the scope and cost of works that were actually delivered (rather than estimates). |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC217-1833 | 34 - Local knowledge | Local knowledge on the management and ongoing maintenance of waterways, including vegetation clearing and debris removal, needs to be incorporated in the development of regional flood mitigation strategies and local flood plans. Specifically: |
REC217-1816 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That the Department of Sustainability and Environment continue to invest in the auditing of Victoria’s levee systems, both public and private, so that the Victoria Flood Database contains reliable and up to date data, including information on levees’ location, height, condition and ongoing viability for flood protection. |
REC217-1844 | 34 - Local knowledge | Public authorities such as councils and CMAs should continue to seek local knowledge in relation to flood management issues. In particular, councils will collaborate with VICSES and other key stakeholders in reviewing the system of flood wardens. Roles and responsibilities of flood wardens, and the process for their recruitment, should be formalised and clearly articulated in relevant flood management plans. |
REC217-1841 | 34 - Local knowledge | The state government establish a well coordinated and formalised system for the reading of river gauges by local people, including flood wardens. Furthermore, the knowledge of local people in predicting flood heights and impacts should be considered by emergency management agencies when predicting floods. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC216-2866 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Agency incident management preparedness: provide clarity and certainty in specific roles and responsibilities for each agency. |
REC216-2868 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Agency incident management preparedness: a more comprehensive approach to planning, including the number of personnel, their training and better use of on-the-ground intelligence in the affected areas that enables immediate and strategic decision-making to be concurrent processes. |
REC216-2867 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Agency incident management preparedness: refining IT tools to process the intelligence. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC210-0696 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | Carriers, councils and the Australian Communications and Media Authority should take into account the risk of flooding when considering the placement of telecommunications facilities. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC199-0409 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the Bureau of Meteorology should present water levels in both local datum and Australian Height Datum (gauge zero) for all its published information and warnings |
REC199-0419 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the Bureau of Meteorology provide Incident Control Centres with real-time access to flood data held by the Bureau of Meteorology. This will require Bureau of Meteorology staff making themselves available to respond to enquiries from Incident Control Centres during a flood event. |
REC199-0470 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the commonwealth consider including (as part of its review of standards for aged care services) requirements for: • robust ‘all hazards’ evacuation plans that include current after-hour contact details of people who are able to make authoritative decisions during an emergency; and • rehearsal of those plans. |
REC199-0405 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the state and the Bureau of Meteorology liaise to ensure the existence of appropriate quality control processes for gauges and contingency measures in the event that gauges are damaged during flood events. |
REC199-0413 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | the state clarify the role of intelligence cell staff (for example, hydrologists and/or Catchment Management Authority) who are utilised in Incident Control Centres during flood events |
REC199-0452 | 17 - Assets and technology | the state ensure that any new systems and equipment purchased by state emergency management agencies are interoperable with other relevant agencies to the fullest extent possible. This should involve the state establishing a procurement gateway process with input from the Emergency Services Commissioner. |
REC199-0404 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the state engage with the Bureau of Meteorology to establish a joint initiative to review existing flash flood warning systems in Victoria and identify where additional systems are needed, with a particular focus on urban centres with a history of flash flooding. This review should seek to achieve outcomes similar to those implemented in NSW. Subject to those outcomes being implemented, the state should determine which agency is responsible for flash flood warnings. |
REC199-0412 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the Bureau of Meteorology adjust its flood prediction models to incorporate water storage conditions (to enable it to issue more timely and useful flood predictions for communities based downstream of water storages). |
REC199-0423 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the Bureau of Meteorology expand its volunteer amateur weather watch groups to enhance its weather and flood information gathering procedures. |
REC199-0403 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the state and commonwealth undertake a review into the appropriate institutional arrangements for the forecasting and predictions function currently undertaken by Melbourne Water for the Port Phillip and Westernport region. |
REC199-0411 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the Bureau of Meteorology undertake a review of its radar coverage in the context of flash and riverine flood warnings for Victoria, with a particular focus on known gap areas such as the Horsham/Nhill region. |
REC199-0422 | 36 - Volunteers | the state establish a process for volunteer community member accreditation to allow volunteers to provide flood information to the control agency during a flood event. This process should establish a base competency standard and provide appropriate emergency management and Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System training to accredited community volunteers. |
REC199-0492 | 34 - Local knowledge | the state comprehensively pursue the objective of achieving (where possible) the priority outcomes of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and the imperative of shared responsibility, in particular by: • requiring that local knowledge is considered as a critical component of all phases of emergency management • involving local communities in the development and ownership of community resilience plans based on an ‘all hazards’ approach and tailored for the specific needs of each community • encouraging local communities to form resilience committees to develop and administer community resilience plans • nominating Victoria Police as the lead agency in initiating the strategy to develop community resilience committees; and • requiring emergency service agencies to consult and engage with local community resilience committees in the preparation, planning, response and recovery phases of emergency management. |
REC199-0410 | 17 - Assets and technology | the state take the necessary measures to upgrade existing manual stream and rain gauges and ensure that all future gauges provide a seamless transfer of data from the gauges to the Bureau of Meteorology. |
REC199-0421 | 34 - Local knowledge | the state take the necessary measures to require that local knowledge is considered in flood risk planning, including verification of flood maps and flood response plans. |
REC199-0477 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | the state review the potential for National Registration and Inquiry System 6 to provide a single point of information collection to both register individuals and plan the delivery of recovery services. If the review determines National Registration and Inquiry System 6 is unable to fulfil this function, the state should work with the commonwealth and other states to implement the necessary changes to National Registration and Inquiry System 6. If National Registration and Inquiry System 6 is unable to be developed as a single information collection system: the state should develop and implement a single point of information collection system, including how information obtained from outreach activities can be incorporated into this system and how such information may be linked into the Rapid Impact Assessment process. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC187-2946 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That a national agency sponsored by the Commonwealth Government be established to undertake national coordination of flood risk management and to operate the system of premium discounts and the flood risk reinsurance facility. The Agency would: |
REC187-2918 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That an agency sponsored by the Commonwealth Government be created to manage the national coordination of flood risk management and to operate a system of premium discounts and a flood risk reinsurance facility, supported by a funding guarantee from the Commonwealth. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC125-3897 | 17 - Assets and technology | That agencies assess the cost-effectiveness of establishing a dedicated and proven asset management information system which is integrated with the other information systems used to manage drainage assets. |