REC324-4312 |
17 - Assets and technology
17 - Assets and technology
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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:
• ensure there are sufficient redundancy options known and made available (for example, backup diesel generators, deployed temporary telecommunications facilities, etc.) to supply power to essential telecommunication infrastructure, alternative telecommunications infrastructure and water treatment facilities.
• ensure that the telecommunication entities, electricity network providers and water treatment managers are using up to the minute, whole of catchment models to inform business continuity planning in the event of flooding
• facilitate cross carrier roaming arrangements between carriers and the public for basic text, voice and data during the period of emergency in areas directly affected by flood
• ensure all essential services are mandatory members of the Emergency Management Committees at state, regional and local levels
• ensure the state understands essential services redundancies and what emergency redundancy options are available from Australian Government agencies
• ensure, given the heavy reliance on essential services by community and government during a disaster, essential services loss, redundancy and build back better principles are exercised through emergency management committee processes annually.
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REC324-4293 |
17 - Assets and technology
17 - Assets and technology
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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:
• essential services infrastructure (communications, water, power and sewerage) is situated as much as possible above the flood planning level. And to minimise disruption to medical services, aged care services and the police, Government ensure hospitals, medical centres, nursing homes, aged care facilities and police stations are situated above the probable maximum flood level
• floodplain infrastructure (drains, levees, flood gates) items are all assigned to an appropriate lead agency which has responsibility for ensuring they are fully maintained and functioning especially when floods are likely.
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REC324-4319 |
26 - Research
26 - Research
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Climate and weather research: That, to enable effective mitigation and adaptation measures in response to changing climate risks, Government establish NSW as a world centre of disaster research and technology development. This should include:
• maintaining and enhancing climate and weather research capability in NSW through establishing a long-term research funding network/partnership (the NSW Climate Extremes Network – NCEN –modelled on other successful research networks such as NSSN) with the state’s universities, coordinated and led through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate Extremes (with funding renewed based on performance every 5 years) to ensure leading-edge climate change research and modelling capabilities are available to government agencies and NSW businesses and communities. The funding will enable NCEN to hire researchers and build training programs for students and researchers to enrich the research environment, and the impact of the research in decision making within NSW
• commissioning further research and technology development (through NCEN working as appropriate with the Bureau of Meteorology, Natural Hazards Research Australia, CSIRO and research organisations worldwide, as well as the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate Extremes) to understand the weather patterns conducive to extreme rainfall (including more detailed rainfall event attribution studies) with a view to increasing rainfall forecasting accuracy in time and location.
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REC324-4297 |
33 - Relief and recovery
33 - Relief and recovery
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Housing , especially social housing: That, to ease housing stress in flood prone areas and ensure new development is resilient and community-centred, Government pursue a multi-pronged, decadal strategy through:
• ensuring flood-displaced residents in emergency housing who have no safe return to home options are re-homed in more permanent settlements where community can be re-established, and that emergency housing clusters do not take on de facto permanency
• providing authoritative advice on how to reclaim and restore flood damaged houses affected by mould. This includes providing detailed advice on who is at risk from living in mould-infected houses (the immunocompromised and those with lung damage plus certain other groups) and what constitutes safe living conditions for this group
• ensuring building standards are adopted for build back after floods so that new housing stock is as flood proof and flood recoverable as possible
• investing additional state, Commonwealth and private sector monies to grow the stock of social and affordable housing
• accelerating investment by the community housing and private sectors in new social and affordable housing projects through a Government run co-contribution grant funding program
• planning for and encouraging collaborative public and private sector investment in innovative mixed-use developments in flood prone regional cities and towns that are built above ground level to be flood
• resilient, are centrally located, and increase housing diversity by providing smaller social, affordable and market dwellings
• the Government’s Expert Housing Advisory Panel providing advice on additional market interventions to improve rental affordability and ease vacancy shortages to reverse homelessness and take pressure off social housing waitlists
• fast-tracking the approval and servicing of new village developments beyond the current footprint of Lismore and other Northern Rivers towns on existing cleared agricultural land above the re-calculated flood planning level, ensuring all infrastructure including transport, retail, schools, public space and other community facilities are in situ prior to occupation
• fast-tracking planning approvals and the provision of enabling infrastructure to accelerate delivery of Aboriginal housing on Local Aboriginal Land Council land and lands owned by Native Title corporations that respects culture and kinship and supports stable accommodation pathways
• partnering with the development and community housing sectors to relocate flood prone social and affordable housing on the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain to new and attractive multi-use, medium density developments within the CBDs of Mount Druitt, Blacktown and other Western Sydney city centres
• under the leadership of the NSW Building Commissioner, developing a code for flood resilient, environmentally sustainable building that accounts for current and likely future supply chain disruptions and extends to modular and manufactured homes
• working with the Greater Cities Commission and regional councils to ensure future local housing strategies factor in the need for natural disaster emergency housing and promote resilient housing systems
• encouraging financial institutions and insurance companies to use pricing structures to incentivise the construction of more safely situated and resilient buildings
• supporting building industry skills growth and making building material supply chains more robust to insulate the economy from future natural disaster and other exogenous shocks
• ensuring building industry occupational health and safety regulations are enforced in the flood-affected areas rebuilding programs.
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REC324-4306 |
6 - Insurance and legal liability
6 - Insurance and legal liability
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NSW Reconstruction Authority: That, to provide rapid and effective recovery from floods (and other disasters) and to provide maximum mitigation of the impacts of future floods (and other disasters), Government establish a permanent state-wide agency, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) dedicated to disaster recovery, reconstruction and preparedness. The NSWRA should:
• source and acquit reconstruction funding from state, Australian Government and philanthropic sources and ensure it is distributed and spent efficiently, effectively, and equitably to get the affected communities functioning again successfully in minimum time. A disaster-preparedness funding envelope should be a permanent feature of the state’s budget (NSW Adaptation Fund) with specific drawdown arrangements negotiated as soon as a disaster occurs
• work with appropriate agencies to ensure disaster relief grants schemes are put into place quickly and ensure rapid and effective distribution of disaster relief grants
• be the clear lead agency responsible for managing and coordinating Government’s program of housing and infrastructure renewal and recovery within disaster‐affected communities, with a focus on working with community, business, state and local government partners (particularly planning, infrastructure, water and roads agencies and utilities) to deliver best practice and rapid effective expenditure of public reconstruction funds. For this it should be given appropriate authority to accelerate or override planning arrangements (in particular, local government planning, environmental and land management controls, provisions and regulations) in affected and high-risk areas and, as necessary, compulsorily acquire or subdivide land
• ensure there is appropriate project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of recovery implementation and associated civil engineering and public works at both a state and local level
• develop effective information flow and consultation mechanisms which ensure a clear voice in crisis but also a broader engagement process during the rebuilding phase, so all those affected in a disaster are supported, consulted and informed throughout the recovery and reconstruction process
• in line with the Government’s vision to build a more disaster-robust state, be the state’s lead agency responsible for disaster prevention. In this role, NSWRA would work collaboratively with key stakeholders (at risk communities, local government and the private, research and philanthropic sectors) to improve risk reduction and disaster adaptation particularly in high-risk areas. In particular, it should work with disaster prone communities, local government and agencies across state government to develop a State Disaster Mitigation Plan and scope, source funding for and lead special disaster-prevention and mitigation projects identified in that Plan
• contribute to Government’s objectives for the community – creating jobs, homes and a strong economy, especially in the regions, protecting the environment and building safe, caring and connected communities by:
— administering funding under disaster recovery funding arrangements and assisting local governments to achieve value for money outcomes in their reconstruction programs
— providing advice and support to local governments to maximise the effectiveness of their disaster preparedness and reconstruction programs
— coordinating disaster recovery activities that help communities recover from disasters and build their preparedness for future events.
Further, it is recommended that the NSW Reconstruction Authority be established and function under dedicated legislation [the NSW Disaster Reconstruction Act] that is modelled on the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Act. This legislation should include that:
• the Authority be allocated to a senior portfolio to maximise its convening power and its ability to respond rapidly when disaster strikes
• its CEO be a statutory appointment and be supported by an Advisory Board (maximum 7 members) comprising community, government and industry leaders with appropriate expertise and experience related to disaster response
• Special Projects be formal constructs with appropriate links to all other relevant agencies
• transition provisions transfer the activities and assets of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation with immediate effect.
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REC324-4308 |
26 - Research
26 - Research
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Compound mental helath studies: That, to inform Government policies and programs for mental health and disasters, Government commission a longitudinal study on the effect of consecutive disasters on community mental health.
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REC324-4311 |
33 - Relief and recovery
33 - Relief and recovery
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Transition initiatives: That, to improve the community’s experience during immediate disaster recovery phase, Government through the SEOCON, NSWRA, DCS/Service NSW and other state agencies as required provide greater support (financial, health [including mental health], temporary accommodation, administrative and other support services) to affected communities by:
• minimising the number of times a person is required to relive their trauma by providing evidence or narrative of their disaster impact (for the purposes of accessing relief and support services). This includes consistent and effective referral pathways and follow up mechanisms
• looking at information sharing arrangements with the Australian Government to streamline grant identification and delivery
• partnering with affected communities and individuals to navigate and access support as soon as possible during or immediately following disaster events
• where possible, merging evacuation and recovery centres for the first 30 days post disaster. Where co location is not possible, DCS/Service NSW must have a representative present at both evacuation and recovery centres.
The Inquiry notes that clear transition initiatives are required dependent on the phase of recovery and lead agency associated – for example, the transition between the SEOCON (including DCS/Service NSW) in the immediate recovery phase to the NSWRA for the longer-term recovery. Functions that may require transition include, but are not limited to, administering grants and funding, and managing infrastructure and housing projects.
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