Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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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. |
REC325-4335 | 16 - Training and behaviour | The Inspector-General of Emergency Management recommends Queensland Fire and Emergency Services update and deliver training on the workflow reviewed (as per Recommendation 3) of the current Emergency Alert system to all persons responsible at a local, district and state level by 1 November 2022. Training should address system constraints and system complexities in addition to the process of requesting, composing (including Clear Explicit Translatable Language [CETL]), authorising and issuing Emergency Alerts. |
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. |
REC325-4326 | 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. |
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: |
REC324-4293 | 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: |
REC324-4316 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Resilience NSW and recovery: That, in order to enhance NSW disaster preparedness, response and recovery, and meet the needs of the people of NSW prior to, during and after a disaster, and provide clarity on agency roles and responsibilities, Resilience NSW be reshaped to ‘Recovery NSW’. The new agency will be more streamlined and agile to drive recovery in the first 100 days post disaster. To achieve this, Resilience NSW’s functions should be reallocated as follows: |
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: |
REC324-4318 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Permanent SEOCON: That, to improve NSW’s ability to prepare and respond to floods and other disasters, Government establish a new Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police Force to take on permanently the SEOCON role. This role, in addition to current SEOCON functions, would be responsible for: |
REC324-4303 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | Risk-based approach to calculating flood planning: That, to take account of greater knowledge of climate change, Government reinforce its adoption of a risk-based approach to calculating the flood planning level for planning purposes and, through the NSWRA, immediately start a process of revising all flood planning level calculations in the state’s high-risk catchments. Flood planning level re-determinations for all high-risk catchments should be completed within 3 years. These revised flood planning levels will need to be factored into all development applications (in-progress and new) in those high-risk catchments. The risk profile of high-risk catchments should be revisited at appropriate time intervals to check that levels are current. A review should take place if there has been a significant trigger event (i.e. changed rainfall, development) or at least every 5 years. As well as reviewing the flood planning level, this 5-yearly review should include reviewing any floodplain lease conditions and adjusting them as necessary in the light of better knowledge of climate change impacts. In working out a tolerable, risk-based flood planning level, consideration should be given to the PMF, 1% AEP, 0.02% AEP, existing development, approved but not yet constructed developments, and existing and approved but not yet constructed evacuation routes. |
REC324-4320 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Knowledge resources to support flood management: That, to provide more accurate and complete data for flood threat identification, warning and modelling systems, Government through the proposed new NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) work with the Australian Government to: |
REC324-4305 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | Cost benefit framework:That, to enable a more systematic prioritisation of investment options in risk mitigation before, during and immediately following a natural disaster event, Government adopt and utilise a Disaster Cost Benefit Framework. This Framework will enable Government to estimate the investment required for any given disaster, starting with flood events, and will enable the fast allocation of funding based on detailed and rapid analysis of flood and property modification, mitigation, preparation, response and finance related options including: |
REC324-4309 | 12 - EM agency and authority | SES and RFS back-office merger: That, to help protect life and property across NSW in storm and flood events, and to improve resourcing and NSW State Emergency Service (SES) frontline capability, Government implement, before the next storm season, a merger of the SES and NSW Rural Fire Services (RFS) back-office and corporate service functions, while maintaining their separate legislative identity, brand, uniform and volunteer membership. This ‘joined-up’ RFS/SES corporate support structure would be under the command of the RFS given its corporate and operational maturity and would be responsible for: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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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. |
REC323-4286 | 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. |
REC323-4258 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | That the NSW Government significantly increase its investment in flood mitigation and preparation, including its support of local governments to do the same, by: • increasing ongoing, long term funding and access to technical guidance and assistance for local councils • ensuring that land-use planning and development takes a risk-based approach. |
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. |
REC323-4263 | 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. |
REC323-4291 | 12 - EM agency and authority | That the NSW Government consider abolishing Resilience NSW if it is unable to ensure: |
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. |
REC323-4292 | 12 - EM agency and authority | That the NSW Government consider a restructure of the NSW State Emergency Service with consideration to: realigning the focus of the organisation to harness local knowledge and networks; coordinating more closely with other rescue agencies to bolster its capacity to respond; and increasing salaried staff and resources, and driving volunteer recruitment. |
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. |
REC323-4282 | 16 - Training and behaviour | That the NSW Government invest in the required personnel, training and vessels to ensure that all agencies involved in flood rescue can be mobilised to their fullest potential. |
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. |
REC323-4285 | 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: |
REC323-4256 | 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. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC311-2498 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | To enhance shared capacity and collaboratively manage risk, the Chair of the Bundaberg DDMG use the QERMF process to determine if dam failure for Paradise Dam should be reported as a residual risk in this instance due to known changes in the risk profile to: |
REC311-2497 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | To increase shared understanding of risks, ensure the coordination of plans and manage risks, dam failure for Paradise Dam be included as a separate risk within the Bundaberg District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP). |
REC311-2492 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | To increase understanding of hazards and manage risks, dam failure for Paradise Dam be included as a separate risk within the North Burnett Local Disaster Management Plan (LDMP). |
REC311-2490 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | To enable entities to have a shared understanding of forecast information for dam failure events during a flood, including flood wave travel time, speed and height, Emergency Action Plans contain protocols and responsibilities of relevant stakeholders for these aspects. |
REC311-2499 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | To ensure enhanced capability integration and enable timely community messaging Bundaberg LDMG in consultation with Sunwater develop additional Emergency Alerts and associated polygons for a Paradise Dam failure and load these on to the disaster management portal. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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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. |
REC271-1530 | 16 - Training and behaviour | Local Disaster Coordination Centre capability and capacity should be reviewed to ensure adequate staffing arrangements are in place to fill key positions, and that operational protocols are known and practiced across all functions to provide redundancy. Assistance for review and necessary training should be sought from key Local Disaster Management Group member agencies. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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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. |
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: |
REC217-1826 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | A revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy should identify and assign roles and responsibilities for the management and ongoing maintenance of Victoria’s waterways, for the purposes of flood protection and flood mitigation: |
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. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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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. |
REC216-2866 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Agency incident management preparedness: provide clarity and certainty in specific roles and responsibilities for each agency. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC210-0728 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland, in consultation with councils, should develop a directive that makes clear the authority of an officer of that agency to command a major SES operation. This could be expected to occur when a deployment of additional SES members is made to a region because the response needed is beyond the capacity of its local units. The directive should make clear the powers of the officer and his or her reporting responsibilities to disaster managers in these circumstances. Emergency Management Queensland must also ensure that any officer who assumes such a role has adequate training and skills in the conduct of disaster operations. |
REC210-0766 | 16 - Training and behaviour | Wide Bay Water should, in addition to its usual wet season preparations and maintenance, undertake the following activities in advance of each wet season: Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry | Final Report 29 Complete list of Final Report recommendations • conduct training for personnel on dam operation, including contingency plans for the situation in which one or more of the gates is inoperable • hold meetings of key personnel of Wide Bay Water involved in the operation of the dam during floods, which: – in addition to any other matters, inform staff about the current status of the gates, dam operation strategies and contingency plans for the situation in which one or more of the gates is inoperable – are recorded in minutes which document the information provided and are made available to all operational staff. |
REC210-0725 | 12 - EM agency and authority | The fire service should ensure that station officers are familiar with the procedure for contacting management when requesting the calling in of additional staff; and, in particular, that they have available to them the names and current telephone numbers of the officers to be contacted in the first instance, with alternative contact details in the event that those officers prove unavailable. |
REC210-0734 | 16 - Training and behaviour | Emergency Management Queensland should simplify the process by which SES members gain recognition for prior qualifications so that unnecessary duplication of training can be avoided. |
REC210-0731 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland should ensure its staff, SES members and disaster managers are familiar with the directives it develops in relation to these matters. |
REC210-0730 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland, in consultation with councils, should develop clear directives about: • the communication and reporting that should take place between the SES and disaster managers, including in relation to task allocation and completion, once disaster management groups have been activated • the communication and reporting that should take place between the SES and disaster managers, including in relation to task allocation and completion, once disaster management groups have been activated • the process for dealing with requests for assistance that exceed an SES unit’s capacity to respond them • the process for seeking extra support for an SES unit that has been overwhelmed by a disaster (whether by way of Emergency Management Queensland or the disaster management arrangements or both) • the role of SES liaison officers in communications with disaster managers about SES disaster operations • the role of incident controllers, and their teams, relative to those SES (or Emergency Management Queensland) personnel charged with the command of SES operations. |
REC210-0729 | 12 - EM agency and authority | Emergency Management Queensland should ensure its staff, SES members and disaster managers are familiar with the directive when it is developed. |
REC210-0775 | 16 - Training and behaviour | The Department of Environment and Resource Management should conduct periodic dam safety information and education sessions with emergency management personnel including those from Emergency Management Queensland, local and district disaster management groups and local councils. Priority should be given to sessions if the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a wet season with a greater than 50 per cent chance of above median rainfall. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC199-0475 | 16 - Training and behaviour | the Department of Planning and Community Development review the volunteer register and examine additional options to support councils in volunteer management, including the development of tools and staffing support. |
REC199-0415 | 16 - Training and behaviour | the state ensure that all personnel who are likely to become involved in incident management teams for floods receive basic flood awareness training prior to such involvement. |
REC199-0463 | 16 - Training and behaviour | the state: • ensure an appropriate regime of regular emergency management training and exercising is introduced. This must be ‘all hazards’ and multi-agency focused and include all relevant stakeholders • designate an accountable officer to hold ongoing responsibility for conducting such exercises; and • designate the Emergency Services Commissioner as holding ongoing responsibility for auditing and reviewing this training and exercising. |
REC199-0414 | 16 - Training and behaviour | the state ensure that all personnel who, because of their particular flood expertise, are likely to be potential participants in an Incident Control Centre are familiar with the requirements of the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System structure |
REC199-0462 | 16 - Training and behaviour | the state introduce a joint emergency management leadership training program that will deliver critical core competencies for all levels of management of major emergencies. Future appointments to senior operational emergency management positions should require successful accreditation at the appropriate level. |
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. |
REC199-0410 | 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. |
REC199-0448 | 16 - Training and behaviour | the state ensure that sector wide familiarity and understanding of the various systems for incident management is developed and maintained. Primarily, this should be achieved through multi-agency emergency management training and exercising involving usage of the various agency incident management systems. |
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. |
REC199-0421 | 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. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC164-0075 | 16 - Training and behaviour | SERCon consider development of an education program for other government and non-government agencies (with |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC125-3900 | 12 - EM agency and authority | That agencies integrate condition information into their asset management decision-making practices and use it as the basis for validating asset valuations and depreciation calculations. |
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. |