That the NSW Government introduce a formalised governance structure at the State level to provide leadership and better assist local coastal councils with the management of catchments, funding and administrative constraints in relation to their Coastal Management Plans.

That the NSW Reconstruction Authority continue to work with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, NSW Treasury, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the emergency services organisations under the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 to minimise any duplication and improve efficiency between the work of the Authority and these agencies, particularly with respect to disaster preparedness and mitigation activities, data, modelling and information sharing.

By August 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority should develop a strategy to manage the transition of people into long-term accommodation, taking into account recommendations from relevant reviews

By August 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority should determine a timeline for demobilising the temporary housing villages and transitioning tenants out of temporary housing

By August 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority should review the temporary housing waitlist to determine the current extent of unmet need

By December 2024, all audited agencies should develop internal plans for implementing whole-of-government responsibilities under the Welfare Functional Area Supporting Plan and any plan developed as a result of recommendation one. This may include, as appropriate, the agency's:
- role in whole-of-government governance arrangements, including key interactions with other agencies
- procurement process, including analysis of appropriate options
- process for identifying appropriate sites for temporary housing
- relevant communication activities, including engagement with Aboriginal communities.

By August 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority should develop a whole of government plan for temporary housing to coordinate future temporary housing responses to emergency events

By December 2024, all audited agencies should: finalise evaluations of their role in the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing for the Northern Rivers and Central West flood events, and incorporate lessons learned into future planning and continuous improvement. These evaluations should be undertaken in conjunction with other agencies where appropriate.

By August 2024, the NSW Reconstruction Authority should develop a process for a state-wide recovery lessons learned process and facilitate this being completed each year in coordination with the State Recovery Committee.

The Minister for Emergency Services establish a new state-based emergency volunteering award, to improve recognition of emergency volunteers.

That NSW develop and prosecute with the Commonwealth Government a platform of priority initiatives and reforms the Commonwealth should pursue to better support emergency volunteering and build community capability, in partnership with other States and Territories.

To promote integrity and transparency, the Department of Regional NSW should ensure that for all future grant programs it: establishes and follows guidelines that align with relevant good practice guidance including accountabilities, key assessment steps and clear assessment criteria.

To promote integrity and transparency, the Department of Regional NSW should ensure that for all future grant programs it: documents all key decisions and approvals in line with record keeping obligations. 

To promote integrity and transparency, the Department of Regional NSW should ensure that for all future grant programs it: ensures regular monitoring is in place as part of funding deeds.

To promote integrity and transparency, the Department of Regional NSW should ensure that for all future grant programs it: ensures staff declare conflicts of interest prior to the commencement of a grants stream, and that these conflicts of interest are recorded and managed.

To promote integrity and transparency, the Department of Regional NSW should ensure that for all future grant programs it: ensures a communications plan is in place, including the communication of guidelines to potential applicants.

Relief and recovery capability: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria and the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department – in collaboration with the relevant relief and recovery organisations:
(a) identify the core capabilities required for operational relief and recovery roles at state, regional and incident levels
(b) coordinate capability development opportunities to develop a consistent level of capability in relief and recovery for relevant agencies at the state, regional and incident levels.

That, in order to prioritise early suppression and keep fires small:
a) Government set a KPI for NPWS regarding the percentage of fires that start on-park and are contained within 10 hectares, and consider whether 70% is an appropriate KPI for the NSW RFS and NPWS
b) NSW fire authorities deploy remote area fire fighting resources based on enhanced research and predictive modelling. In some circumstances, this may require prioritising the deployment of RART to enable rapid initial attack of new remote area ignitions over ongoing suppression operations, where supported by a relative risk assessment.

That, to ensure updated resource-sharing arrangements are in place, the NSW and Victorian Governments progress and finalise a multi-agency Memorandum of Understanding before the 2020-21 fire season commences.

That, in order to ensure outcomes-based roadside vegetation management to reduce roadside tree fall and grass ignitions in planning and preparing for bush fire, Transport for NSW, working with local government and NSW RFS, establish a consistent framework for roadside vegetation management that analyses road priority, utility, amenity, strategic value and risk. The framework should:
- take into consideration landscape characteristics like distance, slope, set back, vegetation maturity and type. Acceptable outcomes under this framework could include clear verges, or alternatives such as safe zones/pull-outs
- tie in formally with other strategic land use and biodiversity processes.

That government agencies managing land (at all levels and through all agencies) be the best neighbours possible by considering their neighbours when undertaking activities related to bush fire preparation and having clear, two-way communication about these activities, with the aspiration that government landholders will be seen as highly desirable neighbours.

Implement a fully integrated civilianised single call and dispatch centre, that includes a redundancy option outside the Sydney CBD, which will adopt an agnostic approach to deploy the quickest most suitable resource to an emergency. Such a centre should be managed by either a non uniformed public servant staffed organisation like the Office for Emergency Management, or the NSW Police Force

I recommend that the New South Wales Police Force, in conjunction with NSW Health, establish a Fixated Threat Assessment Centre to identify and gather information about fixated persons, assess the risks they pose, and attempt to mitigate such risks through early intervention.

I recommend that the Premier of New South Wales consider whether the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 should be amended to ensure that there is appropriate access to health related information available to ASIO (consistent with recommendation 12 of the report of the Martin Place Siege Joint Commonwealth—New South Wales review)

That the NSW Rural Fire Service and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service investigate the cost and feasibility of installing infrared cameras at the Siding Springs Observatory and key sites in other national parks to facilitate fire spotting.

That the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, at the direction of the NSW Rural Fire Service, enhance the network of fire trails within national parks across New South Wales by:
-reopening those fire trails that have been closed within the last ten years
-establishing new fire trails where appropriate
-providing sufficient fire vehicle turning areas
-ensuring adequate fire trail maintenance over the long term.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service review the decision not to construct additional fire trails in the Warrumbungle National Park following the Wambelong fire.

Government Communications Coordination
In future events, a more coordinated communications structure across Government, where
planned Government announcements relevant to the region in recovery are developed in
conjunction with the recovery team, would be beneficial to ensure recovery teams are aware
of, and can plan for, decisions that impact on the work of the recovery team.

Planning for Access to Potentially Isolated Communities
The challenges faced by Dungog Council in resolving the Torryburn access issue resulted in
extended delays that impacted adversely on the Torryburn community. The issue arose
because the community is accessed by a single access route. The challenges faced by Dungog
Council could well be experienced again in future events for similar communities with single
means of access. Emergency access options for such communities, including alternate routes
or transport means to be utilised in an emergency, should be considered in local emergency
plans. In addition, the criteria, likely requirement for, and means of re-supply during the
recovery phase should be clarified.

That the NSW Government consider enabling the default position during catastrophic and extreme fire danger periods to be the same as for section 44 fires, so that fire control centres have the same systems and resources ready to deploy should a fire break out.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service, in collaboration with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, review and improve the system of bush fire management zones to ensure that greater priority is given to hazard reduction on land classified within land management zones.

That the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service:
- ensure that where a park is adjacent to a rural land holding, its side of the boundary fence is cleared to the same legislative requirement as the land holding, that is, six metres
- examine the fairness of the policy whereby, in the event of a fire originating on national park land, the Service provides the fencing materials to construct or replace boundary fences, while the neighbour erects the fences.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service investigate the cost and feasibility of installing infrared cameras at the Siding Springs Observatory and key sites in other national parks to facilitate fire spotting.

That the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service consider the feasibility, on a case by case basis, of closing public roads through national parks on days with catastrophic fire danger rating, to mitigate the risk of bush fire ignition in national parks.

That the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, at the direction of the NSW Rural Fire Service, enhance the network of fire trails within national parks across New South Wales by:
- reopening those fire trails that have been closed within the last ten years
- establishing new fire trails where appropriate
- providing sufficient fire vehicle turning areas
- ensuring adequate fire trail maintenance over the long term.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service review the decision not to construct additional fire trails in the Warrumbungle National Park following the Wambelong fire.

The NPWS to consider developing a land management policy that requires hazard reduction around identified assets within the Park and the clearing of fire trials within the Park before the bush fire season commences. Consideration should also be given to developing additional fire trails in the Park, bearing in mind the lack of available fire trails to the south of the John Renshaw Parkway in the park.

That the Department of Primary Industries address the forthcoming potential shortage of veterinary pathologists and agronomists within its testing facilities by positive recruitment actions over the next five years such as offering scholarships or training existing professional staff to develop skills in pathology.
The Committee encourages the Department to continue with these efforts to use the skills of private sector vets to strengthen the emergency response in the Australian Veterinary Reserve and the Accreditation Program for Australian Veterinarians.

The New South Wales Government should make the necessary arrangements with the Australian Government, including any necessary legislation, for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to have the power to investigate all rail accidents occurring on the New South Wales rail network the investigation of which may advance the knowledge of the causes of rail accidents in Australia.

All accredited rail organisations should be required to re-apply every three years to ITSRR for accreditation.

The ITSRR should ensure that OTSI, as a division of ITSRR, co-operates and assists the ATSB in the conduct of any independent investigation by the ATSB of any rail accident or incident in New South Wales.

Where possible to build stone or brick fireplaces for the use of travellers, teamsters, and drovers on the camping areas that are mostly used and where there is a risk of fire.

To burn camping areas at suitable water and camping reserves.