The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Victoria Police – in collaboration with the community and the emergency management sector – reflect on events of the 2019–20 fire season to review and enhance evacuation plans and processes with consideration of:
a) high risk areas (including remote locations)
b) early evacuation triggers
c) the potential for isolated communities
d) the presence of tourists and non-residents
e) individual decisions to not evacuate
f) the inability to evacuate
g) consequence management and compounding events such as the loss of essential services or health impacts. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria – in accepting that emergency management is a ‘shared responsibility’ - collaborate with the emergency management sector and community to:
a) establish clear guidance that clarifies the roles and responsibilities of individuals, communities, the private sector, responder agencies and government before, during and after emergencies
b) develop, implement and evaluate an ongoing communications strategy that ensures these roles and responsibilities are well-understood and reiterated throughout the year. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria works with the emergency management sector and relevant emergency management entities in New South Wales and South Australia to identify and address key cross border operational and resource management issues. This engagement should aim to enhance interoperability and maximise the capability and capacity of agencies to work together during emergencies along Victoria’s borders. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria collaborate with the emergency management sector to develop a capacity model that considers current and future:
a) career and volunteer emergency management personnel requirements
b) identified and trained personnel for surge requirements
c) emergency risks and climate scenarios. 

State and territory governments should ensure that those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review those plans, and update them where appropriate, including in relation to:
(1) key risks that essential service outages have on communities during a severe or catastrophic natural disaster (particularly communications an
power)
(2) availability of essential supplies, including food and water, and
(3) consequence management and compounding events such as the loss of essential services or health impacts. 

Australian, state and territory governments should create simpler Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements application processes. 

Australian Government agencies should work together across all phases of disaster management. 

State and territory governments should ensure those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review those plans, and update where appropriate, to provide for coordination between states and territories in cross border areas and to provide cross-border access to evacuation centres. 

Australian, state and territory governments should develop national air quality forecasting capabilities, which include broad coverage of population centres and apply to smoke and other airborne pollutants, such as dust and pollen, to predict plume behaviour. 

State and territory governments should ensure that those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review those plans, and update them where appropriate, including in relation to:
(1) roles and responsibilities of state and territory governments, local governments and local communities
(2) education and signage about evacuations and evacuation routes, including education of seasonal populations
(3) the adequacy of evacuation routes; including contingencies if evacuation routes or centres are assessed as not being able to cope, and
(4) the potential inability to evacuate, either by reason of circumstances or personal characteristics. 

Australian, state and territory governments should broaden Category D of the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements to encompass funding for recovery measures that are focused on resilience, including in circumstances which are not ‘exceptional’. 

Australian, state and territory governments should establish an authoritative advisory body to consolidate advice on strategic policy and relevant operational considerations for ministers in relation to natural disasters. 

State and territory governments should ensure those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review these plans, and update them where appropriate, to account for the existence and standard of any evacuation centres and safer places (however described) in the community, including:
(1) the capacity of a centre to handle seasonal population variation
(2) the suitability of facilities to cater for diverse groups, including vulnerable people, and those evacuating with animals, and
(3) the existence of communications facilities and alternate power sources.

Australian, state and territory governments should adopt procurement and contracting strategies that support and develop a broader Australian-based sovereign aerial firefighting industry. 

Australian, state and territory governments should continue to explore the feasibility of a national, all-hazard emergency warning app. 

State and territory governments should provide information to the public on the closure and opening of roads. Information should be provided in real-time, or in advance based on predictions, where possible. 

Australian, state and territory and local governments should develop greater consistency in the financial support provided to individuals, small businesses and primary producers under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. 

Australian, state and territory governments should restructure and reinvigorate ministerial forums with a view to enabling timely and informed strategic decision-making in respect of:
(1) long-term policy improvement in relation to natural disasters
(2) national preparations for, and adaptation to, natural disasters, and
(3) response to, and recovery from, natural disasters of national scale or consequence including, where appropriate, through the National Cabinet or equivalent intergovernmental leaders’ body. 

State and territory governments should provide further community education on the function and limitations of different sheltering facilities, including evacuation centres, Neighbourhood Safer Places, places of last resort and natural disaster shelters. This education should be nationally consistent. 

State and territory governments should take steps to ensure that there is better interaction, planning and ongoing understanding of Australian Defence Force capabilities and processes by state and territory fire and emergency service agencies and local governments. 

The Australian Government should facilitate state and territory governments working together to develop minimum national standards of information to be included in bushfire warnings apps. 

State and territory governments should include road closure and opening information on all roads within their borders on public apps. 

State and territory governments should, as a priority, adopt nationally consistent terminology and functions for the different sheltering facilities, including evacuation centres, Neighbourhood Safer Places, places of last resort and natural disaster shelters. 

State and territory governments should update and implement the National Framework to Improve Government Radio Communications Interoperability, or otherwise agree a new strategy, to achieve interoperable communications across jurisdictions. 

State and territory governments should urgently deliver and implement thevall-hazard Australian Warning System. 

Each state and territory government should establish an independent accountability and assurance mechanism to promote continuous improvement and best practice in natural disaster arrangements. 

The Australian Government should make provision, in legislation, for a declaration of a state of national emergency. The declaration should include the following components:
(1) the ability for the Australian Government to make a public declaration to communicate the seriousness of a natural disaster
(2) processes to mobilise and activate Australian Government agencies quickly to support states and territories to respond to and recover from a natural disaster, and
(3) the power to take action without a state or territory request for assistance in clearly defined and limited circumstances. 

The Australian Government should enhance national preparedness for, and response to, natural disasters, building on the responsibilities of Emergency Management Australia, to include facilitating resource sharing decisions of governments and stress testing national disaster plans. 

State and territory governments should expedite the development and implementation of the Australian Fire Danger Rating System. It should ensure that there is national consistency in the visual display of the AFDRS and action to be taken in response to each rating. 

Australian, state and territory governments should ensure that personal information of individuals affected by a natural disaster is able to be appropriately shared between all levels of government, agencies, insurers, charities and organisations delivering recovery services, taking account of all necessary safeguards to ensure the sharing is only for recovery purposes. 

A Relocation and Evacuation working group be established from stakeholder organisations to consider and develop an Evacuation and Relocations Sub- Plan. The Sub-Plan should consider the lessons learned this year and address principles, lead agency, WHoG coordination, trigger points etc. This could be the same working group formed for reviewing the Emergencies Act, Plan and sub-plans.

NDIA be engaged in regard to information sharing in emergencies as part of the above actions.

Efforts be increased to build trust, confidence and a common operating picture across PCS and RFS and seek mechanisms that identifies RFS and PCS as equitable partners in delivery of fire management across the territory.

Government consider adopting a similar model to NSW for the management of emergency costs and reimbursements within ACT Government agencies.

In collaboration with other jurisdictions the ACT share the learnings for this bushfire event and work to officially embedded values officers and RRATs as key elements of bushfire response.

Government consider an alternative funding arrangement for extraordinary costs borne by Government agencies in combating emergencies such as bushfires.

The working group (Rec 1) should include relevant stakeholders deciding collectively what the declaration might mean for such things as sub and supporting plans and the relevant community messages and calls to action.

That, in order to improve information flows and increase public awareness of ABC emergency broadcasts, Government:
a) include an ABC Manager in the Public Information Functional Area Coordinator (PIFAC) team within the State Operations Centre
b) strategically place roadside signage with local/regional ABC station frequency band throughout the State.

That the NSW RFS work with AFAC to analyse the impact of changing fire seasons on inter- jurisdictional resource sharing agreements, both domestic and international, and determine any flow-on effects for NSW fire fighting personnel capacity.

That, in order to ensure the safety of local landholders on firegrounds, the NSW RFS emphasises the importance of local landholders using protective clothing while fire fighting as part of the RFS’ ‘Farm Fire Unit Integration’ priority for 2020-21.

That, in order to ensure all agencies have a clear understanding of cross-border communication channels during bush fires, all MoUs between state or territory agencies include an agreed protocol about how agencies will communicate across borders and that these are reflected in Incident Action Plans.

That, in order to ensure evacuation centres are fit-for-purpose, Resilience NSW work with Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) to:                                                                                                                                       a) update the guidelines for LEMCs identifying evacuation centres to require a risk assessment of potential locations, which should include identifying alternate sources of power for use by evacuation centres and recording these appropriately
b) review existing evacuation centre locations to assess compliance with updated LEMC guidelines and report to the State Emergency Management Committee on their suitability.

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, in order to improve the provision of evidence-based public health messaging about air quality during bush fire events, Government develop a public education campaign and supporting systems before the next bush fire season. This should include:
- a public education campaign (like sun exposure), to help people make their own decisions about exposure to bush fire smoke
- tailored messaging to target:
* smoke-vulnerable cohorts of the community
* general practitioners, particularly in rural and regional areas, so they can advise patients with relevant, susceptible comorbidities
* employers, to support development of appropriate workplace health and safety guidance for outdoor workers
* an improved air quality alert system such as an enhanced Air Rater app.

That, in order to ensure emergency response agencies can communicate across state and territory borders, the Commonwealth Government allocate 10 + 10 MHz as a dedicated spectrum for Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB) at no cost to states and territories.

That, in order to ensure evacuation arrangements can be scaled up when needed, Resilience NSW:
a) ensure staff who are willing to be deployed to evacuation centres are trained as soon as possible to bolster evacuation centre staff surge capacity
b) train council and NSW government regional staff in evacuation centre establishment and management, supported by a one-page ‘start up sheet’ for opening an evacuation centre
c) enable interested community members to be trained to assist in evacuation centre establishment and management and provide an avenue for skilled volunteers to register their interest
d) develop an exercise for the management of multiple evacuation centres dealing with large numbers of people for a protracted period over a widespread area.

That, in order to improve support for people evacuating with animals, the Department of Primary Industries:
a) work with Resilience NSW to develop evacuation protocols and procedures to ensure appropriate supports are provided for both people and animals (informed by the findings from Project Ohana), including a process for animal registration at evacuation centres and mutually agreed naming conventions, and provide this information to Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs)
b) work with LEMCs to identify overflow sites that can be used for evacuated animals when preferred sites are full
c) further develop the domestic pets evacuation protocol.

That Government work with other Australian governments to provide long-term funding certainty to AFAC, including the National Resource Sharing Centre (NRSC) and the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC).

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 the NSW RFS identifies remote bush fire prone areas that do not already have an indoor Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP) and upgrades the relevant NSW RFS Stations to meet NSP guidelines. These stations would require adequate Asset Protection Zones and active/passive protection systems to provide short-term protection.

That, in order to ensure the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) can maintain communications during emergencies, the Government provide the SEOC with independent Public Safety Network functionality.

That the NSW RFS include the following priorities in the Fires Near Me improvements roadmap:
a) text enlargement functionality
b) a clear statement about the app’s limitations and the importance of heeding public warnings and relying on personal observations
c) fire spread prediction maps on extreme/catastrophic days d) update fire map information as technology improves.

That in order to provide greater consistency in public information and warnings, especially in border areas:
a) the finalisation of the Australian Warning System be prioritised to provide greater consistency in public information and warnings
b) the NSW State Emergency Management Committee, including the Public Information and Warnings Sub-Committee, prioritise the implementation of the Australian Warning System and data standards for relevant hazards within NSW.

That, in order to ensure equitable access to evacuation centres and associated support services for people in border communities, Resilience NSW ensure cross-border access arrangements are reflected in evacuation centre management guidelines.

That, in order to improve fireground communications between NSW agencies and interstate personnel:                                      a) Government ensure all NSW fire authority personnel and vehicles can access and utilise the Public Safety Network (PSN). This should include access to NSW RFS Private Mobile Radio networks where PSN coverage is not yet available.
b) the NSW Telco Authority review cross-border communications availability and planning and advise NSW fire authorities on next steps to enable multi-state interoperability for wide area communications.

That, in order to provide real-time information on evacuation doorknocking during emergency events, Government explore a shared data gateway for NSW agencies based on the NSW State Emergency Service Collector app and a common mapping and analytics platform.

That, in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable people during an evacuation, Resilience NSW:
a) identify aged care facilities in fire and flood prone areas, and ensure that emergency plans are in place and comply with the Evacuation Decision Guidelines for Private Health and Residential Care Facilities
b) develop/refresh evacuation centre protocols to specifically address the needs of vulnerable people.

Consider amending the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 to align SAFECOM Board operations with accepted governance standards with the Minister appointing an Independent Chair of the SAFECOM Board. The SAFECOM Chief Executive (CE) should report to the Board and maintain SAFECOM’s role at the direction of the Board. Alternatively, SAFECOM could be abolished, moving to a model of a Department of Fire and Emergency Services where the departmental head reports to the Minister but the value proposition of any such machinery of government change would need to be thoroughly examined.

Better coordinate public information and warnings including evacuation plans and provide a single source of information about, the location and direction of fires, how and when to use Safer Places, Places of Last Resort, relief and recovery centres and directed evacuations.

Engage with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) once or twice a year to understand the capabilities that could potentially be deployed. Educate IMTs about how to deploy ADF assistance effectively and develop a streamlined ‘call out’ procedure.

Prepare to ‘scale up’ capability during major bushfire events with senior representatives (including BoM staff) in the SEC 24/7, ensure adequate facilities for IMTs, base camps (e.g. Humanihuts) and recovery centres. Consider the resource implications of providing firefighters to interstate operations.

Greater emphasis be placed on pre-planned and pre-determined arrangements between the Australian Defence Force and State and local agencies.

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). 

Local groups should plan for and establish clear arrangements to effectively manage offers of assistance including the management of goods, services and volunteers. 

Energy Queensland and local groups consider establishing formal arrangements that embed measures that assist evacuation plans to increase levels of safety. 

Efforts are made to improve the timeliness, accuracy and targeting of Emergency Alert messaging by:
 • educating the sector about how Emergency Alert works in detail, and involving them in its testing.
 • ensuring the preparation and authorisation of Emergency Alert campaigns consider those to be warned, and are not limited by disaster management boundaries.
 • allowing the operation of Emergency Alert and the authorisation of its campaigns by disaster management practitioners at a district and local level.

Relevant authorities should work with the tourism sector to clarify future arrangements for evacuation. In particular they should look closely at differentiating voluntary and directed evacuations in their messaging,
ensure the differences are explained to the community in pre-season campaigns, and that necessary information is passed on to tourists. 

A strategy should be developed between the key tourism and transport operators, and local and state government. It should address the arrival of visitors and tourists after a disaster, and should ensure that their arrival matches communities’ needs for recovery and return to normal business. The Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games should monitor its implementation.

The Queensland Chief Health Officer should work with the Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management to raise, with the Commonwealth, the need for all aged care providers to plan and exercise for evacuation to a similar safe establishment.

Significant effort should be invested to provide disaster decision-makers at every level with a shared understanding of risks, the situation, and capability, so that they can agree on the best decisions for the communities they serve. 

Coordinated arrangements for liaison officer deployment should be considered and documented by disaster management groups across the full spectrum of risk identified for their area of responsibility, and not rely on a singular inflexible approach.

Communications protocols about hazard-specific events should be developed to clarify responsibilities and the principles for the release of information and warnings. They should be included in all related hazard-specific plans and published on relevant websites, and used during events.

The national messages for catastrophic fire danger ratings should be integrated with all existing and new community bushfire safety information. 

To make planned burning and land clearing easier to understand and implement for landholders, a single point of contact for all bushfire mitigation inquiries and permits should be established.

We recommend that, in the absence of stand-alone catchment management authorities, the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning fulfil its obligation under the State Disaster Management Plan to drive the enhancement of flood resilience in the four catchments by:
- coordinating flood resilience activities and funding at a state and catchment level
- developing strategies and plans, in consultation with the four councils and relevant entities, to effectively identify, assess, prioritise and manage catchment scale flood risks using an integrated catchment management approach
- assessing the capacity and capabilities of the four councils and supporting them as necessary in building flood resilience in the catchments and in their local areas.

We recommend that, in the absence of stand-alone catchment management authorities, the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning as a matter of priority, establish what funding is reasonably required and complete all elements of the Brisbane River Catchment Flood Studies.

We recommend that the Department of Natural Resources and Mines and the four councils work together to effectively and economically regulate levee banks.

Retain the Bushfires Council as a Ministerial advisory body.

Until a single call centre is developed, continue deployments of a senior RFS officer to Fire and Rescue NSW ComCen on a 24/7 day basis. This arrangement should determine the quickest most suitable resource and who is ‘in charge’ of an incident

The Commissioners of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) and the RFS issue an instruction to FRNSW ComCen that while AVL capability is being made available to the RFS vehicle fleet, no offers of assistance by one agency to the other in combatting a fire is rejected or delayed if what is being offered is appropriate

Take immediate steps to eliminate fire boundaries for call and dispatch purposes to create an agnostic approach to the threat of fires from both a departmental and organisational perspective

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

In recognising the success of the work of both the volunteer based Rural Fire Service and the full time Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) members in joint operations – both agencies should be represented at major briefings or press conferences to reinforce successful integrated collaborative efforts rather than individual agency achievements

Review the effectiveness of emergency public information arrangements, and give consideration to embedding an ABC Manager (not a journalist) into the RFS headquarters during emergencies to broadcast warnings to the community that can be pooled to commercial media outlets

Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) and Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) initiate a discussion among their Australasian peers about good practice around managing new fire starts in remote terrain, to include issues around identification, predictive analysis, risk management and suppression activities. The outcome should be a document which allows for benchmarking to accepted good practice across Australasia, from which Tasmanian fire agencies can develop protocols against which the management of future events can be tested.

TFS, PWS and STT should establish a State Air Desk, to be staffed by specialist staff year-round, with responsibility for managing both preparatory and contractual issues out of season as well as aircraft management when fires or other emergency events are occurring.

TFS, PWS and STT should work with government and each other to continue to pursue a whole-of-state fuel management and burning program that encompasses all land tenures, meets the range of outcomes required by the state (township protection, risk reduction and landscape-scale burns) and is inclusive of private landholders and local communities as well as all fire agencies.

That, in the event of a major emergency such as the June floods, a government department (DPAC or State Growth) be appointed to coordinate infrastructure repair, to the extent that funding allows, for the whole state. Individual entities will still have the right and responsibility to repair and maintain their own assets, but some central oversight and coordination is, in our view, likely to be beneficial.

That DPAC becomes the Management Authority for recovery in Tasmania.

That Government establishes a central flood policy unit responsible for coordinating flood policy across all government agencies, including Government Businesses, and ensures that such a unit has a whole-of-government and community focus.

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

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.

Consider bringing other agencies onto the SA Government Radio Network, in particular, Department of Education and Child Development and local government, to support more effective coordination and provide a reliable communications contingency during emergencies.

That the position of Deputy Director, Office for Digital Government is dedicated to the Office for Digital Government; and that people throughout DPC are identified and trained to perform appropriate roles within the State Crisis Centre

That, as with earthquake, SA Police be designated the Control Agency under the State Emergency Management Plan for black system events or other major power outages.

That SA Police develop an evacuation plan for the Adelaide Central Business District (CBD) which includes:
a) a Traffic Management Plan to assist in the movement of persons and vehicles away from the CBD
b) protocols for the early placement of a SA Police liaison officer within the Traffic Management Centre.

That the Department of Education and Child Development be included as a member of State Emergency Management Council and represented in the State Emergency Centre.

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.

That the Department of the Premier and Cabinet revise the ministerial documents relating to emergency management.

That SA Police, as the control agency for search and rescue, and State Emergency Service who have the responsibility for providing search and rescue services under the State Emergency Management Plan, develop a swiftwater rescue capability plan that describes key swiftwater risk locations, roles and responsibilities of emergency services, State swiftwater resources and dispatch arrangements.

That the Flood Reform Task Group, as proposed by the Department
of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, develop a business
case for Cabinet, based on the dam safety discussion paper
(Pisaniello & Tingey-Holyoak, 2016) which identifies options and a
way forward to address dam safety in SA.

That the SES in collaboration with MFS Communications Centre (Comcen) investigate and implement options to reduce the number of calls coming into the Comcen, (particularly on 132500). Options could include better utilisation of the available options on the Interactive Voice Recording and community education to increase community resilience.

That a single emergency service multi-agency control centre be established with sufficient capacity and capability to deal with all types of emergency incidents in SA. Also consider Police and State Emergency Centre.

Review and update Part 3, Annex C, of the SEMP ‘Public Information and Warnings’ to: a) clarify the role and responsibilities of the Public Information Functional Support Group and control agencies in relation to public information b) define requirements and processes for liaising with the community, including holding community meetings

That Attorney General’s Department explore options to overcome fatigue and welfare issues of SAGRN staff associated with emergency events of extended duration.

Identify, document and communicate contingency arrangements and procedures for emergency services in the event SA Government Radio Network paging is turned off to conserve power, or other loss of paging capacity.

That the recommendation made following the Pinery bushfire, ‘to review control facilities at State, region and incident level’, be expanded to include all emergency services facilities that will be utilised for major incidents other than bushfire e.g. flood and earthquake and to also be extended into metropolitan areas, and implemented.

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).

The Chairpersons of disaster management groups within the Mackay Disaster District, supported by the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services recommend implementing the Mackay District Improvement Strategy (refer to page 53 of the inquiry).

I recommend that the Commissioner of Police consider seeking an agreement with news media outlets whereby the New South Wales Police Force will establish a way for such outlets to rapidly and confidentially determine whether publishing specific material could compromise the response to an ongoing high-risk incident and the media in turn will agree not to publish such material without first alerting a nominated senior police officer of their intention to do so.

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)

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services to work with the Department of Planning and Local Governments to adopt a policy which enables Local Governments to identify, register and communicate, ‘Places of Bushfire Last Resort’ in settlements and townsites where the life risk from bushfire is very high or greater.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services to investigate and adopt a system that will allow the public to opt in, monitor and receive, through a ‘push mechanism’, bushfire and other emergency warnings, maps and information using a wide variety of devices including personal hand held smart devices.

The Departments of Fire and Emergency Services and Parks and Wildlife to investigate and adopt an emergency services resource management system that will enable the registration, tasking, tracking, management and coordination of emergency management personnel, vehicles, plant and aircraft.

The State Emergency Management Committee to establish a State Bushfire Coordinating Committee as a sub-committee of SEMC. The State Bushfire Coordinating Committee will be chaired by the Director of the Office of Bushfire Risk Management and will have the primary responsibility to: · develop a State Bushfire Management Policy and a set of long term bushfire risk management objectives; · provide a forum for key bushfire risk management stakeholder agencies; · advise the SEMC on matters pertaining to bushfire, in particular, to report against the investment in, and achievement of the bushfire risk management objectives; · provide advice and support to the proposed Chief Officer of the Rural Fire Service on bushfire risk management matters; and · report to SEMC and to the community on bushfire risk management matters on at least an annual basis.

The Departments of Parks and Wildlife and Fire and Emergency Services to adopt the policy that all bushfire Level 3 Incident Management Teams in the Perth Hills and the South West will be integrated and pre-formed from the start of the 2016/17 fire season with substantial involvement of both the Departments of Parks and Wildlife and Fire and Emergency Services personnel on all teams.

The State Emergency Management Committee to review the policy for traffic management at emergency incidents so it reflects national ‘best practice’. This includes the production and issuing of an aide-memoire to guide traffic management, emergency and incident management personnel.

The State Government to establish an arrangement to develop a ‘network’ of Western Australian State Government agency personnel who can be called upon for bushfire and emergency incident management capability within Western Australia. The arrangement will be led by the State Emergency Management Committee and modelled on systems used by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services to issue a photo identification card to DFES members, members of Bush Fire Brigades, volunteer emergency services, Incident Management Teams, forestry industry brigade members and Networked Government Emergency Agency members. DFES also to consider temporary windscreen signage to identify vehicles carrying such personnel.

Cross-agency resource management system

Flexible pre‐formed multi‐ agency IMTs

Structures to incorporate local knowledge and situational awareness into the fire response

Co‐designed arrangements that support a unified response to fire

Coordinated and targeted mitigation of fire risk

The Committee recommends the State Fire Commission be fully reimbursed for the costs of the State Emergency Service transfer in years 2014 to 2017.

The Tasmanian fire agencies consider the development of fire operational guidelines to avoid long-term environmental impacts such as: • • • strategies and tactics that will minimise the impact of fire management activities conditions under which earthmoving equipment and fire chemicals may be used information on seasonal conditions and the times of year when various strategies and tactics should be applied, and fuel management strategies.

The Tasmanian fire agencies develop a joint multi-agency Fire Preparedness Matrix to guide decision-making in response to severe fire weather conditions or capacity issues.

The Tasmanian fire agencies think more broadly about how staff who are already employed by Government could support the management of future emergencies.

Ensure sufficient investment in controls across the PPRR spectrum with a focus on Prevention and Mitigation.

Develop flood evacuation plans for at risk communities.

Incorporate heatwave surge response planning into business continuity planning.

Develop a disaster client record system.

Integrate non-government entities into emergency response and recovery arrangements.

Review interagency information sharing arrangements.

Investigate the costs and benefits in enhancing the current Tsunami detection buoy network.

Review the allocation of responsibilities for earthquake risk management.

Assess water supply resilience in the case of an interruption.

Improve integration of health information systems.

Continue the enhancement of forecast and warning services.

Improve the coordination and delivery of the National seismic monitoring program.

Review Tas Govt interoperability arrangements.

Review community information and warning systems to ensure they cater for heatwave messages

Review coastal inundation evacuation and response plans.

Investigate the costs and benefits of delivering a public education and awareness program.

Enhance business continuity planning by the Tasmanian Health Service.

Develop arrangements to identify and communicate with people vulnerable to heat stress

Build capacity to enable Incident Management Teams to manage the likely increased frequency and intensity of major fire events.

Investigate the costs and benefits in enhancing the current Tsunami warning arrangements with signage and audible warning systems at key exposed locations (e.g. Port Arthur and Kingston Beach).

Integrate existing capabilities into a Total Flood Warning System.

Clarify the relationship between the DHHS and THS in the establishment of flu services.

Implement a database management approach for notifiable disease record systems.

Identify facilities that can be used as cool spaces during heatwaves and establish linkages between operators and emergency management organisations

Develop an integrated inter-agency resource management system: Large and complex fire incidents require resources from multiple agencies. Developing an integrated inter-agency resource management system will have three main benefits: identifying potential resources will be more straightforward • the status and location of resource deployments can be tracked • planning of deployments can take into account all relevant information

Establish multi-agency preformed IMTs: An effective IMT for large and complex fire incidents requires the capacity and expertise of multiple agencies. Establishing multi-agency preformed IMTs will have three main benefits: adequate IMT resources can be deployed with ease • strong working relationships will be built between IMT members • common approaches to incident management and fire response can be embedded.

That Victoria Police assesses and where practical addresses limitations to available data and trials the use of response times for internal performance measurement.

That the Department of Health & Human Services uses Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority Computer Aided Dispatch data to report ambulance emergency response time performance. 

That the Department of Health & Human Services and the Department of Justice & Regulation, in consultation with their portfolio emergency service agencies that have response time measures, determine relevant targets for these.

That the Department of Justice & Regulation broadens Budget Paper 3 response time measures to more comprehensively cover emergency responses to fires, rescues and other emergencies.

That future declarations be undertaken to ensure that the areas affected by the declaration are clear and concise.

That SACFS consider the Traffic Management Procedures and guiding principles adopted in Tasmania as a model that could be implemented within SA.

Noting the implementation of Common Incident Command and Control System (CICCS) in SA that fire and emergency services together with police (including through AFAC and ANZPAA), continue to liaise regarding the development of a national incident management.

Review the current practise of issuing an ‘emergency alert’ telephone message or an emergency warning and/or watch and act alert to ensure that it is consistent, relevant and necessary. Prior to issuing an emergency alert message, consider state level involvement so that other agencies are made aware of message and intent.

That the Emergency Management Australia’s ‘Arrangements for Interstate Assistance (Fire and Emergency Services)’ be applied to all future requests for assistance by the SACFS, SAMFS and SASES.

SACFS appoint the Regional Controller and/or Coordinator as the IC for any Level 3 incident occurring within their Region to provide better continuity and improved coordination. The position of the regional controller and/or coordinator could then be backfilled by a suitably qualified individual as required.

Review the communication and request procedures within SACFS to ensure that the most effective chain of command and line of communications are established between the Incident Management Team, region and state.

That SACFS conduct a review of SIMT with a view to increasing the number of teams from four to six, aligning them with each of the six regions within SA.

That SACFS consider a review to develop an effective interagency messaging system and agency resource management system.

A state-wide engagement strategy is coordinated to ensure community messaging is consistent across all levels of Queensland’s disaster management arrangements.

A state-wide strategy, including a common definition, is developed for identifying and engaging vulnerable people in emergencies.

The Department of Housing and Public Works should consider preparing an annual communique to asset owners of, and local governments with access to public cyclone shelters, outlining the maintenance and certification process and pre-season status.

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.

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.

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.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services should consider supporting local government in the annual development of at least one pre-formatted Emergency Alert message and polygon map based on a risk assessment and hazard modelling.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services should consider new and emerging technologies for issuing warnings (including opportunities for Emergency Alert to be distributed in other languages or to people with vision or hearing impairment).

A dynamic online list of positions and contact details is published for those able to authorise Emergency Alert, and made accessible to local government.

The Warning and Alert Systems training package is updated to align the content to the Standard for Disaster Management in Queensland and to include advice and scenarios from the Information Commissioner.

A qualitative assessment of public information and warnings arrangements is undertaken as part of the 2016 disaster management plan assessment process.

The Public Information and Warnings Sub-plan Guide is reviewed to include:
- good practice examples
- a broader range of considerations for barriers to effective communication
- guidance to ensure warnings and public information is linked with state agency arrangements, when the event is led by a hazard-specific primary agency.

PES External Surge Program The success of the PES External Surge Program and the willingness of participants to deploy at short notice to support the recovery effort is commendable, as is the readiness of their supervisors to release them from their duties to enable deployment. The Program, supported by an appropriate training program, is one that should be sustained as part of the whole of Government recovery readiness effort.

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.

Consideration should be given to an automatic ‘Advice’ notice being issued as soon as a fire is reported in a pre- determined high risk area such as the Darling Scarp on days when adverse fire weather conditions are forecast.

Relevant policies and Westplans should be amended to require that full consultation occurs between the Controlling Agency and the Department for Child Protection and Family Support regarding the location of the evacuation centre(s) in a bushfire incident.

All agencies engaged in bushfire response should develop expeditious procedures for the mobilisation of resources in support of other agencies. See discussion in Section 7.1.

Future appointments to the role of Incident Controller should be limited to one for the entire duration of the incident, with nominated Deputy Incident Controllers to assist or ‘take charge’ in the Incident Controller’s absence. This measure will provide for a single point of responsibility and control for the incident and assist with any subsequent review or enquiry. If it is not possible to implement this proposal for liability reasons, the number of Incident Controllers should nevertheless be reduced to the minimum.

In addition to regular meetings of the DFES/DPaW Interagency Bushfire Management Committee, the two organisations should use joint exercises to identify agreed firefighting approaches for common or likely scenarios.

DFES, in consultation with bushfire volunteers should develop a procedure for the controlled entry and exit of volunteers to the fire ground

The Executive Teams of both DFES and DPaW should meet quarterly to review and agree joint improvements relating to issues of interoperability, complementarity and the alignment of firefighting doctrine. The establishment of a unified command in joint State Operations Centre, Regional Operations Centre and Incident Management Teams should be pursued as an overarching goal.

A Restricted Access Permit system for the entry/ re-entry of residents, based on the one developed for the Parkerville Stoneville Mt Helena Bushfire should be finalised.

GDF Suez improve its crisis management communication strategy for the Hazelwood mine in line with international best practice.

The State review and revise its communication strategy, to: • needed for effective and rapid public communications during an emergency; and ensure all emergency response agencies have, or have access to, the capability and resources • ensure, where appropriate, that private operators of essential infrastructure are included in the coordination of public communications during an emergency concerning that infrastructure.

The State establish, for any future incident, integrated incident management teams with GDF Suez and other Victorian essential industry providers, to: • essential industry providers; and require that emergency services personnel work with GDF Suez and other appropriate • implement the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System.

CFA and VICSES should: explore further opportunities to collaborate with each other.

That Victoria Police implements the recommendations relating to protective services officers in the Service Demand and Dispatcher Capacity Analysis dated September 2013 and:
- works with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority to implement revised Metropolitan Mobile Radio channel arrangements to reduce the impact of protective services officer usage on other police users 
- investigates the use of smart devices and applications for protective services officers to minimise their use of the Metropolitan Mobile Radio network for routine enquiries.

That Ambulance Victoria:
- reassesses the current structured call-taking script
- develops a single structured call-taking script for Triple Zero calls.

That the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority includes Victoria State Emergency Service vehicle capability details in the Computer Aided Dispatch database.

That Emergency Management Victoria expedites the expansion of the Rural Mobile Radio network to all emergency services organisations.

That Emergency Management Victoria be responsible for facilitating the interoperability of all organisations involved in emergency response, including the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority and Ambulance Victoria.

That the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority, assisted by the Inspector-General for Emergency Management and responder agencies, improves the process for changing call-taking and dispatch procedures by comprehensively appraising the costs, benefits and operational impacts of these changes and agreeing a plan for their implementation with all affected agencies.

That Emergency Management Victoria novates the head contract for the StateNet Mobile Radio network to the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service, in order to ensure greater respect for volunteer fire fighters’ knowledge and experience in the management of fires:
- examine its plans of operations to provide for the use of local knowledge at every level of decision making down the chain of command
- require a local fire fighter to be stationed in every command vehicle, where possible 
- ensure that every out of area crew includes at least one local fire fighter
- require officers to engage more effectively and regularly with volunteers during the periods between fires
- consider any further strategies to address the entrenched conflict between officers and volunteers, including additional ways to empower volunteers and utilise them more effectively.

That the NSW Government commit to and fund a long term program of prescribed burning based on the recommendation of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission of an annual rolling target of a minimum of five per cent of public land per year, and that the NSW Government commit to extending the funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service five year hazard reduction program past 2016.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service investigate mechanisms to enhance the predictability of megafires and how this information is communicated easily to the public.

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 in Class 3 fire-fighting operations, the Rural Fire Service consider including a fire behaviour analyst in the incident management team if feasible.

That the National Parks and Wildlife Service, in consultation with the relevant local Council(s), devise a policy that enables the John Renshaw Parkway to be closed at either end of the Warrumbungle National Park during a bush fire in such a way that its closure would not impede access by emergency services vehicles into the park.

That the Rural Fire Service consider amending its fire prediction reports to include a checklist of significant factors that have not been able to be considered in the prediction model and a warning to be alert for them and seek intelligence on them from fire ground managers.

That the Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Service review the procedures for requesting aerial support in ‘severe’ or worse fire conditions to ensure that delays in providing it are reduced to the minimum time possible.

That the Rural Fire Service consider redrafting the disclaimer in its fire predictions to make abundantly clear where the potential errors or omissions may affect the prediction and how to detect them if they are there (for example, by comparing them with linescans) and what other factors (such as VLS) may affect the predictions and in what way.

That the Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Service consider amending their protocols for upgrading advices to higher levels to emphasise the significance and urgency of raising warning levels as soon as the potential dangers of fire to lives or property materially increase.

That the Rural Fire Service together with other land managers develop a program whereby local stakeholders come together regularly (every 2 months during non-fire season and monthly during the fire season) to share intelligence and to consider hazard and incident management measures for implementation.

That as part of the adoption of such a posture in ‘severe’ or worse fire conditions, the National Parks and Wildlife Service consider alerting, at an early stage, all relevant persons and organisations, such as shire councils, heavy plant operators, the local RFS captains, Fire & Rescue NSW and other emergency services, that it is doing so, and that their assistance may be required at short notice.

That the Rural Fire Service consider extending pre-emptive section 44 to whole of Castlereagh RFS/Warrumbungle Shire area.

That during periods of ‘severe’ or worse fire conditions, that the National Parks and Wildlife Service consider adopting a posture of pre-emptive planning and deployment of incident management teams in national parks similar to the manner in which the Rural Fire Service does.

That State and Local Government agencies maximise communication to the residents owning bushfire prone properties to be aware of their level of exposure by having access to the BAL relevant to their property.

The Australian Government appoints an additional Australian Transport Safety Bureau Commissioner with aviation operational and safety management experience.

The Australian Government develops the State Safety Program into a strategic plan for Australia’s aviation safety system, under the leadership of the Aviation Policy Group, and uses it as the foundation for rationalising and improving coordination mechanisms.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s Director of Aviation Safety meet with industry sector leaders to jointly develop a plan for renewing a collaborative and effective Standards Consultative Committee.

The Australian Government amends regulations so that background checks and the requirement to hold an Aviation Security Identification Card are only required for unescorted access to Security Restricted Areas, not for general airside access. This approach would align with international practice.

The Marrangaroo Training Area Regional Environmental Officer confer with the local Rural Fire Service at least annually and determine a hazard reduction regime capable of implementation. It is furter recommended all ranges be reviewed in relation to the same issue, that is, that personnel involved in the management of each range under Defence control be directed to confer with local firefighting authorities on at least an annual basis to assess hazard reduction responses to be pursued for that range in subsequent years. 

Range Control Officer Marrangaroo Training Area liase with the local Rural Fire Service units to develop a map indicating the areas of the range likely to contain unexploded ordnance. 

The lines of responsibility be made clearer and some individual, perhaps the Regional Environmental Officer, or agency be given overarching responsibility to ensure recommended works related to bushfire mitigation on Defence Estate are carried out in accordance with the Bushfire Management Plan which the Manual for Fire Protection Engineering directs be prepared.

State governments, where they have not already done so, should provide local governments with statutory protection from liability for releasing natural hazard information and making changes to local planning schemes where such actions have been taken ‘in good faith’ and in accordance with state planning policy and legislation.

The Australian Government should fund natural disaster recovery by:
• cost sharing with state and territory governments for community recovery and reconstruction of essential public assets at a rate of 50 per cent above an annual expenditure threshold
• providing funding based on assessed damages and benchmark prices
• providing an option for state and territory governments to purchase ‘top-up’ fiscal support at an actuarially fair price.
Australian Government involvement should be triggered where an annual (financial year) cumulative expenditure threshold of 0.45 per cent of total state government revenue is met, on an accrued basis. A small disaster criterion of $2 million (indexed over time) should be applied to events at the state or territory level.
The Australian Government should also establish a transparent mechanism for exceptional circumstances fiscal support in the event of extraordinary and catastrophic natural disasters that clearly overwhelm a state or territory’s medium-term fiscal capacity.

State and territory governments should:
• clearly articulate the statewide natural hazard risk appetite in land use planning policy frameworks by identifying the risks posed by natural hazards and specifying appropriate planning controls for each given level of risk
• provide local governments with guidance on how to prioritise competing objectives within land use planning
• provide local governments with guidance on how to integrate land use planning and building standards. Consideration should be given to Victoria’s Integrated Planning and Building Framework for Bushfire in this regard.
State and territory governments should regularly review their published risk appetite and guidance documentation to ensure it is up-to-date, accessible and incorporates relevant hazard information.
Local governments should record the reasoning behind development assessment decisions, where they do not do so already, and (at a minimum) provide this information to the public upon request.

The Australian Government should develop a formula for allocating mitigation funding to state and territory governments on the basis of where such funding is likely to achieve the greatest net benefits, taking into account the future risks of natural disasters. This should be completed within five years and in consultation with state and territory governments.

State and territory governments should prioritise and accelerate implementation of the Enhancing Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment Roadmap, including reviewing the regulatory components of vendor disclosure statements. The Land Use Planning and Building Codes Taskforce should be tasked to identify and consider options for regular, low-cost dissemination of hazard information to households by governments and insurers.

The Australian Government should:
• publish estimates (and their confidence ranges) of future costs of natural disasters to its budget in the Statement of Risks. These estimates should be informed by catastrophe loss modelling
• provision for a base level of natural disaster expenditure in the budget forward estimates, in recognition of the fact that there will be some level of Australian Government expenditure on natural disasters each year.

State and territory governments should be required to report on the following accountability requirements:
• published risk assessments in accordance with the National Emergency Risk Assessment Guidelines
• transparent natural disaster liabilities in state and territory government budgets
• asset registers and asset management plans at the state, territory and local government level that incorporate natural disaster risk
• implementation of the Enhancing Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment Roadmap
• effective mechanisms to identify and prioritise mitigation spending based on cost–benefit analysis and transparent decision making.
Specifically, effective mechanisms to identify and prioritise mitigation spending should include:
• project proposals that are supported by robust and transparent evaluations (including cost–benefit analysis, public consultation and assessment of non-quantifiable impacts), and that are consistent with state risk assessments
• considering alternative or complementary mitigation options (including structural and non-structural measures)
• using private funding sources where it is feasible and efficient to do so (including charging beneficiaries)
• transparent ex-post evaluation of mitigation projects.
The Australian Government should continue with the three-yearly reviews of state and territory governments’ insurance arrangements. The reviews, and government responses to their recommendations, should be published.

The Australian Government should gradually increase the amount of annual mitigation funding it provides to state and territory governments to $200 million. Initially, this funding should be distributed to state and territory governments in accordance with the allocation under the National Partnership Agreement on Natural Disaster Resilience.

State and territory governments should develop benchmark prices for the reconstruction of essential public assets and submit these to the Australian Government for approval within one year. In developing these prices, they should consult with local governments and relevant experts, and draw on asset management plans. The prices should be reviewed and updated over time.

Funding to state and territory governments for community recovery should be provided as untied grants, with a transition period pending the development of a framework to assess community recovery costs. During the transition period, the Australian Government should continue to provide funding for community recovery through a reimbursement model.
Eligible community recovery expenditure during this transition period should be rationalised to counter disaster operations, personal hardship relief and community relief packages. Eligible expenditure should be limited to activities that arise as a direct consequence of a natural disaster and that:
• have widespread community benefits and would be underprovided without government support
• provide targeted longer-term assistance to people who have limited financial resources and have suffered severe losses
• provide personal and financial counselling aimed at alleviating personal hardship and distress arising as a direct result of a natural disaster
• are additional to the normal responsibilities of state, territory and local governments.

State and territory taxes and levies on general insurance should be phased out and replaced with less distortionary taxes.

Where asset management plans at the local, state or territory level pre-identify and cost betterment of assets (improving asset resilience to natural disasters), the Australian Government should share 50 per cent of the betterment component of reconstruction costs following damage from a (eligible) natural disaster.

WA adopts a culture of joint IMTs in future. At Regional and State levels, DFES and DEC maintain standing contributions.

Future coordination/support/control of integrated emergency management across all agencies in Albany needs to be merged and located in a single joint facility. This issue needs to be reviewed statewide.

DFES and Local Government Bushfire Brigades ensure that only those with the required AIIMS competence have the authority to manage Level 1 incidents, noting they may not be Fire Control Officers.

Western Australia Health should collate and centrally monitor financial data including the cost to government of IHPT

Western Australia Health should develop and agree with St John Ambulance a new funding model for emergency ambulance services focusing on standards, performance and allocation of risk

Rural Finance Corporation (Department of Treasury and Finance) and Regional Development Victoria should coordinate any future disaster relief and recovery programs for businesses.

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

The Department of Premier and Cabinet should develop clear guidelines for departments in designing community disaster relief and recovery programs.

That Tasmania Fire Service reviews its integration of rural local knowledge and volunteer brigades into fire operations, develops and maintains appropriate strategies, and aims to be a best-practice fire service in this regard.

That emergency management plans specifically include processes and resources for effectively engaging with and using local communities, including volunteers

That the State Controller (or an alternate if they are not available) be expected to personally take an active role in controlling and coordinating response and recovery operations, depending on the nature and scale of the emergency, and until other identified arrangements for ongoing operations are established.

That a state-level policy on evacuations be developed in the emergency management plans, including specific requirements for vulnerable people and guidelines for its implementation.

That Tasmania Fire Service and Tasmania Police review their use of modern forms of communication with the community, including social media, and commit resources to fully use this capability where appropriate.

That police and other emergency services examine options for achieving radio interoperability between them in the absence of an integrated radio system.

That appropriate plans are made to mobilise resources quickly to re-open roads affected by emergencies.

That Tasmania Police develops and implements a program for examining emergency management arrangements and facilities in Australia.

That Tasmania Fire Service reviews the communication systems used for all emergency management operations, ensures operators are qualified, and ensures there is appropriate accountability.

That emergency management plans recognise the need to provide priority access to areas of emergency operations for critical infrastructure providers.

That arrangements are made for and appropriate pre-planning occurs to effectively implement the policy on road closures and traffic management.

That the State Emergency Management Committee makes arrangements to actively manage the use of social media in the community during an emergency, to avoid negative consequences for emergency operations.

That all agencies and the Government support moving to an integrated communications technology for police and the emergency services.

That decisions to open Community Fire Refuges and evacuation centres be coordinated with Tasmania Police.

That Tasmania Police establishes a section within its structure with responsibility for developing and maintaining contemporary expertise in emergency management, progressing innovation, assisting organisational change initiatives and supporting its responsibilities in state emergency management arrangements.

That Tasmania Fire Service reviews its position on using local experienced officers on the fire ground in the command model in a structured and systemic way.

That the Government consider whether it should discuss options for greater mobile phone coverage and redundancy in areas of high risk in emergency situations where there are presently telecommunications limits.

That the State Emergency Management Committee makes timely decisions and resource commitments on the appropriate use of social media in emergency management.

That the Tasmania Emergency Management Plan enable, and all organisations with a role in emergency management activate, emergency plans at lower threshold events to practice their arrangements and achieve a ‘hot start’ in escalating events.

That Tasmania Police be identified as the lead agency on evacuations.

That Tasmania Police conducts a review to ensure emergency management is treated as a priority and a core function throughout the organisation, including the development of contemporary capabilities, and is supported by an appropriate culture.

That Tasmania Fire Service considers measures to bring local knowledge into Incident Management Team operations.

That evacuation centres and other centres have a standard operating procedure for communications.

That the resources available to the Parks and Wildlife Service, to manage bushfire risk following the recent increase in land under its tenure, is reviewed.

That Tasmania Fire Service ensures that the priority on warning communities at risk of active bushfires is not confined to when bushfires are burning out of control.

That the Government reconsider the current position on emergency declarations in the Emergency Management Act 2006 and the Act is amended to provide: • a graduated scale of emergency declarations; • the ability to make a declaration when an emergency has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur; • the ability for the State Controller (or whatever the person in overall control of response and recovery operations is called) to make one or more declarations; • a declaration to enable access to all emergency powers.

That arrangements are made and appropriate pre-planning occurs to effectively implement the policy on evacuation.

That Tasmania Fire Service develops a research base from which to inform the design of communication campaigns for communities threatened by bushfire.

That Tasmania Fire Service and its partner agencies establish a means of monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of centralising the location of Incident Management Teams.

That evacuation centres and other centres have plans and arrangements for electrical power redundancy.

That Tasmania Police reviews its Emergency Traffic Management Points policy; and develops a multi-agency policy in the emergency management plans for road closures and traffic management, including clarity in decision making, coordination and sufficient operational flexibility.

That Tasmania Fire Service actively uses predictive modelling to design emergency communications for communities threatened by bushfire, unless there is a compelling reason for not doing so.

That in multi-agency response and recovery operations, arrangements be made so it is unambiguous who is in charge of these operations.

That qualifying the evacuation authority in section 47 of the Fire Service Act 1979 be considered — by exempting those people with a pecuniary interest in a property from a directed evacuation where it is reasonable for them to remain.

That Tasmania Fire Service reviews its approach to communicating with communities threatened by bushfire and consider the matters referred to in this Report.

That the Government take into account demographic change in its assessment of the consequences of climate change on emergency events.

That Tasmania Fire Service examines options for developing and issuing fire management objectives and tactics from Incident Management Teams in a more timely way, including ‘quick’ plans.

That a public information plan be developed as a part of the State Special Emergency Plan–Recovery, for implementation in the immediate recovery phase.

That the Department of Justice conduct an independent review to develop a suitable model for integrated and interoperable emergency management arrangements in Tasmania.

TFS develop written guidelines for the use of IMTs about the use of evacuation in a bushfire context, and triggers for decision-making.

That TFS and Ambulance Tasmania work together to resolve problems around congestion, particularly during the fire season.

That Tasmania Police, Tasmania Fire Service (TFS), Ambulance Tasmania and State Emergency Services (SES) investigate ways of providing secure and confidential radio communications.

That government considers the establishment of a separate unit to implement and operate a Whole of Government network if existing stakeholders fail to make significant progress toward an agreed Whole of Government solution.

That the Whole of Government project’s objectives should include meeting entity requirements and the consultant be asked to reevaluate the revised set of objectives.

That duplication of infrastructure be costed and taken into account when considering whether to proceed with the Whole of Government network.

Notification of a total fire ban should be broadcast to the public via any means reasonably available. Section 80, parts (2), (5) and (6) be amended so that broadcast fire ban warnings include, but not be limited to, radio stations, internet sites, social media outlets etc.

That the Government increase the budgets of all emergency services and community safety organisations, including: i. seeking Federal funding where appropriate (and assisting at no cost volunteer organisations with the grants application process); and ii. considering, with full public and cost benefit analysis, reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Emergency Services Levy; and iii. consider including St John Ambulance Australia SA Ltd in the bodies to benefit from the Emergency services Levy if the funding of other Community Safety and Emergency services providers is improved in line with this recommendation.

That the Government explore as a matter of priority the transitioning to St John Ambulance SA Ltd providing non-emergency ambulance carriage services in South Australia, and be appropriately funded for doing so.

That the Government cease drawing from South Australia Police or other Community safety and emergency service budgets to fund the Directorate and instead merge its work and functions with the pre-existing South Australia Fire and Emergency Services Commission for zero total State and other Community safety and emergency service budget impact.

That the State Government give high priority to liaising with interstate and Federal processes, and offer to take a lead, on changing the climatic and fire rating arrangements to ensure these match the conditions that can create dangerous bushfire conditions at short notice.

That the Government resume funding for the helicopter surveillance service rather than by fixed-wing aircraft along Adelaide, South Coast and other high-risk coastlines during summer recreational periods for monitoring shark and other rescue situations, to bring the State back into line with interstate best practice.

That the Government’s Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation (SAMFS Firefighters) Amendment Bill be amended to include Country Fire Service firefighters alongside Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters.

That the Government adequately fund Community Safety and Emergency Services budgets so that fire-bombing aircraft are available on call for rapid deployment throughout Autumn and Spring at short notice to bomb fires at the earliest and safest possible opportunity.

That the Government explore as a matter of priority the transitioning to St John Ambulance SA Ltd providing non-emergency ambulance carriage services in South Australia, and be appropriately funded for doing so.

That the Government cease drawing from South Australia Police or other Community safety and emergency service budgets to fund the Directorate and instead merge its work and functions with the pre-existing South Australia Fire and Emergency Services Commission for zero total State and other Community safety and emergency service budget impact.

That the Government increase the budgets of all emergency services and community safety organisations, including:
i. seeking Federal funding where appropriate (and assisting at no cost volunteer organisations with the grants application process); and
ii. considering, with full public and cost benefit analysis, reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Emergency Services Levy; and
iii. consider including St John Ambulance Australia SA Ltd in the bodies to benefit from the Emergency services Levy if the funding of other Community Safety and Emergency services providers is improved in line with this recommendation.

That Government agencies work closely with the Bureau of Meteorology and radio stations that broadcast emergency service announcements, to ensure the earliest possible determination of, and communications about, dangerous bushfire conditions.

That the State Government contribution towards the construction of Brigade sheds be changed from $10,000 to a maximum of 25 percent, subject to the approval of the Deputy Chief Officer, Rural Fire Service Queensland.

When a local Rural Fire Brigade requests an equipment and maintenance levy from a local government authority, that authority will either supply the brigade’s equipment and maintenance costs or raise the requested levy. The amount to be collected is to be agreed between the local Brigade and the local government authority.

That the extent of forest and plantation fuel load fire risk in South East Queensland requires a designated government resources fire team to manage this risk and proactively conduct fuel mitigation burning; and provide a wildfire response to government land.

That the current Urban Fire Levy be changed to the Queensland Fire Levy.

That the Queensland Government liaise with the Federal Government with a view to securing incentives for employers that recognise loss of income and employee time for emergency operations.

That a Ministerial Advisory Council be established to inform the Minister of matters relating to Rural Fire Service and SES volunteers.

That a memorandum of understanding be developed between RFSQ and other organisations with fire fighting capacity at state level, to establish operational procedures when these organisations may be required for a joint response roles. Specifically, the intent will be: Vegetation Fire in a Rural Area: The Rural Fire Brigade in that area (boundary) is in charge and is the first Brigade called by Firecom. Structural Fire in a Rural Area: Firecom calls the Urban Brigade first and they control the incident. Local Rural Fire Brigade must also be notified by Firecom at the same time. Vegetation Fire in an Urban Levy Area: Firecom call the local Urban Brigade first and they control the incident. At their discretion they may call Rural Fire Brigades for assistance. Structural Fire in an Urban Levy Area: Firecom call the local Urban Brigade first and they control the incident.

That the State Government contribution towards the purchase of operational vehicles is to be retained at 80 percent but that the District Inspector can recommend full Government subsidy of vehicles for Brigades experiencing financial hardship.

That the Chief Executive Officer Portfolio Business collaborate with the two portfolio Commissioners to:
- develop an analytical tool is to identify the most appropriate level of service
- identify the need for new or enhanced services
- reduce the level of resources where appropriate
- identify current anomalies regarding service delivery and therefore opportunities for rationalisation of stations
- consider collocation with other services as a first principle before committing to new capital projects.

That responsibility for prisoner transport and non-managerial roles within the larger watch-houses is transferred to Queensland Corrective Service.

That the Queensland Police Service executive team reassesses its preparedness to collaborate with other agencies to deliver a whole of Government approach to delivering community safety.

That a new business case for Westgate project should be prepared by an independent party.

That funding, staffing and responsibility associated with administration of the NDRP be transferred from Emergency Management Queensland to the Department of Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience.

That Queensland enters into a similar arrangement with Bureau of Meteorology to have an experienced forecaster seconded to Kedron State Disaster Coordination Centre for at least the duration of fire and storm seasons.

That Emergency Management Queensland be integrated with the current Queensland Fire and Rescue to become the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

That the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service enters into discussion with the Queensland Police Service regarding the possibility for the Queensland Police Service to assist with prosecutions that may arise out of fire safety matters.

That Queensland Corrective Service remains a separate program within the Department of Justice and Attorney-General so that while opportunities for improved services and efficacy can be realised, there is a clear separation from the youth justice services.

That transparency of the Ministerial direction be achieved through publishing and monitoring for effectiveness.

That Queensland Corrective Service, the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Health should work together to develop a position that enables prisoners to have timely access to their prescribed medication despite travel between facilities and without the need for costly re-prescription.

That the roll-out of the Queensland Police Service digital technology should take into consideration adopting and facilitating new processes including the police response to domestic violence.

That the proposed Chief Executive Officer Portfolio Business be responsible for developing a cost attribution model for portfolio agencies, including the Queensland Police Service, as a priority.

That primacy of control should rest with the State Disaster Coordinator. This position should, by default, be the Deputy Commissioner, Regional Operations, Queensland Police Service.

That the role of the Inspector General Emergency Management not extend to conducting reviews on behalf of agencies and that the role consider the effectiveness of all agencies and how their work contributes to a whole of Government response.

That Queensland Corrective Services be transferred to the Department of Justice and Attorney-General by a machinery-of-Government change as soon as is practicable.

That the new Chief Executive Officer Portfolio Business be accountable for delivering the reformed Communications Centre arrangement by the 2017–18 financial year in time for the Commonwealth Games of 2018.

That the Queensland Police Service:
- identify policing matters that only a sworn officer can manage, or
- identify matters that can be handled more efficiently through the use of emerging technologies such as biometrics and scanners.

That the Office of Portfolio Business follows the same budget processes as other agencies.

That primacy of control for disaster operations remains with the Queensland Police Service and be reinforced.

That the Chief Executive Officer Portfolio Business and Commissioners establish a high level working group with the ABC and commercial media to identify and implement an improved information flow to the community on disasters.

That the current provisions enabling there to be a Ministerial Direction be maintained and actioned as the Minister sees fit.

That the Inspector General Emergency Management provide continuing advice to Government on the level of interoperability in disaster management arrangements, as well as the level of interoperability being achieved within the new portfolio.

That negotiation takes place between Queensland Health and the Queensland Ambulance Service to determine the broad governance requirements of any such arrangements.

That the Prostitution Licensing Authority be moved to the Department of Justice and Attorney General Office of Fair Trading.

That the Queensland Police Service considers adopting the broader use of ANPR in line with other Australian jurisdictions in consultation with the Privacy Commissioner.

That a budget based on the desired functional accountabilities should be appropriated to the Portfolio Business as part of the Government budget process.

To remove the Queensland Ambulance Service and Queensland Corrective Services from the Department of Community Safety—we recommend that it be renamed the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and be led by a Commissioner.

That, where appropriate, the Commissioner of Police appoints appropriately trained and experienced public service officers to appropriate roles in the disaster management system to support District Disaster Coordinators in their vital roles.

That the Chief Executive Officer Portfolio Business in consultation with the Police Commissioner and the Commissioner Fire & Emergency Services should provide the direction for future information and communication technology strategies and acquisitions.

That the position of Inspector General Emergency Management (in addition to some of the responsibilities of the chief executive officer under the current Disaster Management Act 2003) will:
- Ensure interoperability of systems across portfolio agencies and those who support Queensland Disaster Management Arrangements (QDMA).
- Ensure compliance by Queensland Government agencies with their emergency or disaster management responsibilities.
- Establish and implement a performance standards and assurance framework to direct, guide and focus work of all agencies across all tiers of Government to desired outcomes of QDMA.
- Conduct regular benchmarking and quality assurance exercises with public safety agencies to ensure standards remain contemporary.
- Provide independent advice and leadership to government on any matter in relation to emergency management or interoperability between agencies within the public safety portfolio.
- Work with emergency services, government departments and the community to identify and continuously improve community resilience, volunteer capacity and disaster and emergency management arrangements.
- Identify areas for cooperative partnerships, alliances and research opportunities to improve community outcomes, ensuring appropriate Queensland input into the Bushfire and Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre.

That the protocols developed by the Queensland Police Service and SES for operations define the respective roles and responsibilities as well as recognise the varying capabilities of SES units across the State.

That the Queensland Ambulance Service is transferred to Queensland Health by a machinery-of-Government change as soon as is practicable and that the Commissioner report directly to the Director General Queensland Health.

There be a formation of an Office of Portfolio Business, providing support and governance across a range of corporate functions, which are essential to the delivery of frontline services. The Review team considers that the functions of the Operations Business and Strategy Directorate should become part of that Office and that any exception should be carefully considered by those charged with implementation of approved recommendations.

That as the Queensland Police Service moves to a digital platform the strategy around effective targeting and alternative automated number plate recognition models should form part of the design architecture.

That the funding model for the Portfolio Business is not based on fee- for-service arrangements or notional contributions from the operational services.

That probation and parole should continue to work together with the Queensland Police Service to reduce the risk of reoffending and reduce crime.

That systems development in the Queensland Police Service capitalises on the advances made by the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service in recent years.

That should the Westgate project proceed, that consideration must be given to opportunities to partner the investment with the private and public sectors. The business case should also consider alternative facilities such as Australian Defence Force sites.

That the Minister establish a public sector office to be headed by an Inspector General of Emergency Management. The Inspector General of Emergency Management will be responsible for most of the functions listed under part 16A of the current Disaster Management Act 2003.

Develop and implement a program of cost-effective road improvement works that can enhance flood evacuation capacity in the short-medium term.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service apply for funding from the NSW Treasury for the development of a multi-agency business case for a BRIMS replacement that includes internal management, risk communication, community engagement capability and publishing activities on websites.

That the NSW Rural Fire Service and the NSW Treasury explore ways to ensure that unspent hazard reduction funds be carried over to the next financial year in a timely manner and to ensure that hazard reduction funding has a seamless transition from one financial year to the next.

The committee recommends that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau retrieve VH-NGA flight data recorders without further delay.

The committee recommends that the government develop a process by which the ATSB can request access to supplementary funding via the minister.

In order to further build on the value for money review work being undertaken by the National Disaster Recovery Taskforce (on behalf of the Australian Government Reconstruction Inspectorate), the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)  recommends that the Taskforce:
(a) apply greater scrutiny to project cost data, particularly in circumstances where the data provided for review includes lump sums; and
(b) develop the capacity to independently benchmark actual cost data for Queensland reconstruction projects.

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.

Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to review the content of the Government’s digital business website at www.digitalbusiness.gov.au and liaise with the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, which manages the www.business.gov.au, to ensure these business advice sites provide appropriate information regarding business continuity planning in the event of telecommunications outages.

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 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 committee recommends that the Australian Government direct an appropriate portion of the proceeds derived from the auction of spectrum to fund the allocation of 20 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band for the purposes of a national public safety mobile broadband network.

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth government works with state and territory governments to continue to implement the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report, where possible, to improve coordination in relation to climate change adaptation.

The committee recommends that Australian governments specifically address issues of compatibility and capacity to facilitate the most effective interoperability of emergency service organisations and their key personnel, especially for fire services.

The Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should enhance internal monitoring of its implementation of bushfire management activities and spending under the Bushfire Operations Plan by routinely reconciling figures in this plan with those in the Directorate’s corporate financial system.

The Emergency Services Agency should annually review fire management zones and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should subsequently update the Regional Fire Management Plans.

The Emergency Services Agency should develop and test administrative procedures for the communications systems used for the distribution of public warning and emergency alerts.

The Justice and Community Safety Directorate should continue to review its strategic and accountability indicators and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should commence a review of its strategic and accountability indicators. The directorates should consult to develop complementary measures which better assess their bushfire management activities.

The Emergency Services Agency and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should develop and routinely review a strategic bushfire capability for the ACT. The contribution of ACT Fire and Rescue (including the Community Fire Units) and the ACT Rural Fire Service (including Parks Brigade) should be explicitly stated.

The Emergency Services Agency and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should continue to improve working arrangements between the ACT Rural Fire Service Parks Brigade and the ACT Rural Fire Service headquarters, by:
a) documenting the responsibilities of the Parks and Conservation Service Branch in its land management role versus Parks Brigade role and conveying this to all brigades; and
b) updating or replacing the Emergency Services Agency and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate 2007 Memorandum of Understanding to guide working arrangements for bushfire preparedness and suppression.

The Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should annually (and on a cumulative basis) track and report on funds allocated for, and spent on, its Bushfire Operations Plan to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services.

The Emergency Services Agency, the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate should strengthen across-Government delivery of major projects in the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan and Regional Fire Management Plans by collectively:
a) monitoring the effect of the 2011 amendments to Planning and Development Act 2007 and identifying additional changes, if appropriate;
b) improving information sharing;
c) finalising the pre-appraisal procedure; and
d) holding an annual forward planning session for capital works.

I recommend that the AFP takes steps to ensure that there are on Christmas Island at all times appropriately trained AFP officers who have completed the National Police Search and Rescue Manager’s Course and that upskilling should be ongoing to establish a cadre of trained search and rescue personnel. 

I recommend that Border Protection Command implement a surveillance strategy, possibly with the assistance of other Commonwealth authorities and organisations on the island such as the AFP, which heightens its coverage at times when the weather and sea conditions are rough.

Suitably experienced local representatives should be engaged to provide advice to the IMT in all Level 2 and Level 3 incidents at the earliest opportunity.

Incident Controllers should be supported by a planning function that combines experienced weather forecasters, fire behaviour experts and local knowledge.

DEC’s fire management expertise should be augmented by multi-agency IMTs that incorporate the expertise of other agencies and in fast developing situations the appropriate decisions will need to be made early.

For incidents of this complexity, effective control in the critical phase (first 24-36 hours of the fire) requires an appropriately resourced IMT.

Clear direction to divisional and sector commanders and a common communications platform enables maximum return to be gained from the application of tactical resources and this rests on good incident action planning, and good command and control.

Expand the exploitation of social media, including graphical content for state alerts and warnings. Consider increasing the graphical content of web-based warnings.

There would be value in progressively aligning the geographical boundaries of emergency management agencies and co-locating where possible within regions and districts.

Contingency planning is a critical function in the early stages of an escalating incident, and should provide the foundation of an IAP.

Reporting and control should be through the incident chain of command and not through agency chains of command

Communications planning for geographic regions with recognised black spots and specific communications challenges should be prepared in advance of an emergency in order to support the IMT Communications Planning Officer

Strategic direction seeks to identify and resource those areas of tactical action that offer the greatest advantage.

The process for initiating and releasing State Alert messages requires review.

Increased acceptance of mutual obligations will be fundamental to the management of fire risk across the state

Predetermined locations for Level 3 IMTs should be reviewed and adequately resourced with necessary communications and IT capacity.

The expected scenario, with a view to the worst-case scenario should provide the basis for an IAP.

As presently implemented, the AIIMS planning role is under-developed and provides insufficient support to the Incident Controller.

Contingency planning before the fire may have supported the IMT in recognising and seizing strategic opportunities earlier.

Timely alerts and updates to the community are essential.

A review of the manner in which resourcing is conducted across all agencies needs to occur with a review identifying the best manner to ensure all agencies adapt to the same process.

An intensive exercise/training program should be developed and maintained across agencies to identify and establish a pool of current Incident Controllers who are capable of managing a Level 3 incident.

There would be benefit in progressively aligning the geographic boundaries of each of the agencies and seeking to co-locate their headquarters within those boundaries.

Procedures to relocate IMTs need to be established in doctrine and exercised to ensure continuity of control.

Greater investment in training on specific functions within the AIIMS structure will improve the support provided to the Incident Controller.

Logistics and resource officers in IMTs need to collaborate and establish full awareness and control over the available resources.

To be effective, multi-agency IMTs will need to be exercised regularly and supported by sound and comprehensive doctrine.

State-wide all agency reporting should be established to facilitate the interactions of emergency management agencies, support agencies and governments.

Within the AIIMS IMT doctrine the roles of the Incident Controller and Deputy Incident Controllers should be defined and well-practiced.

A system of vehicle tracking should be fitted to all fire appliances and linked to the common operating picture. Good communications planning is essential for good command and control.

Decisions on evacuations need to be made early enough for people to be fully informed, prepared and to move to a place of greater safety. Failure to conduct good planning can create situations where loss of life can occur

Opportunities be sought to utilise local government representatives in other areas of the IMT particularly in public information or other community related functions.

Inter-agency cooperation to manage fire precincts in a tenure-blind fashion is necessary for effective fire suppression.

IMTs need to establish early and effective liaison with Local Governments.

At Level 3, the available fire management expertise should be applied overwhelmingly to the fire management aspects of emergency management, possibly in incident control, and certainly in situations planning and operations roles.

The state should identify the number of fully trained, experienced and accredited Level 3 Incident Controllers required to be available at any time and establish a process for identification of suitable personnel, ongoing training and accreditation.

In multi-agency responses the culture, training and equipment characteristics of each of the agencies should be considered in their employment.

Radio bulletins need to be up to date and time stamped. Where social media is used the messages need to be up to date and accurate. Websites need to be up to date and accurate.

WA adopts a culture of joint IMTs in future. At Regional and State levels, DFES and DEC maintain standing contributions.

Future coordination/support/control of integrated emergency management across all agencies in Albany needs to be merged and located in a single joint facility. This issue needs to be reviewed statewide.

DFES or DEC (depending on land tenure) is mandated to take over control of emergency incidents from Local Government once they have been declared Level 2 incidents. WESTPLAN BUSHFIRE and legislation to be amended accordingly.

The State Government prepare a strategy before the 2013-14 bushfire season on how the main firefighting agencies should deal with a drier South West region where fewer prescribed burns can be completed each year.

The Minister for Emergency Services must ensure that future post-incident analyses are completed and made public within eight weeks of a natural disaster.

The Department of Environment and Conservation review its practices and procedures in the undertaking of prescribed burns so as to fully utilise the skills available to it in a seamless way including but not limited to: · volunteer bushfire brigades, especially in regard to use as a source of local advice; and · staff of the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia.

The Ministers for Emergency Services, Environment and Police provide additional funds in the 2013-14 Budget so that the State’s emergency response agencies can implement a Psychological First Aid approach to preparing staff to deal with critical incidents and disasters, as is used in other Australian jurisdictions.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority should expand their use of social media to better inform the Western Australian community.

The Ministers for Health, Police, and Emergency Services ensure that the Western Australia Police, the Fire and Emergency Services Authority and St John Ambulance establish a formal platform to share their knowledge and experience in delivering programs to their staff and volunteers to address issues of stress from disasters and critical incidents, as is done in other Australian jurisdictions.

The state government will work with Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water and stakeholders to determine ongoing ownership and associated responsibilities for redundant channel infrastructure in the Wimmera and the Mallee.

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.

The state government accept recommendations 25 to 28, inclusive, of the Victorian Floods Review.

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:
• the process of flood risk assessment must include community consultation, and these views will inform development of both floodplain management studies, and floodplain implementation plans;
• in the absence of a formal planning process, councils and authorities undertaking significant ad hoc works on waterways for flood mitigation and protection must involve the local community; and
• the revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy and Victorian River Health Strategy will clearly articulate this process.

Within the jurisdiction of Melbourne Water, it shares with local councils the responsibility to manage local drainage systems as outlined under the Water Act 1989 and the Local Government Act 1989 respectively:
• Melbourne Water, in conjunction with metropolitan councils, will undertake an audit of drainage infrastructure to identify drains that are not currently managed by a public authority; and
• following this audit Melbourne Water will work with relevant councils to develop best practice models for the management of the drainage asset.

The role of flood risk management planning rests with CMAs and Melbourne Water (under the Water Act 1989), and is a shared responsibility with local government. Shared responsibilities for flood risk management planning and implementation will be consistently reflected in government policy.

The state government should provide core, ongoing funding to the responsible authority for the FloodSafe community education program. Funding should be provided for education about prevention, response and recovery phases and include information on rates notices about the height of particular floods.

The Victorian Government to implement the recommendations of the Victorian Floods Review in relation to the development and implementation of appropriate flood mitigation and protection strategies for essential services.

The state government review the current funding approach used for the operation, maintenance and upgrade of river gauges, with a view to improving the river gauge network.

The state government should implement the recommendations of the Victorian Floods Review in relation to the creation of resilience committees and resilience plans, with responsible authorities.

The Victorian Government should work with the New South Wales Government and the Murray Darling Basin Authority to establish an appropriate floodplain management committee and to develop a floodplain management strategy for the Murray River. The strategy will define priority regions for the development of floodplain management plans, address ways of improving the management of all levees on the Murray River, and seek agreement in relation to improved approvals processes, levee heights and maintenance regimes.

The funding model for works on levees and their ongoing maintenance be revised, to be primarily based on the beneficiary pays principle. The state government should give consideration to wholly funding, or contributing to, the initial upgrade of high priority levees to an agreed standard. The construction of any new public levees will be the subject of a cost‐benefit analysis to be undertaken by DSE and the public authority, and be supported by a floodplain management study. Levees deemed low priority will be wholly the responsibility of the beneficiaries.

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.

The state government implement the Victorian Floods Review recommendation 10 in relation to the datums used to describe river and stream heights.

Agency incident management preparedness: refining IT tools to process the intelligence.

Agency incident management preparedness: provide clarity and certainty in specific roles and responsibilities for each agency.

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.

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.

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

Fire services can improve outcomes by developing a checklist for use by incident controllers

Regulators can help to achieve improved outcomes by involving fire services in the planning and licensing processes

Fire services can improve outcomes by working with EPA as the regulator and licensing authority to achieve improved compliance with the required outcomes specified in the BPEM guidelines

The protocol should make provision for the use of telephone and/or radio where communication by email is not possible. Where necessary, CS Energy and Seqwater should make additional radio equipment available to relevant personnel.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should prepare a list of relevant considerations to be taken into account in performing a risk assessment to decide which sites to inspect. Bureau of Meteorology forecasts should be one consideration.

As part of the longer term review of the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at Wivenhoe Dam and Somerset Dam, the Queensland Government should consider the impact of possible upgrades of bridges downstream of Wivenhoe Dam on different operating strategies for the dam.

The Queensland Government should prepare a procedural guide for officers deciding whether to grant a relaxation of environmental authority conditions, by transitional environmental program or otherwise, with guidance as to: • the meaning of each criterion • examples of the types of things that may be relevant to each criterion • the priority, if any, to be afforded to different criteria.

The Queensland Government should endeavour to ensure that Queensland conditions are appropriately considered in the National Flood Risk Advisory Group’s review of best practice principles.

The Queensland Government should ensure that all flood mitigation manuals include the requirement that those operating the dam during flood events hold current registrations as professional engineers.

CS Energy and Seqwater should agree upon and adhere to a formal communication protocol that requires CS Energy personnel to advise Seqwater, through the Flood Operations Centre, of water movements between Splityard Creek Dam and Wivenhoe Dam or Pryde Creek once a flood event is declared under the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at Wivenhoe Dam and Somerset Dam. The protocol should ensure that a direct line of communication is established between CS Energy personnel physically located at the power station and the Flood Operations Centre.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads, in conjunction with Brisbane City Council and Somerset Regional Council, should investigate options for the upgrade of Brisbane River crossings between Wivenhoe Dam and Colleges Crossing and undertake a cost-benefit analysis of these to determine the outcome which best serves the public interest.

The Queensland Government should refine the criteria which must be considered in assessment of applications for relaxation of environmental authority conditions, by transitional environmental program or otherwise, in response to flood.

The Queensland Government should ensure that, when it considers options for the operational strategies to
be employed at Wivenhoe and Somerset dams, and North Pine Dam, it is presented with a wide range of
options which prioritise differing objectives. The Queensland Government should determine the operational
strategies by considering the implications of each option over a range of flood events for at least:
• inundation of urban and rural areas
• water supply security
• dam safety
• submerging of bridges
• bank slumping and erosion
• riparian fauna and flora.

As part of the longer term review of the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at Wivenhoe Dam and Somerset Dam the Queensland Government should consider whether the dam operators should be able to extend the drawdown of the lake beyond seven days in order to reduce downstream bank slumping

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should prepare formal work procedures for the review of flood event reports created under emergency action plans and flood mitigation manuals. These should include procedures for: • making enquiries with the owners of referable dams that have catchments that have been subject to heavy rainfall (or where there is other reason to believe the emergency action plan has been triggered) as to whether the emergency action plans have been triggered • reminding owners of referable dams that have had emergency action plans triggered of their obligation to submit a flood event report • upon receipt of a flood event report, reviewing it, identifying any dam safety or other issues or areas where insufficient detail has been provided, raising those matters with the dam owner or other affected party and identifying appropriate remedial steps 28 Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry | Final Report Complete list of Final Report recommendations • raising any issues identified in the report that are beyond the expertise of the Department of Environment and Resource Management, or are likely to be of particular interest to another body, with the appropriate body • keeping a record of the process and results of the review of the flood event report • fixing an appropriate timeline for the completion of each of the above steps: the time required may depend on specific circumstances, but must allow for any potential safety issues to be identified and remedied efficiently.

Unless the Department of Environment and Resource Management has decided not to permit discharges, it should assist each mine operator in its application for an environmental authority to ensure, as far as possible, that each authority includes provisions for discharges during times of heavy rainfall and flood.

The Queensland Government should determine which of its agencies should take responsibility for the management of all existing and new abandoned mine sites in Queensland.

Emergency Management Queensland should develop and implement a new formula for the distribution of its recurrent SES subsidy, which takes into account relevant factors including the size of a local SES contingent and the population, area and natural hazard risk profile of the local government area concerned.

The Disaster Management Act 2003 should be amended to give the chief executive of the department administering the Act (or his or her delegate) the authority to appoint an officer of Emergency Management Queensland to direct SES operations in extraordinary circumstances

Prior to approving a flood mitigation manual, the Queensland Government should be satisfied that its terms are expressed in a manner that allows a determination of compliance with it to be made by reference to objective standards.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should assist mine operators in their applications for amended environmental authorities to ensure, as far as possible, that each environmental authority contains a tailored version of Table 4 of the model conditions. The Department of Environment and Resource Management should provide to mining companies its monitoring data and its suggested values for Table 4 on the basis of an assessment of the catchment which takes into account the cumulative effect of different operators’ releases.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management and Emergency Management Queensland should ensure that each has copies of current emergency action plans for all dams in Queensland.

The Queensland Government should make public the procedural guide used by Department of Environment and Resource Management officers to decide whether to grant an emergency direction.

The Queensland Government should determine whether existing guidelines are sufficient for councils to understand best practice in the performance of flood studies and the production of flood maps. If a lack of current guidelines is identified, the government should create and circulate guidance material for councils.

The Queensland Government should continue to assess and review the adequacy of work procedures DS 5.1 and 5.3, having regard to the need for flood mitigation manuals to reflect the will of the executive.

The Queensland Government should consider whether to empower Seqwater, through the flood operations centre, to direct CS Energy to stop or delay releases from Splityard Creek Dam where a flood event is declared under the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at Wivenhoe Dam and Somerset Dam.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should conduct risk assessments in time for site inspections, and the implementation of solutions to problems identified at inspections, to take place before 1 November of each year.

The Queensland Government should, in consultation with the Department of Environment and Resource Management and Emergency Management Queensland, determine which agency is appropriate to review and approve emergency action plans for referable dams.

The Queensland Government should make public the procedural guide used by Department of Environment and Resource Management officers to decide whether to grant a transitional environmental program.

In the event that the review does not adequately account for Queensland conditions, the Queensland Government should produce a document that provides appropriate guidelines for floodplain management in the Queensland context.

The Queensland Government should consider whether North Pine Dam should be operated as a flood mitigation dam when it considers possible operating strategies and full supply levels as part of the longer term review of the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at North Pine Dam.

Ensure that adequate administrative personnel are available within the incident control structure to provide administrative and knowledge management support for incident management.

Better alignment between divisions within DNRETAS be achieved through the development of an integrated strategy that addresses the combined objectives of weed management, land management, carbon farming and biodiversity management using fire across the Territory.

A specialist investigation be conducted, using expertise from NT Treasury, to identify more appropriate ways to optimise the use of available funding for bushfire management.

That Bushfires NT, NTFRS, DLP, Weeds Branch, Parks and Wildlife, the Natural Resources Management Board, Biodiversity staff and representatives of the Volunteer Fire Brigades get together, at least annually, to coordinate planning efforts for peri-urban areas.

That the Director Bushfires NT NOT be appointed as a member of Council.

Identify where Australian Government funding is available and apply for funding for integrating weed management, controlled burning, bushfire management and carbon farming initiatives.

Conduct an information sharing and planning exercise between Bushfires NT and NTFRS to explore the current boundaries and the overlaps in the peri-urban areas between the NTFRS ERA and the Bushfires NT areas of responsibility for all major centres in the NT.

That a cost benefit analysis of an integrated ICT desktop and portable capability including iPads and iPhones for all operational personnel be conducted.

Continue the use of Warnings and Alerts, in various languages, and through multiple broadcast media, including Indigenous language versions to engage with all people as to the risks of bushfire.

Review the membership of the Bushfires Council, and the composition of Regional Committees to ensure that the Council and Committees have representational stakeholders.

That the Office of Environment and Heritage amend its operating procedures for the Environment Line to ensure that there are clear obligations to pass on information relevant to other agencies, to those agencies in a timely manner.

That the Premier issue clear and unambiguous guidelines to all Government Ministers specifying the timing of notifications to the public of any matters that may affect public health or safety.

Firm up approval processes and funding for any departures from provision of the basic product set

Explore opportunities to re-phase investments in large scale projects and programs such as the Strategic Radar Enhancement Program, the NexGen Forecast and Warning System Products and the Improving Water Information Program.

Explore options to obtain revenue from advertising on the Bureau’s website

Apply a consistent cost-recovery model to all services delivered to state/territory fire agencies.

Review and rebalance relative investment in long term climate modelling and medium-term seasonal outlook.

Review level of investment in research activities to free up budget and reduce pressure on computing capacity

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government empower the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to regulate claims handling and settlement of financial service providers. This can be achieved by the Treasurer introducing legislation by 1 July 2012 to give effect to the measures contained in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the lapsed Insurance Contracts Amendment Bill 2010, so that breaches of the duty of utmost good faith in relation to claims handling constitute a breach of the Insurance Contracts Act.
This would enable the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to:
- monitor and regulate claims handling and settlement processes;
- impose sanctions on insurance companies, under Australian Financial Services Licence remedies, on behalf of consumers; and
- negate the current exemption of claims handling and settlement from the definition of financial services for the purpose of the Corporations Act 2001.

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government and relevant State and territory governments jointly allocate additional and continuing funding in the 2012–13 budget to the Insurance Law Service for the mobilisation of a temporary physical presence in areas of need following natural disasters. The service should be available to all persons in an affected disaster area and not subject to means-testing.

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government introduce legislative changes required to remove the exemption for general insurers to unfair contract terms laws, and ensure its enactment by the end of 2012.

The Committee recommends that the Australian Parliament pass the Insurance Contracts Amendment Bill 2011 and ensure its enactment by 1 July 2012. The Committee further recommends that the standard definition of ‘flood’ be included in the definition of Standard Cover in the Insurance Contracts Regulations 1985.

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government allocate additional and continuing funding in the 2012–2013 budget to the Insurance Law Service to establish a consumer advisory position at the Financial Services Ombudsman. The position should be co-funded by the Insurance Law Service and the insurance industry.

State and territory taxes and levies on general insurance constitute a barrier to effective adaptation to climate change. State and territory governments should phase out these taxes and replace them with less distortionary taxes.

Local governments’ uncertainty about their legal liability is a barrier to effective climate change adaptation. State governments should clarify the legal liability of councils with respect to climate change adaptation matters and the processes required to manage that liability.

To help clarify roles and responsibilities of local government for climate change adaptation, the state and Northern Territory governments should publish and maintain a comprehensive list of laws that delegate regulatory roles to local governments. This would assist both state and local governments to assess whether local governments have the capacity to discharge their roles effectively.

Australian governments should implement policies that help the community deal with the current climate by improving the flexibility of the economy. This would also build adaptive capacity to deal with future climate change. This includes reforms to:
• taxes that influence the way resources are used, such as land tax exemptions and conveyancing duty, which could inhibit the mobility of labour or capital
• government transfers that reduce incentives to adjust to changing circumstances, such as reforms to drought support as outlined in the Productivity Commission’s 2009 inquiry
• regulations that impose unnecessary costs or inhibit competition or flexibility and could impede climate change adaptation by reducing the ability of businesses, households or other entities to respond to changing circumstances, such as restrictions to water trading.

As part of the review of its due diligence processes, Tourism WA should ensure that:
- A minimum standard of due diligence is established that addresses the deficiencies noted in this Report.
- Sponsorship agreements include a provision requiring event organisers to complete disclosure questionnaires. If an organiser is found at any time not to have complied, or to have withheld material information, the penalty regime should extend to the nulling of the contract.
- Consideration is given on a case‐by‐case basis to stipulating the engagement of local event management companies to assist organisers in regards to event planning and risk management.

FESA, WA Police and St John Ambulance establish a uniform protocol for handling multiple agency emergency responses that does not involve callers having to make multiple calls to 000.

The Department of Regional Development and Lands should ensure that event organisers and government agencies responsible for sponsoring and approving events have a greater level of awareness about the requirements of section 91 licences under the Land Administration Act 1977 (WA).

Opportunities should be sought to embed other local government representatives in other areas of the IMT particularly in public information.

Web sites need to be kept updated.

The State Duty Officer from DEC and the State Duty Director, FES A need to confer whenever a Level 2 or 3 incident is declared to satisfy themselves that they have appropriate incident management structures and resources across the state are at an appropriate level of preparedness.

When people are being moved away from their homes it’s important that they move to a place of greater safety and that their movement is relatively assured.

Suitably experienced personnel with local knowledge should be connected to the Operations and Planning section in all Level 3 incidents in the vicinity of substantial settlements.

Early in an incident, close and effective liaison needs to be established with local government agencies.

On a regional basis there would be value in closer working relationship between DEC crews and VBFBs to build mutual trust and confidence. This could be done by opportunity engagement of VBFBs in DEC fire management or through exercises.

Local emergency management committees and planning should identify modes of community contact

There is a need for community education on how road-blocks and VCPs operate in the event of an emergency.

Reporting and control should be through the incident chain of command, and not through agency chain of command.

The agencies need to develop techniques to ensure accuracy of information across all media.

Local knowledge should be accessed to inform the placement and operation of VCPs.

The state should converge on a single communications platform for all emergency management and support agencies.

Further community education may be needed on how to interpret messages.

VCPs are one of the instruments by which the Incident Controller manages the emergency. VCPs without communications cannot be fully effective in their role. Determine and implement an appropriate communications platform for emergency management

The state should progressively align on a shared platform, such as WebEO C , to establish a Common Operating Picture (COP).

A high level review of alerts, warnings and messaging is needed to match community expectations with what is practical and achievable.

There needs to be a better appreciation of the role of Vehicle Control Points (VCPs) and how they are managed in bushfire emergencies by all key agencies and the community

In implementing the Keelty Report’s Recommendation 42, the Ministers for Emergency Services and Environment jointly report to Parliament by May 2012 on the likely impacts on, and implications for, the future bushfire operations of the State Government of the drying climate in the State’s South West region.

The Minister for Emergency Services report to Parliament by May 2012 on the resources required to ensure a ‘One Source One Message’ multi-layered information system, as recommended by the Keelty Report, including any upgrades required for FESA’s current State Alert system.

The Minister for Planning report to Parliament by May 2012 on the urgent actions undertaken by the Department of Planning and the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) to transfer responsibility for declaring bushfire prone areas to the WAPC.

The Minister for Emergency Services makes it a priority that the annual budgets of FESA and WA Police are sufficient to bring forward the completion dates of the current radio projects now underway.

The Minister for Emergency Services ensure that the annual budget of FESA contains the funds it requires to coordinate an annual multi-agency bushfire field exercise, alongside other desktop exercises, to be held in different regions of the State each year. The outcomes of this field exercise should be included in the proposed annual Ministerial statement to Parliament on bushfire readiness before each season.

The Minister for Emergency Services amend section 50 of the Emergency Management Act 2005 by June 2012 to allow the State Emergency Coordinator, as well as a hazard management agency, to make an emergency situation declaration.

The Minister for Police and Emergency Services and the Minister for the Environment report to Parliament by December each year as to the state of readiness of the main State Government agencies tasked with fighting bushfires.

Initial StateAlert messages should provide timely broad advice to a wide audience authorised by the SDD, while subsequent messages may provide more detail.

FESA and DEC need to appoint accredited Level 3 IC‘s based on experience, competency and currency.

To provide Level 3 IC‘s (and FESA) with a level of confidence and to maintain currency across the pool of accredited IC‘s, regular exercising of IC‘s and Level 3 IMT‘s is required.

FESA should continue to develop with DEC and Local Government a number of rostered pre-formed IMT‘s available throughout the fire season, regardless of predicted weather.

Review the command function of the MROC for Level 3 incidents when the SOC is activated.

There are a range of opportunities identified from reviewing the three fires that will improve coordination between FESA and DEC, requiring limited resources, potentially generating some efficiencies and reflecting a joint, tenure blind approach to fire management in WA. The MIR acknowledges the progress made through the IBMC in these matters and notes these measures will require ongoing strong leadership. These include: · Clarification and consistent application of the Zone 2 and 2A mobilisation protocols; · Duplicating available information on websites; · Establishing a single State air desk and cross-utilising Air Attack Supervisors; · Completing common training for the conduct of public meetings;· Coordinating IMT training and exercises; · Operating joint IMT‘s during interface fires; FESA utilising the DEC mobile ICC when suitable ICPs are not available; · FESA engaging in daily weather teleconferences with DEC; Engaging a permanent BoM officer to support a common FESA and DEC SOC; · Developing a common ‗Tool Box‘ of forms and operational procedures for fire response; · Developing common jurisdictional arrangements to accommodate interstate support; · Developing a joint FESA/DEC SOC at the new (FESA) Emergency Services facility at Cockburn; · Adopting common and transparent Level 3 IC accreditation · Using a single mapping capability across both agencies and · Using common naming conventions for fires.

FESA must actively manage the transition to WAERN and provide alternative means for regional crews to communicate when in areas where WAERN is not operated.

FESA seek legal and policing advice regarding the policy to leave residents who chose not to evacuate in a declared ‗dangerous area‘ after a bushfire.

All responding crews and the incident command appointments should adopt a ‘Size Up‘ reporting format.

FESA should review the size of the existing pre-formed IMT to include additional Information and Planning officers and increased resourcing of scribes and management support for all Level 3 incidents.

The State Government mandate that the title deeds for relevant properties be amended to indicate if the property is in a declared bushfire prone area.

FESA and local governments jointly review radio communications capability prior to the 2011/12 bushfire season with a view to improving the current delivery of service to firefighters.

The State Government move the responsibility for the management and distribution of the Emergency Services Levy to the Department of Finance.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the Department of Environment and Conservation develop and finalise their Memorandum of Understanding and commit to working in partnership.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the Western Australian Police ensure they receive all necessary legal clarification in relation to Bushfire Responsibilities of Police Officers – Powers Used in Assisting Fire Authorities in Responding to Bushfires, to be promulgated across FESA and WAPOL.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the Department of Environment and Conservation develop and finalise their Memorandum of Understanding and commit to working in partnership.

State and locals governments:
a) recognise that regardless of future declarations of bushfire prone areas, the existing planning and building problems in the Perth Hills related to bushfire risk will persist;
b) urge residents in these areas to retrofit their homes and evaporative air conditioners in compliance with AS 3959 - 2009;
c) examine options to retrospectively bring these areas into compliance with Planning for Bushfire Protection Guidelines.

FESA develop in partnership with other emergency service agencies a ‘one source: one message’ multi layered system similar to that recommended by the Victoria Bushfire royal Commission.

The Water Corporation immediately review the outstanding orders for hydrant repairs and develop strategies to reduce the backlog.

The Interagency Bushfire Management Committee develop a consistent program of education, training (including media), testing and review of Level 3 Incident Controllers. This should include provision for a formal review of the performance of individual Level 3 Incident Controllers after every incident.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the Department of Environment and Conservation ensure that their Incident Controllers identify critical infrastructure as part of their initial assessment and preparation of Incident Action Plans when attending major incidents.

The State Government ensure that the continued development of the Fire and Emergency Service Authority's Integrated Bushfire Risk Management System is dependent on an independent comparative assessment of its functionality and cost-effectiveness against the Spatial Support System used by the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Hazard Management Agencies overseeing the response to incidents on the urban fringe select evacuation centres that are well within the urban environment and unlikely to be impacted by the incident.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the ABC commence a thorough review of emergency warning messages. This review should give consideration to: The content, structure and presentation of emergency warning messages Media access to the Incident Management Team and State Operations Centre. This review should be expanded to include other media organisations should they demonstrate a willingness and capacity to contribute. 20

The State Government transfer responsibility for the installation, removal, maintenance of fire hydrants to the Water Corporation, in accordance with the recommendations of the 2006 CDJSC Inquiry into Fire and Emergency Services Legislation.

Emergency service agencies undertake more consultation and joint exercising involving the Fire and Emergency Services Authority, the Department of Environment, the Western Australian Police, the Department for Child Protection, local governments and volunteers – including Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades. This should include field exercises which test: Evacuation centres Critical infrastructure (including at the local level) Traffic management, including road blocks. Consideration should also be given to involving the community in exercising (see Recommendation 7) and using prescribed burns as exercises (see Recommendation 14) More detailed planning for exercises should be included in a revised WESTPLANBUSHFIRE to be endorsed by the State Emergency Management Committee.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority work in partnership with Main Roads Western Australia and local governments to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for the use of mobile variable message boards to alert the community to the declaration of a total fire ban and what it means.

The State Government give its full support to the Western Australian Local Government Association's Send to Solve initiative.

The State Government move the responsibility for the management and distribution of the Emergency Services Levy to the Department of Finance.

The State Government recognise the projected changes in climate and potential impact on future fire events.

The Department for Child Protection, the Western Australian Police and the Fire and Emergency Services Authority develop improved arrangements for communicating the loss of home and possessions to persons gathered at evacuation centres with a view to increasing privacy.

The Western Australian Police and the Fire and Emergency Services Authority jointly examine the Traffic Management System developed in response to the 2009 Victorian bushfires and seek its adaptation to use in WA with additional attention to the access and egress by bona fide residents to areas that are evacuated.

The State Government restructure the Fire and Emergency Services Authority as a Department. As part of this restructure, Emergency Management Western Australia should either
be:
1. clearly separated from the fire and emergency services response function; or
2. moved to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet or
3. moved to the Attorney-General‟s department.

The State Government amend section 50 of the Emergency Management Act 2005 to allow the Chair of the State Emergency Coordination Group to declare an emergency situation.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority consider alternative wording to Total Fire Ban that ensures people gain a more complete understanding of what actions are prohibited.

The State Government give legislative effect to the Planning for Bush Fire Protection Guidelines.

FESA develop in partnership with other emergency service agencies develop a 'one source: one message' multi layered system similar to that recommended by the Victoria Bushfire royal Commission.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the Western Australian Police ensure they receive all necessary legal clarification in relation to Bushfire Responsibilities of Police Officers – Powers Used in Assisting Fire Authorities in Responding to Bushfires, to be promulgated across FESA and WAPOL.

The State Government recognise the projected changes in climate and potential impact on future fire events.

Hazard Management Agencies overseeing the response to incidents on the urban fringe select evacuation centres that are well within the urban environment and unlikely to be impacted by the incident.

Emergency Management Western Australia establish an inter-agency working group to continue the development of the new single emergency services Act.

The State Government transfer responsibility for declaring bushfire prone areas from local government to the Western Australian Planning Commission. The Western Australian Planning Commission should urgently assess those areas that should be declared bushfire prone.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the ABC commence a thorough review of emergency warning messages. This review should give consideration to: 
- The content, structure and presentation of emergency warning messages
- Media access to the Incident Management Team and State Operations Centre.
This review should be expanded to include other media organisations should they demonstrate a willingness and capacity to contribute.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the Department of Environment and Conservation ensure that their Incident Controllers identify critical infrastructure as part of their initial assessment and preparation of Incident Action Plans when attending major incidents.

the state conduct an ‘all hazards’ needs analysis to determine requirements for level 3 Incident Control Centres with a focus on ‘all hazards’ and multi-agency capability. Following this analysis, the state take steps to ensure the availability of sufficient and functional level 3 Incident Control Centres across the state with an ‘all hazards’ and multi-agency capability

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 ensure that common and interoperable resource management systems are developed and implemented by emergency management agencies. Common systems should be utilised to the fullest extent possible.

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 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 expand the Regional Water Monitoring Partnerships model to include all flood warning gauges.

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

the state commit to securing effective multi-agency interoperable communications as a high level priority and that all future communications projects and upgrades incorporate compliance provisions mandating interoperability requirements.

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.

the state ensure: • a common, functional and accessible system be introduced to enable effective Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre and Incident Control Centre communications • a regime of regular Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre exercising is introduced with oversight by an appropriate independent body. Such exercising should include testing of systems utilised for Incident Control Centre and Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre communications • those required to perform Emergency Management Liaison Officer roles have undertaken appropriate training; and • resource requesting arrangements are clarified and documented so that control and coordination functions do not overlap.

The state take the necessary measures to clarify roles, responsibilities and cost-sharing arrangements for flood warning systems, including tasking state and regional bodies to be responsible for the flood warning system. This will require engaging with the commonwealth to amend the 2001 arrangements, updating the 1998 floodplain management strategy accordingly and continuing to support commonwealth initiatives designed to improve flood mapping standards and associated issues.

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 (consistent with recommendation 46) develop a model for determining the capability and capacity of departments and agencies with roles and responsibilities in large scale or protracted emergencies. The issues of capability and capacity should be addressed at all levels of emergency management planning.

the state, as a matter of urgency, develop a multi-agency Incident Control Team capability to be readily available for statewide deployment to establish incident control or to relieve functioning control structures.

the state develop an efficient process to ensure that, during flood events, temporary construction of flood mitigation works, such as levees, is controlled so as not to unacceptably impact on flood intelligence.

Victoria Police revise coordinator arrangements to ensure: • a coordinator presence is maintained at the place where incident control is being exercised • effective control is established and is maintained until the response phase has concluded • key control roles may be performed by personnel from agencies other than the designated control agency • that the timely compilation and distribution of an appropriate Incident Action Plan is recognised as a fundamental component of establishing effective control • those performing the coordinator role at an Incident Control Centre be suitably trained, skilled and experienced in emergency management and where possible possess a degree of local knowledge of the relevant area; and • that the revised coordinator arrangements are reflected within the State Emergency Response Plan

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

the Departments of Health and Human Services finalise the definition of ‘vulnerable person’ and the list of facility types where vulnerable people are located and ensure that the definition and associated policy(ies) are applicable across ‘all hazards’.

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

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

the state ensure, as a matter of priority, that the State Control Centre is able to function as a fit for purpose, multi-agency emergency management centre. Necessary works to achieve this outcome should have an overarching focus on the implementation of common agency systems and processes to the fullest extent possible.

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

the state undertake major reform of Victoria’s emergency management arrangements to bring about an effective ‘all hazards, all agencies’ approach, incorporating: • clarity of command and control in all emergencies • common operating platforms, including communications and information technology • interoperability between all agencies • regular joint training and exercising by all agencies • the development and implementation of performance standards for each emergency management agency • the development and maintenance of effective planning arrangements at all levels of emergency management • a meaningful monitoring and audit regime for designated standards and planning requirements; and • an effective accountability mechanism to support the maintenance of legislative and other agency obligations.

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 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 ensure that interoperable information management practices are developed and implemented by emergency management agencies. Common systems should be utilised to the fullest extent possible.

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.

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 Fire Services Commissioner ensures that there is a single standard for the tabards worn by the IMT on the fireground and in control centres to ensure consistency and aid interoperability.

The CFA works with MFB to ensure that the MFB control unit is available for responding to large fires and multi-agency incidents in fringe CFA areas

The Fire Services Commissioner clarifies the role of regional controller for major fires and incidents other than bushfire.

Ensure that warning terminology used in the templates and FireWeb is consistent.

Integrate social media into the OSOM system.

Review the use of the terms in the templates e.g. ‘out of control’ so that community misconceptions are minimised.

Review OSOM to enable monitoring or tracking of where messages were sent, who they were sent to and when they are due for review.

Review the suite of community bushfire warning systems available to tourists across the State.

Ensure that local knowledge, local flavour and local language is used where possible in the development of all community bushfire warnings.

Improve links and interactions between the communication systems e.g. customise OSOM messages to each of the communication mechanisms, link OSOM with Emergency Alert.

Develop a robust evaluation framework to review community bushfire warning policies, processes, systems and procedures both internally and with communities at regular intervals and immediately after a major bushfire event.

Allow the MFB and SES access to using OSOM.

Review Emergency Alert and OSOM systems to improve ease of use.

Educate and engage with fire-affected landholders about the types of warnings, what they might expect from the warnings and their responsibility for response to prevent loss of life.

Amend SOP J4.01and other strategic and procedural documents to reflect the goal of ‘timely, relevant and tailored’ for community bushfire warnings.

Encourage ICCs to use local knowledge to review templates prior to release.

Review the potential use of ‘crowdsourcing’ sites such as Bushfire Connect in community bushfire warnings.

The Fire Services introduce systems, procedures and operational training that promote information sharing and consistent situational awareness at every level, including to and from the fireground. This should include agencies such as police members on duty at roadblocks

The Fire Services evaluate the new information and warning systems to identify ways to integrate them and improve their capacity to issue timely, relevant and tailored messages. This should include the use of social media.

The Fire Services develop a joint protocol for each Fire Service to notify the other of fires reported from fire towers

The Fire Services, in consultation with media outlets, develop a more effective strategy for informing the community of Total Fire Ban days.

Victoria Police, under the auspice of the Regional Emergency Response Plan, lead a task force to ensure that the Princes Highway is treated as an asset of significance and an appropriate risk-based approach is adopted to minimise the impact of fire. This approach is to be integrated into regional and municipal fire management plan

The Fire Services ensure that an incident action plan (summary) is developed in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure J3.03.

Incident Controllers ensure that Emergency Management Teams consider, provide advice, and manage the broader consequences of actions, such as reopening roads, the resumption of public transport and school buses, and the welfare of those impacted by traffic management points.

The Fire Services ensure information and warning projects are able to be integrated with a common operating platform.

The Fire Services continue to develop fire behaviour analysis and predictive science capability by ensuring the Fire Behaviour Analysis Team is appropriately resourced with accredited staff and available to provide services to the IMT.

The Fire Services investigate the reported technical communication issues for this fire

The Fire Services ensure that information and warnings are developed in accordance with the Victorian Warning Protocol

The Fire Services, as part of the regular review of Incident Management Teams – Readiness Arrangements, reassess current resource sustainability and identify opportunities for a more flexible application.

The Fire Services move towards a common and more disciplined approach to fireground communications.

The Fire Services Commissioner ensures that the inter-relationship between Information Sections at all levels is understood.

The Fire Services, and other emergency management agencies, use the Tostaree fire as a scenario exercise to improve understanding of fast-running fires and enhance interoperability and control strategies

Tasmanian entities with responsibilities for bushfire management actively pursue national consistency of warning systems and emergency warning signals through national bodies such as the National Emergency Management Committee.

Funding be sought to enable the State Fire Management Council to take a greater coordination role for bushfire risk management and mitigation.

The Committee recommends the provision of substantial funds to improve road infrastructure in the Mitcham Hills to be spent over the 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 budgets.

that the for Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services implement system of fire levies for landholders situated in urban, iZone and village brigade areas.

that QFRS cover the cost of annual vehicle inspection certificates for rural fire brigade registered vehicles.

that the for Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services ensure that the formula for distribution of funding as recommended above allows rural fire brigades to control any donation or sponsorship funding raised by individual brigades.

that the for Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services undertake a thorough review, including consultation with rural fire brigades, regarding the proposed formula for distribution of funding.

That the Queensland Reconstruction Authority finalise the value for money policies and procedures, particularly those that take into account the role and responsibilities of the external service providers.

That the Queensland Reconstruction Authority agree on and finalise the work plan and attach it as a Schedule to the Agreement as required in section 15 of the Agreement.

That the Queensland Reconstruction Authority clarify and communicate the roles of the Lines of Reconstruction sub-committees to the Chairs of each committee.

The committee recommends the government consider granting public broadcasters priority access to fuel during times of emergency for the purpose of broadcasting emergency warnings and information, and in a way that does not impede the ability of emergency service organisations to access fuel.

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Grants Commission ensures that as part of the current redesign of its data request, state and territory governments are required to include their past insurance and reinsurance receipts for natural disaster insurance premiums. These data must be taken into account by the Commission in determining the states' GST share. 

Conducting a pre-fire season exercise for each Pre-Formed Incident Management Team could be used to “re-accrediting” each team on an annual basis.

Triggers and a process for transfer of command and control from DEC to FESA should be developed and documented.

Higher level DEC guidance to Level 3 Incident Controllers could be improved by introducing a more explicit and robust process of questioning, engagement, monitoring and oversight of Level 3 Incident Controllers.

A summary Incident Action Plan could allow the Incident Controller to more quickly appreciate the situation and articulate a plan early in an incident.

DEC’s incident management capability could be enhanced by: – Appointing a Deputy Incident Controller for every Level 3 IMT. – Establishing a fast response “short” IMT capability for each Level 3 IMT. – Establish clear triggers to initiate sending in a “short” IMT to a fire. – Including FESA officers in pre-formed Level 3 IMT’s. – Establishing additional pre-formed Level 3 IMT’s with FESA. – Where appropriate, appointing a local Bush Fire Brigade officer as Deputy Operations Officer.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Chief Executives of DEC and FESA would be a valuable statement of joint commitment between the two agencies.

The Interagency Bushfire Management Committee and its sub-committees are the logical central platform for developing and strengthening future joint bushfire strategies and common systems of work between bushfire management agencies in Western Australia.

FESA maintains inter-agency relationships and arrangements, and develops formalised arrangements across the entire emergency management cycle for joint activities such as training, exercises and procedure development.

FESA establishes a dedicated intelligence function in Incident Management Teams for major bushfires and ensure this function is appropriately supported with threat based tools and systems.

FESA and DEC take a whole of capability approach to joint operations, including developing joint doctrine that provides a common and articulated understanding of roles and responsibilities, resources and capabilities

FESA, in partnership with other agencies and the community, develops Western Australia’s urban interface fire fighting capability and capacity.

The State revise its bushfire safety policy. While adopting the national Prepare. Act. Survive. framework in Victoria, the policy should do the following: ■ enhance the role of warnings—including providing for timely and informative advice about the predicted passage of a fire and the actions to be taken by people in areas potentially in its path; ■ emphasise that all fires are different in ways that require an awareness of fire conditions, local circumstances and personal capacity; ■ recognise that the heightened risk on the worst days demands a different response; ■ retain those elements of the existing bushfire policy that have proved effective; ■ strengthen the range of options available in the face of fire, including community refuges, bushfire shelters and evacuation; ■ ensure that local solutions are tailored and known to communities through local bushfire planning; ■ improve advice on the nature of fire and house defendability, taking account of broader landscape risks.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their procedures to require that a suitably experienced, qualified and competent person be appointed as Incident Controller, regardless of the control agency for the fire.

The State introduce a comprehensive approach to evacuation, so that this option is planned, considered and implemented when it is likely to offer a higher level of protection than other contingency options. The approach should: ■ encourage individuals—especially vulnerable people—to relocate early; ■ include consideration of plans for assisted evacuation of vulnerable people; ■ include consideration of plans for assisted evacuation of vulnerable people.

The State amend the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 to enable the Chief Officer to delegate the power to issue fire prevention notices.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment establish before the 2010–11 fire season: ■ a uniform, objective and transparent process based on the current DSE approach for the accreditation of level 3 Incident Controllers; ■ a performance review system for level 3 Incident Controllers; ■ a traineeship program for progression from level 2 to level 3 incident management team positions.

Victoria Police continue to pursue a coordinated statewide approach to arson prevention and regularly review its approach to ensure that it contains the following elements: ■ high-level commitment from senior police; ■ a research program aimed at refining arson prevention and detection strategies; ■ centralised coordination that includes comprehensive training, periodic evaluation of arson prevention strategies and programs, and promotion of best-practice prevention approaches; ■ a requirement that all fire-prone police service areas have arson prevention plans and programs, according to their level of risk.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment: ■ amend their procedures to require that an incident action plan summary be completed within the first four hours of an incident being reported and be provided to the State Control Centre and, where established, to the relevant Area of Operations Control Centre; ■ adopt DSE’s incident action plan summary as the template to be used by all incident management teams and ensure that the template is included in the online IMT Tool Box; ■ provide regular training to IMT staff, highlighting the importance of information and reinforcing the support available from specialists within the State Control Centre.

The Country Fire Authority review and improve its communications strategy as a matter of priority and develop a program for identifying and responding to black spots in radio coverage.

The State clarify whether, during major fires, Victoria Police should discharge its coordination functions from the State Emergency Response Coordination Centre or from the State Control Centre.

The State replace the Fire Services Levy with a property-based levy and introduce concessions for low-income earners.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment standardise their operating systems and information and communications technologies with the aim of achieving greater efficiency and interoperability between agencies.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment prescribe and audit the minimum number and nature of level 3 joint training exercises in which incident management team staff (including volunteers) are required to participate.

The State introduce a comprehensive approach to shelter options that includes the following: ■ developing standards for community refuges as a matter of priority and replacing the 2005 Fire Refuges in Victoria: Policy and Practice; ■ designating community refuges—particularly in areas of very high risk—where other bushfire safety options are limited; ■ working with municipal councils to ensure that appropriate criteria are used for bushfire shelters, so that people are not discouraged from using a bushfire shelter if there is no better option available; ■ acknowledging personal shelters around their homes as a fallback option for individuals.

The Country Fire Authority provide to all CFA volunteers an identification card or similar to facilitate their passage through roadblocks established in accordance with the 2009 Guidelines for the Operation of Traffic Management Points during Wildfires.

The Department of Human Services should work with the State Emergency Recovery Planning Committee, regions, and other partners to facilitate understanding and ownership of roles and responsibilities for common recovery services. 

The Department of Human Services should work with regions and partner agencies at the state level to create consistent, streamlined impact assessment processes and systems. 

The Department of Human Services should communicate strategic priorities to achieve state and regional level alignment in building recovery capacity and capability. 

The Department of Human Services should complete work on emergency communication and information management issues. 

The funding arrangements that support the National Plan should be reviewed to ensure that the costs associated with both preparedness and response capability are equitably shared between the shipping and offshore petroleum industries.

NOPSA’s prohibition powers should be extended such that a prohibition notice can be issued where a NOPSA Occupational Health and Safety Inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, that an activity is occurring or may occur at a facility involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of a person.

Further Commonwealth funding for bushfire suppression be made conditional on state fire agencies agreeing to the Commonwealth evaluating and auditing their fuel reduction programs.

The Commonwealth Government work with the states and their agencies to ensure consistent terminology is used when communicating with the public.

That the Minister for Emergency Services consider the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer, Department of Environment and Conservation as a member of the State Emergency Management Committee.

Public meetings are to be encouraged for all Level 3 incidents that affect, or have the potential to affect communities.

A formal IMG meeting should be convened as early as possible at initiating incidents with potential. At the very least early advice to potential IMG members should be made that a meeting is likely to be convened. The initial IMG should include all IMG representatives to ensure comprehensive briefing, agency specific situational awareness and issue identification.

The Interagency Guidelines for Road closure needs to be reviewed to incorporate a mechanism to identify bone-fide local landholders to facilitate their movement in and out of cordoned areas in sympathy with the Stay and Defend requirements.

At Level 3 incidents the Information Services Unit should be adequately resourced with information technology and at least 6 persons, all of whom are very experienced and capable in dealing with the information demands of a Level 3 incident.

Potential OAMG membership should be identified in DEMC protocols and local hazard management plans. The information needs to be kept current. The contact details for each member should be recorded. These plans and contact details need to be available to any IMT mobilised to deal with an incident within the jurisdiction. This means access to this information via internet and storage and maintenance at a centralised facility managed by FESA.]

Information packs to be provided to road traffic personnel to assist with enquiries by public or provision to members of public and landholders who are defending homes/stock etc

The information templates used by the ISU in developing public information boards need to be standardised and posted on the DEC Fire Management Services webpage to allow access and use by the ISU. A standard across government would add significantly to their acceptance and use by the public as a reliable source of information.

At Level 3 incidents the position of ‘Traffic Operations Officer’ –be established and filled by a WAPOL officer. A role description for this position is required and should be included in the “Guidelines for the Operations of Road Closures During Bushfires 2008”. This officer is to be supported by a suitably qualified officer from MRWA that is capable of developing Traffic Management Plans that address risk and are cognisant of considerations associated with road type, appropriate speed limitations, signage requirements, traffic volumes, detours for local traffic and heavy haulage etc. This role should report to the IC and have strong links to the Operations Section, Planning Section (particularly the Situation Unit) and the Information Unit.

A review of community messages, their construction and component parts, the process to activate them and the technology required to deliver the messages by digital and non-digital media should be undertaken. The desired outcome is to define standard messages, procedures, tools and technologies that can be utilised by all HMA’s in Western Australia.

A formal OAMG meeting should be convened as early as possible for incidents with the potential to be Level 3 incidents. At the very least early advice to potential OAMG members should be made on days that exhibit extreme fire weather and other high ignition risk factors that a meeting is likely to be convened. The initial OAMG should include all OAMG representatives identified by LEMAC and DEMAC for each area to ensure comprehensive briefing, agency specific situational awareness and issue identification.

Dedicated information packages should be made available to personnel operating Vehicle Control Points at the shift briefing.

In preparing traffic management plans consideration should be given to which VCP’s are critical and need to be resourced with uniformed Police Officers and which VCP’s can be manned with civilian contractors.

The declaration of a potential Level 3 incident should be notified to FESA who can facilitate an early warning to CFCO’s in the Shire and surrounding LGA’s.

Prior to the bushfire season, potential IMG members, many of whom are members of the Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) should be made aware of, and possibly exercise, their role as an IMG member.

Full briefings of traffic management personnel should be provided prior to dispatch to work areas – why road closed, what their authority level is, level of current risk etc

The ISU should be provided with a person with local knowledge at Level 3 incidents.

The responsibilities and obligations for an OAM and OAMG (when established) needs to clarified and codified in Westplan Bushfire with regard to • Provision of information to participating organisations about the progress and potential of an incident; • Dealing with information disseminated to the public; and • Sourcing, coordinating and prioritising resources required by incidents within the Operations Area. There is lack of clarity in current arrangements concerning the role of the agency undertaking control operations e.g. DEC or a local govt and the transfer of these responsibilities to an OAMG when established.

There needs to be a system that allows laptop computers brought to an incident to be configured at the start of the season and allow them to be easily activated to the correct configuration when they arrive at the incident.

Potential IMG membership should be identified in local hazard management plans. The information needs to be kept current. The contact details for each member should be recorded. These plans and contact details need to be available to any IMT mobilised to deal with an incident within the jurisdiction. This means access to this information via internet and storage and maintenance at a centralised facility managed by FESA.

Provision of timely, accurate and regular information to the community via electronic media (radio and internet) is a recognised function of the Information Unit in liaison with the Traffic Operations Officer. The aim of this arrangement is to facilitate appropriate behaviour in the travelling public and local community concerning access limitations and disruptions to the fire ground and surrounding areas.

ABC Radio should be a participant in IMG and/or OAMG. LEMC and DEMC should plan for this involvement in Local and District Emergency Management Plans.

When an OAMG is established, a formal declaration of its establishment needs to be transmitted to all organisation/agencies involved. The declaration should clearly establish the reporting arrangements for Incident Controllers to the OAM as described in Westplan Bushfire.

Portable, reliable mobile repeaters are required to provide radio communications into areas not covered by existing repeater networks. These repeaters need the capacity to be linked.

A centralised emergency services website should be established that the public can access for reliable and up to date information on any incident. The website must be capable of reliably servicing a very high traffic load and be easily updated by HMA’s.

Wherever possible the ISU should be co-located with Operations and Logistics Sections to ensure effective communications and the ICC in which they operate should be located in the affected community.

Main Roads Western Australia, Police and LGA’s be encouraged via State emergency arrangements to establish a distributed cache of “hard” road barriers for deployment to major incidents

That arrangements be put in place for signage to be retained at Norseman and available at short notice to enable motorists to be warned of potential problems existing on the Great Eastern Highway west of Coolgardie.

That to the extent it has not already done so, DEC take action to ensure that in future cases relevant weather forecast information, particularly information as to significant wind changes, is promptly transmitted through the Incident Management Team and made available to persons with field operation responsibility.

SEMC and EM WA should: ensure all agencies use the same approach to managing incidents.

SEMC and EM WA should: ensure that all agencies can access other agencies’ operations centres when needed and that the procedures to do so are documented

SEMC and EM WA should: assess the state’s level of preparedness at least annually, identifying gaps and significant risks

SEMC and EM WA should: ensure that agencies have a common or compatible crisis information management system in place

SEMC and EM WA should: formally and regularly assess which hazards the state should prepare for

The Department of Premier and Cabinet should provide definitive guidance on identifying essential services for declaration to better inform relevant departments in discharging their responsibilities under Part 6 of the Act.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet should clarify the roles and responsibilities of departments and agencies under Part 6 of the Act and CIP framework to reduce confusion and gaps.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet, in consultation with Victoria Police, should develop clear guidance to distinguish between declared essential services and critical infrastructure to assist departments, Victoria Police and industry in implementing Part 6 of the Act and the CIP framework more effectively. 

Representatives of lead departments should obtain necessary security clearances so appropriate officers can access information relevant to their sectors.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet should clarify the requirements in relation to establishing Security and Continuity Networks in designated sectors, so that there is a shared understanding of those requirements.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet should identify risks arising from the joined-up nature of the approach to protecting essential services and critical infrastructure, and to assist departments and agencies to develop associated risk management arrangements at the whole-of-government level.

That Tasmania Fire Service implement Recommendation 5 above; and that Aurora continue to co-operate with that Service.

That the recommendations contained in the Police Operational Debrief Report of 22 October 2007 to 7 November 2007, submitted to the Coroner, be further considered by the Tasmania Police for adoption where considered appropriate by Tasmania Police.

The Department of Community Safety and Councils develop MOUs to reflect the genuine partnership that exists in present arrangements including an emphasis on the use of the agreed State disaster arrangements to task and deploy SES units following State/Local consultation.

The SDMG take into account key improvement initiatives and change processes suggested when deciding on an effective implementation strategy for agreed recommendations.

The Commissioner of Police, through a dedicated Assistant Commissioner (supported by a cohort of Assistant Commissioners to ensure adequate coverage), be assigned responsibility for overall control of each natural Disaster Management event in Queensland as the preferred arrangement.

Revised governance arrangements be implemented involving Disaster Management Groups at the three levels supported by EMQ as outlined in this report to achieve continuous improvement in the Disaster Management arrangements in the State. ƒ A new provision in Section 5 emphasise the discretion available to all involved in the Disaster Management system to take action to prevent impending loss of life even if contrary to the agreed arrangements.

Planning and consultation be undertaken by EMQ with all levels of the Disaster Management system to ensure that necessary risk-based disaster evacuation plans are prepared at Local, District and State levels, supported by necessary community education and preparedness programs.

The SDMG commission the Department of Community Safety and seek the necessary funding to develop and enhance the Statewide Disaster Management information and communications system building on alternatives already in place and in consultation with all levels of Government.

The SDMG lead an initiative to integrate and/or inter-connect all of the control centres involved at all levels of the Disaster Management system in Queensland as part of the project to integrate State communications.

District and State levels utilise the current Act to make pre-emptive declarations of a disaster event (likely disasters) so as to be proactive in leading and controlling disaster events. All levels of the system should immediately notify other levels if they activate the Disaster Management arrangements. ƒ The Public Safety Preservation Act 1986 be amended to provide powers for Police Officers to provide an immediate response in the event of a rapid onset disaster event such as a landslide.

Suggested escalation trigger points be discussed with District Disaster Coordinators and Local Disaster Coordinators, and if considered practical and useful, be incorporated in Local, District and State Disaster Management Plans.

That the Rural Fires Act 1997 be amended to provide to designated Fire Investigation Officers of the Rural Fire Service the power to enter any land upon which a bushfire has occurred for the purposes of investigation for a period of up to 24 hours after a fire has been declared out.

ESWG recommends investigation of options to fund NGERAC’s on-going activities including through AEMO’s funding model.