SENATE COMMITTEE ON DISASTER RESILIENCE TO HEAR FROM NORTHERN RIVERS COMMUNITIES

The Senate Select Committee on Australia’s Disaster Resilience begins three days of public hearings in the Northern Rivers region today.

Across three days of hearings in Ballina, Lismore and Tweed Heads, the Committee will hear from community organisations, councils, not-for-profts, disaster resilience experts and other groups.

The Committee is inquiring into Australia’s disaster preparedness, response and recovery workforce models, collating lessons learned and best practices to inform Australia’s resilience and response to future natural disasters.

Since January 2022, the jointly funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements have been activated for 65 disasters in 332 unique Local Government Areas (LGA). This represents over 61% of Australia’s 539 LGAs.

The Northern Rivers hearings follow hearings in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and regional Western Australia.

The Commonwealth Government has also commissioned an independent review of commonwealth disaster funding, which is being led by Mr Andrew Colvin APM OAM, a former Australian Federal Police Commissioner who led national recovery efforts after the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfres.

The visit comes as Commonwealth-funded recovery and resilience projects continue to be rolled out across the Northern Rivers, including announcements this year:

• Over $17 million on Northern Rivers disaster resilience and mitigation projects through the frst stage of the Disaster

Ready Fund, announced earlier this month.

• $236 million over 10 years to establish a national, reliable food warning network, announced in May, along with an additional $15 million funding for New South Wales.

• $50 million for Phase 1 of the Northern Rivers Resilience Initiative, announced in February, which is delivering 16 food resilience projects spread across all 7 Northern Rivers LGAs.

These more recent funding announcements complement previous initiatives, including over $3 billion in joint Commonwealth and New South Wales government funding through the

Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements

Category C and D assistance measures.

For more information about Commonwealth disaster funding, and the Independent Review of Commonwealth Disaster Funding, visit the National Emergency Management Agency website.

For more information about the Senate Select Committee on Australia’s Disaster Resilience, see the Committee website.

Quotes attributable to Senator Tony Sheldon, Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery:

“It’s essential that Governments draw on the lived experience of communities impacted by natural disasters, to inform how we continue to improve our approach to resilience, response and recovery.”

“On every visit I have made to the Northern Rivers region as Special Envoy, I have found the feedback from local communities invaluable, and that feedback has fed directly into the Government’s work.”

“The Albanese Government is committed to ensuring the Northern Rivers region builds back better, and together with the Minns New South Wales Government, we are making the investments and reforms necessary to make that happen.”