The Albanese Government’s second Budget delivers strong investments in emergency management that will ensure a cohesive approach to natural hazard preparedness, emergency response and recovery.
In less than a year, the Albanese Government has taken major steps to significantly enhance the country’s disaster preparedness, response and resilience capability.
Close to 70 per cent of Australians were impacted by storms, floods, cyclones and bushfires in 2022 alone, signalling the urgent need to take decisive action.
In September 2022 we established the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and this year we’ll start investing in projects from the Disaster Ready Fund which is worth up to $1 billion.
The 2023-24 Federal Budget, builds on that important work, delivering:
- More than $236 million over the next 10 years to address critical, long-standing risks in Australia’s flood gauge network. This will be done in partnership with state and territory governments, to ensure communities, emergency services and businesses have reliable access to flood forecasts and warnings – to inform action when flood events happen. Work in Queensland will be prioritised.
- $8.6 million to generate a National Emergency Management Stockpile (NEMS) of life-saving resources. This will provide state and territory governments with rapid access to critical disaster resources, such as self-sufficient emergency shelter camps, water desalinisation and purification systems and emergency high-output power generation.
- Two new projects to strengthen communication before and during a disaster, in partnership with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.
- The cell broadcast National Messaging System (NMS). This will improve how the Commonwealth delivers emergency messages, and how states and territories issue alerts and warnings in real time – to mobile phones and devices during a crisis or emergency event.
- The Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB). This program will provide instant access to data, images and information in critical situations for first responders, and other emergency services personnel. More than $10 million has been committed to establish a Taskforce, which will drive delivery of the PSMB, leading to fast and secure voice, video and data communications.
Investment in the NMS and PSMB addresses crucial findings from the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.
The Royal Commission showed instances during Black Summer where emergency warnings were unable to be delivered and emergency service workers were unable to communicate while battling the same fire, because they were operating across state borders on different systems.
Other key Emergency Management Budget initiatives include:
- Extending the existing arrangements that have been in place since 2010-11, to provide disaster recovery payments to eligible New Zealand citizens. Eligible New Zealand visa holders have access to payments that mirror the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment and Disaster Recovery Allowance.
- Supporting the implementation of the National Disaster Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework, for people who have been impacted by the increased frequency and severity of natural disasters.
- Securing and expanding the work of the National Emergency Management Agency, through ongoing resourcing to overcome the former Government’s funding cliffs, which would have stripped NEMA’s ability to protect disaster-prone communities.
