The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements has published public submissions ahead of the second round of hearings which resume at 10:00am tomorrow, Tuesday 16 June 2020.
Since 2 March, the Commission has received 1,735 submissions covering a range of issues relating to the inquiry’s terms of reference. These submissions offer insights into the lived experience of people affected by natural disasters in Australia. The submissions also provided an opportunity for individuals and organisations to share their knowledge and expertise on issues related to the Commission’s terms of reference.
The Commission received 1,302 submissions from individuals. Of these, 48% reported being directly affected by the 2019-2020 bushfire season, some in multiple ways.
- 45% reported living in a bushfire affected area
- 22% reported being evacuated
- 22% reported suffering a personal or financial loss.
The Commission has published an interactive map which shows many of the individuals who made a submission are located in severely fire affected areas.
People can continue to contribute to the Commission’s work through the 2019-20 Bushfire History Project by submitting videos or photographs taken during the bushfires or the ongoing recovery.
The collection of material will be catalogued to allow future generations to understand what happened during the 2019-20 bushfires and their effect. In some cases, the Commission may seek permission to consider material collected as part of the 2019-20 Bushfire History Project for use in evidence.
Media Note
The interactive map was developed using the National Map, an online tool designed to support Australian government agencies to share data. You can use the ‘add data’ function to overlay other data relevant to understanding the built, natural and social environment impacted by the bushfires. For example, you can overlay data relating to agriculture, communications, environment, infrastructure, land use, population and economic information. Information about this data is available on the National Map website.
