Submission to Inquiry into the Emergency Response Fund Amendment (Disaster Ready Fund) Bill 2022

We support this legislation and applaud the government for recognising the importance of ongoing funding to build natural disaster resilience. We commend the Government’s $200 million per year commitment, acknowledging this level of funding was a key recommendation of the Productivity Commission’s 2015 Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements report. We also commend the Government’s creation of the new National Emergency Management Agency, and the establishment of a Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery.

In addition to providing comments on the operation of the Disaster Ready Fund for the Standing Committee’s consideration, we also draw the Committee's attention to IAG-commissioned research that adds to the collective understanding of natural disaster risk and mitigation. The research - the Rhelm report into National Flood Hazard Mitigation priorities - details methodologies and insights into how mitigation funding can be prioritised. The method for setting priorities involved identifying areas with high flood risk where there are potential flood mitigation measures that could be implemented to reduce the level of risk and then ranking the practicality and cost benefit of each area.

Both our submission and the Rhelm report are available using the links below.