Natural disasters continue to have a significant impact on people, property, and the public sector of New South Wales. Significant resources have been directed towards responses and economic recovery. The scale of government responses to these events has been significant and wide-ranging involving emergency response coordination, service delivery, governance, and policy. 

Our 2022–25 Annual Work Program outlines our continued focus on providing assurance on how effectively aspects of government responses have been delivered. A series of performance audits related to natural disasters and climate change have been completed or are in progress or planned: 

• Managing climate risks to assets and services, September 2021
• Local government business and service continuity arrangements for natural disasters, February 2022
• Planning and managing bushfire equipment, February 2023
• Bushfire recovery grants, February 2023
• Flood recovery, in progress
• Coastal management, planned.

We will take a phased approach to ensuring that our work addresses the following elements of the emergencies and government responses: 

Natural hazards are natural processes that may cause loss of life, injury or other adverse impacts. They become natural disasters when the hazards interact with people and things of value, and when impacts exceed the ability of communities and other systems to avoid, cope or recover from them.  

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) have reported the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather across Australia, and there have been longer term changes to weather patterns. They also report sea levels are rising around Australia, increasing the risk of inundation and damage to coastal infrastructure and communities.  

According to the Department of Planning and Environment, in New South Wales the impacts of a changing climate, and the risks associated with it, will be felt differently across regions, populations and economic sectors. The department's climate projections indicate the number of hot days will increase, rainfall will vary across the state, and the number of severe fire days will increase.  

In New South Wales, a natural disaster is one or a combination of the following, naturally occurring, rapid onset events: bushfire, earthquake, flood, storm, storm surge, cyclone, landslide, tsunami, meteorite strike or tornado. The NSW Government is responsible for disaster response such as deploying emergency services and leading emergency relief and recovery efforts. Some of these responsibilities are delegated to local governments.  

The map below shows the number of natural disasters from July 2020 to June 2022 by local government area across New South Wales.  

There are several frameworks and strategies guiding national arrangements for natural disaster management including:

• National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework
• National Strategy for Disaster Resilience
• National Climate Resilience and Adaption Strategy
• Australian Disaster Preparedness Framework
• Australian Government Disaster Response Plan
• National disaster funding arrangements.

The State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (SERM Act) provides the foundation to the emergency management framework in New South Wales. The SERM Act requires a State Emergency Management Plan to ensure a coordinated response to emergencies by all agencies having responsibilities and functions in emergencies. The plan also outlines prevention, preparation, response and recovery. There are also sub plans to target specific hazards or events, such as the NSW State Flood Plan.

Some key hazard types are assigned to specific agencies through their enabling legislation such as the Rural Fires Act 1997 and Fire and Rescue NSW Act 1989. The Governance chapter expands on the roles and responsibilities.

The Premier can declare a state of emergency in New South Wales under the SERM Act if satisfied there is an actual or imminent event which threatens people, animals, property, or essential services. There is other legislation, such as the State Emergency Services Act 1989, where no declaration is required for agencies to exercise emergency powers.

The Australian Government provides funding to State and Territory governments to assist with response to natural disasters. Programs include:

• Disaster Risk Reduction Package (maximum $27.1 million to NSW from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2024)
• Disaster Recovery Allowance: short term income support to assist individuals whose income has been affected by a disaster
• Disaster Recovery Payment: one off $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per child affected by a disaster
• Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements: financial assistance to the states and territories for up to 75% of eligible expenditure on relief and recovery assistance.

In addition, the Emergency Response Fund Act 2019 (the Disaster Ready Fund Act 2019 from March 2023) allows the Australian Government to draw up to $200 million in any given year, beyond what is already available to fund emergency response and natural disaster recovery and preparedness. On 26 August 2022, $75 million from this fund was committed to NSW to invest in flood mitigation and infrastructure resilience programs. Councils and NSW Government agencies are the recipients tasked with completing these projects.

Australian Government provides non-financial assistance to state governments responding to natural disasters

The Australian Government Disaster Response Plan explains how state and territory governments can seek assistance from the Australian Government, where an affected jurisdiction cannot reasonably cope with the needs of the situation.

During 2021–22, the NSW State Emergency Service requested and received assistance from the Australian Defence Force to provide specialised response to the February 2022 severe weather and flooding events.

The 'National Defence: Defence Strategic Review 2023' (DSR) identified climate change as a national security issue. Defence is frequently required to assist in disaster relief efforts, which is claimed to negatively affect force preparedness, readiness and combat effectiveness. This review agreed in principle to the following:

• Commonwealth should work with states and territories to develop national resilience and response measures for adverse climate change at the local level without the need for Australian Defence Force support, except in the most extreme emergencies
• Defence should be the force of last resort for domestic aid to the civil community, except in extreme circumstances.

Role of the former Resilience NSW

Resilience NSW was established as an executive agency of the Department of Premier and Cabinet on 1 May 2020 to coordinate the whole-of-government approach to disaster recovery, drive disaster preparedness across the state and support NSW communities to build resilience to future disasters.

Under the NSW Recovery Plan, Resilience NSW was responsible for providing support to the Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and the State Emergency Recovery Coordinator (SERCON) by:

• providing senior leadership to facilitate whole-of-government coordination
• coordinating formal recovery processes at the direction of the SERCON. Coordination should prioritise locally led recovery but may include coordination at the regional or state level
• developing and maintaining recovery policies, plans and arrangements
• resourcing one or more Recovery Coordinator positions
• providing recovery management and operational expertise to Local and Regional Recovery Committees
• maintaining operational oversight and disseminating operational reports to key stakeholders
• preparing progress and other reports associated with recovery operations
• coordinating the analysis of impact and Recovery Needs Assessment data to inform operational and non-operational recovery planning
• monitoring and evaluating state-funded recovery programs
• implementing a lessons learnt management process at the end of a recovery operation
• providing a point of contact for Commonwealth Government agencies in relation to recovery issues and requests.

Abolishment of Resilience NSW in response to two inquiries into major flooding

A Legislative Council Select Committee was established in March 2022 to inquire into and report on the response to major flooding across New South Wales in 2022. The Committee found NSW State Emergency Service and Resilience NSW failed as lead agencies to provide adequate leadership and effective coordination during the major flooding of February-March 2022 and several subplans and local plans that were not up to date. For the detailed findings, please refer to the 'Response to major flooding across New South Wales in 2022'.

In March 2022, the NSW Government commissioned an independent inquiry to examine and report on the causes of, planning and preparedness for, response to, and recovery from the 2022 flood events across NSW. The inquiry found Resilience NSW did not perform as intended during the 2022 flood events, primarily due to the size and scope of its remit. The report highlighted there was inadequate focus on the agency’s ‘on-the-ground’ operational response in helping people in need, delivering grants, leading the clean-up, and restoring access to essential services. The lack of preparedness and inadequate engagement and communication about its role and functions caused confusion in emergency management arrangements during the operational response and recovery. For the detailed findings, please refer to the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry | NSW Government.

On 16 December 2022, Resilience NSW was abolished with staff moved to the NSW Police Force, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Department of Communities and Justice and the newly established NSW Reconstruction Authority.

Role and responsibilities of state agencies during natural disasters

The State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (SERM Act) requires:

• a State Emergency Management Plan to ensure the coordinated response to emergencies by all agencies having responsibilities and function in emergencies
• a State Emergency Management Committee which consists of the State Emergency Operations Controller, the State Emergency Recovery Controller, the Commissioner of the State Emergency Service, the chief executive of Ambulance Service of NSW, the Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW, the Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner of NSW Rural Fire Service, and others as the Minister determines
• Regional Emergency Management Committees
• Local Emergency Management Committees.

Many NSW agencies get involved in the emergency response. The table below outlines some key agencies and their roles and responsibilities during emergency natural disaster event:

The following changes have been made to the emergency response framework during the 2023 financial year:

• new Deputy Commissioner role created in the NSW Police Force to oversee and coordinate emergency services’ response to future natural disasters right across the State
• NSW Reconstruction Authority created with a role dedicated to disaster prevention, preparedness, adaption, recovery, and reconstruction from natural disasters
• Recovery Coordinators appointed to manage clean up and repair efforts following significant flooding across the State.

During and after natural disasters, local councils respond to the disasters and, under certain circumstances, support other emergency management agencies such as the Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service and the NSW Police Force as outlined below.

In a declared state of emergency, councils may be required to follow directions of NSW public sector agencies and/or relevant local, regional or state emergency operations controller. Given their closeness to their communities, local councils play a key role in responding to local emergencies. Council employees may provide direct support to first responders during fires and floods, and assist in the recovery phase.

After the initial danger of a natural disaster has passed, councils repair or rebuild damaged infrastructure and assets, clean-up waste and debris, and assist impacted residents. In recent years, in part due to more severe and long-lasting natural disasters, councils have begun their recovery phase before the response phase has ended. Recovery and rebuilding may be costly and can take months or years to complete.

Local councils are entitled to reimbursement of eligible expenditure from various NSW Government agencies as outlined below.

Business continuity plans are a widespread mechanism used by organisations to ensure they are prepared to respond effectively to disruptions, such as natural disasters. Business continuity management involves developing, implementing and maintaining policies, frameworks and programs to assist an organisation to manage business disruptions. Plans should be tested regularly for continuous improvement and provide confidence it will be reliable during an actual event.

In accordance with Government Sector Finance Act 2018, accountable authorities must establish, maintain, and keep under review effective systems for risk management, internal control and assurance. Business continuity management is an important element of good governance. It forms part of an entity's overall approach to effective risk management, and can support the entity's capability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and manage recovery from the impacts of a disruption.

Similarly, all councils are required to appropriately assess and manage risks under the Local Government Act 1993. The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) published 'Risk Management and Internal Audit for Local Government in NSW' in December 2022. These guidelines are mandatory from 1 July 2024 and will require:

• the Audit Risk and Improvement Committee and internal audit to be responsible for the review of the effectiveness of business continuity arrangements, including business continuity plans, disaster recovery plans and the periodic testing of these plans
• risk management be a core responsibility of all senior management of council.

This is like the wording in 'TPP20-08 Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the General Government Sector'.

A crisis management plan outlines how your business will react if a crisis occurs. The plan should identify who will act and what their roles will be. The goal of a crisis management plan is to minimise damage and restore business operations as quickly as possible. Many organisations would include the crisis management plan within the business continuity and not have a separate plan.

One hundred and fifteen of the 128 councils have business continuity plans and 70 of these also have crisis management plans

Business continuity plans are in place at 115 of the 128 councils. Crisis management plans are in place at 70 councils.

In New South Wales, business continuity plans are widely used by local councils to help ensure continuity of service delivery, safety and availability of staff, availability of information technology systems and other systems, financial management and governance.

The graph below shows the number of councils with business continuity plans by council type.

2021–22 budget response to natural disasters

The State's 2021–22 Budget included funding response to help communities recover from devasting impacts of drought, bushfires and floods.

$1.4 billion spent during 2021–22 responding to natural disasters

Over 2021–22, the NSW Government budgeted $1.9 billion ($725 million in 2020–21) to respond to natural disasters. The actual expenditure by the State on disaster response, over the same period, was $1.4 billion, an increase of $815 million. The graph below shows the total allocation and spend by cluster for 2022 financial year compared to their budgets.

There were 83 out of 128 local government areas (LGAs) impacted by natural disasters during the 2021–22 financial year. 58 LGAs were impacted by more than one type of natural disaster.

A Legislative Council Select Committee was established in March 2022 to inquire into and report on the response to major flooding across New South Wales in 2022. It was reported that First Nations groups were not well supported during the crisis and there was a lack of engagement and voice in the government-led rescue and recovery.

Support for flood-affected First Nations communities

There has been various targeted funding provided to repair, restore and enhance First Nations-owned assets damaged during the February and June 2022 floods. However, funding for First Nations communities was announced much later than funding for other communities.

In August 2022, as a part of the 2022 Community Local Infrastructure Recovery Package, $6 million was allocated to eligible Local Aboriginal Land Councils to assist with the repair, reconstruction and minor resilience building measures for Aboriginal community infrastructure.

In March 2023, the Australian and NSW Government announced the $44 million Aboriginal-owned Assets Program to repair and restore community infrastructure like First Nations-owned daycare centres, medical and aged-care facilities, cultural sites and keeping places. The support will be targeted at the most flood-impacted LGAs of Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Camden, Central Coast, Cessnock, Clarence Valley, Glen Innes Severn, Hawkesbury, Kempsey, Kyogle, Lismore, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Narromine, Richmond Valley, Singleton, Tenterfield and Tweed.

Also in March 2023, the NSW Environment Protection Authority announced the $10 million Aboriginal Lands Flood Recovery Program in partnership with NSW Public Works. This program is to help Aboriginal communities to assess and manage the clean-up of waste generated by the 2022 floods on Aboriginal lands.

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