Volunteering - a statement on research priorities for natural hazards emergency management in Australia

Throughout 2015-2017, emergency service agencies around Australia participated in workshops hosted by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC to consider the major issues in natural hazards emergency management.

This publication on volunteering summarises the outcomes of one of these workshops and poses questions as a guide for a national research agenda in natural hazard emergency management.

Volunteers play a fundamental role in the emergency management preparedness, response and recovery in Australia. As disasters and emergencies continue to become more frequent, more intense and of longer duration, the interoperability, capacity and capability of emergency management organisations to respond is being significantly tested and the reliance on volunteers and the roles they play will continue to grow.

The emergency management sector is under increasing pressure to develop adaptive emergency management policy and procedures that can respond to current and future challenges. Recent changes to the physical and social landscape in Australia, for example, shifting urban rural fringe and changing political climate, have revealed emerging and veiled volunteer issues.