New national research launched

In December, the CRC was launched at Parliament House, Canberra, by the Minister for Justice, the Hon Michael Keenan.

And what a morning it was. Despite our natural affinity toward hazardous weather the forecast rain didn’t arrive and the winds were mild. On the lawns of the Federation Mall in front of the nation's capital building we assembled a group of more than 100 invited guests representing the breadth and depth of the new research centre, plus a helicopter and a small fleet of fire vehicles.

The Minister declared that the new $130 million Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre would draw together all of Australasia’s fire and emergency service authorities with the nation’s leading experts across a wide range of scientific fields to explore the causes, consequences and mitigation of natural disasters.

Read the joint media release from the Minister for Justice, The Hon Michael Keenan and the Minister for Industry, The Hon Ian Macfarlane, here:

http://www.ministerjustice.gov.au/Mediareleases/Pages/2013/Fourth%20Quarter/10December2013Cooperativeresearchcentretobuilddisasterresilience.aspx

The Chairman of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, Dr Laurie Hammond, stressed the importance of national research that spanned fire, flood, storm, earthquake and tsunami. He said that CRCs were different from many other research centres because they were dependent upon cooperation between many partners and focussed on research that delivered real world results.

Read our media release here:

http://www.bnhcrc.com.au/content/new-national-research-launched

The CEO of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, Stuart Ellis, spoke of the impact of research upon the sector, while our researcher Dr Michael Eburn from the Australian National University, talked about the benefits of conducting research with such a large network of researchers and industry people.

Our special thanks go to the members of the ACT Emergency Services Agency and ACT Parks, who provided the people and the vehicles to help make the day such a success. Gaining permission to land a helicopter right in front of Parliament House is no small task, but well worth the effort for such an important launch.

So, the national research program into bushfires and natural hazards is officially under way in spectacular style.