Published works

The Yarra Ranges Council, Maroondah City Council and the Knox City Council partnered with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre to evaluate Maroondah and Knox policies to see where and how they align with and incorporate resilience. The Assessing community resilience for emergencies in local government policy (ACRE) project also highlighted some strategic issues that are potentially relevant for local government and disaster resilience policy more broadly.

All levels of the Australian Government adopted the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience in 2011 (NSDR) and its implementation is ongoing. The NSDR aims to shift national policy away from the traditional focus on disaster response toward planning and prevention to reduce the risk of natural disasters and the severity of their consequences. The National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework was launched in 2020 and builds on the NSDR and references resilience.

Not only that, but a resilience-based approach will improve the ‘capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to survive, adapt and grow not matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience’ (Mulligan et al, 2016). Local government is a key partner in achieving these goals because of its proximity to the community and the array of assets, services and programs it manages that are vital to the well-being of local communities. Local councils also have a legal responsibility to develop and maintain and review policies in critical areas, including for disasters and other emergencies. This provides opportunities to build the resilience of communities by pivoting local government policies and programs toward approaches that are proven to support resilience. In order to do this, Maroondah and Knox City Councils sought, as a first step, to better understand how their existing policies are compatible with resilience, the extent to which resilience was incorporated in policies and what areas can be improved.