In response to the summer bushfires, CSIRO was tasked in January 2020 by the Prime Minister to deliver an independent study recommending how Australia can strengthen its climate and disaster resilience, supported by an Expert Advisory Panel chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel.

The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has supported the recommendation by the CSIRO that all jurisdictions should work with local government to improve climate and disaster resilience. This specific recommendation is one of 25 in the CSIRO’s Climate and Disaster Resilience report. A more integrated and long-term approach to landscape management and hazard reduction was also a priority recommendation from a new report by the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action and the Climate Council.

The report puts forward opportunities in six actionable themes:

1. A harmonised and collaborative national approach is required to achieve global best practice

2. The national approach requires systems thinking and solutions to deal with complexity – including foresighting, management of risk and learning and education for all stakeholders

3. Availability of data is a key enabler – there is a compelling case to shift to common approaches and platforms for both resilience planning frameworks and operational management systems

4. The community plays an essential role in all phases of resilience building and must be appropriately included and engaged

5. Investment in targeted research, science and technology remains a key enabler of many of the improvements required to build resilience

6. We need to build back better. Resilience needs to be embedded as an explicit consideration in all future planning, agricultural and urban land use and zoning and investment decisions.

The report supports the recently released Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan, published by Emergency Leaders for Climate Action and the Climate Council, which recommends funding permanent community resilience hubs in every vulnerable local government area.