Alison Barrett writes:
The need to protect and support the mental health and wellbeing of disaster-affected people and communities is a key focus of the final report of the Select Committee inquiry on Australia’s Disaster Resilience.
Evidence given during the inquiry showed the significant mental health impacts on people who live through and respond to natural disasters.
Three of the ten recommendations in the final report, ‘Boots on the ground: raising resilience’, tabled last week, incorporate suggestions to better address mental health and wellbeing of people involved in natural disasters:
- The Australian Government should establish a national disaster mental health hub to coordinate and provide mental health resources, training, and support for first responders and communities affected by disasters across the nation. This hub should serve as a comprehensive resource centre for addressing the mental health needs of all stakeholders involved in disaster response and recovery efforts.
- The Australian Government should design and implement consistent national trauma-informed care principles, ensuring that first responders – both professional and volunteer – receive training and support in these national principles to better address the mental health and wellbeing of disaster-affected individuals and communities.
- The Australian Government should convene a disaster resilience mental health summit to hear from all related agencies and stakeholders to identify solutions to the mental health impacts of disasters.
“Getting boots on the ground is important, but looking after the mental health of the first responders and volunteers supporting communities is critical for the sustainability and success of any volunteer framework,” the committee writes.
The committee also highlighted the importance of mental health programs being preventive “rather than as a post-disaster activity”, as well as being free or low-cost and trauma-informed.
The committee said that a national disaster mental health hub could work by providing all stakeholders involved in disaster response and recovery a “one-stop shop of relevant and specifically-tailored resources to support their mental health, wellbeing and resilience – before, during and after disaster events”.
However, PhD candidate Monica Taylor and Dr Fiona Crawford, at Queensland University of Technology wrote in The Conversation that while “investment in mental health is always welcome”, more details are required to see how a national disaster mental health hub will work in practice.
The other seven recommendations relate to distribution of the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, establishment of a national asset register of resources, legislated time off from usual employment for volunteers with registered organisations – similar to that provided to Army Reservists – ongoing support for Disaster Relief Australia and consideration of ways to boost young Australian’s participation in volunteering.
The inquiry – chaired by Senator Jacqui Lambie – conducted 17 public hearings and received 174 written submissions, ten of which were made by health and social service organisations including the Department of Health and Aged Care, Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Lifeline Australia, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services and Australian Council of Social Services.
In findings similar to those of the 2022 NSW flood inquiry, the Select Committee highlighted in its final report the important role of community members in responding to natural disasters.
Given the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters in the country, it is important that systems are in place to respond and recover effectively, with minimal negative impacts on people and communities.
As we hear of the devastating fires in Greece this week, the Department of Home Affairs has recorded 23 disasters in Australia in 2024 to date.
First Nations knowledge
Meanwhile, the nation’s updated National Science and Research Priorities, released this week, are relevant for disaster resilience. The five priorities are transitioning to a net zero future; supporting healthy and thriving communities; elevating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems; protecting and restoring Australia’s environment; and building a secure and resilient nation.
While the report acknowledges the disproportionate impact of natural disasters on First Nations peoples and communities, as well as the importance of empowering their leadership and knowledge of natural environments, the recommendations do not specifically address either.
Responding to the new science and research priorities, Monash University academics Professors Tristan Kennedy and Melissa Miles said that Indigenous knowledge systems are a national strength.”The history of science on this continent is extraordinary, yet we often fail to recognise the sophisticated knowledges held by our First Nations peoples. Indigenous voices must be at the table,” they wrote in a recent article at The Conversation, republished at Croakey.
Under recommendation one of the Disaster Resilience Inquiry – that the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and guidelines be amended to enable funds to be distributed for the purpose of building betterment into recovery and reconstruction – the committee includes a comment that governments and organisations need to work with Indigenous communities to ensure their voices are being heard and respected.
“Indigenous knowledge of Country is invaluable in understanding local environments,” they add. “Governments must nurture Indigenous-led strategies that build the resilience of people and Country”.
In a comment under recommendation three – that Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements be amended to set aside a proportion of funding to be offered to local governments up-front to help facilitate disaster recovery and resilience to ensure councils do not always have to bear the burden of financing repairs up-front – the committee recommends that community forums and consultations could incorporate traditional and Indigenous knowledge into flood management plans.
In its submission, the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience research program at Monash University, recommended that the Australian Government:
- Invest in a workforce of Indigenous Disaster Resilience practitioners
- Develop and implement an Indigenous Disaster Resilience Framework
- Create an Indigenous Disaster Resilience Unit in the National Emergency Management Agency
- Amend the Disaster Ready Fund to enable self-determination and create opportunities for Indigenous communities and organisations
- Create an Indigenous Coordinator General position within the National Emergency Management Agency.
Vicki O’Donnell, CEO of Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services in Western Australia, reported a disconnect between community needs and government actions, saying they received many official visitors to the Fitzroy Crossing region following the 2023 floods, “just to look at them and then move on again”.
Speaking at a public hearing in Broome on 17 May 2023, O’Donnell also said that retaining medical records during evacuation is important.
“The Derby Aboriginal Health Service were asked to provide health checks on [people evacuated from the flood region] but…we had no record of their medical records,” she said.
Missed opportunity
The inquiry’s final report failed to adequately empower communities, according to the article in The Conversation by Monica Taylor and Dr Fiona Crawford.
“Its recommendations largely focus on volunteers involved in the immediate disaster response. This will not make Australians more resilient to disasters, because communities need long-term support to develop their capacity to bounce back,” they wrote.
Taylor and Crawford say that deeper structural reform is required, including investment in community organisations which are often at the forefront of disaster response, but also “often overlooked” in response, recovery and resilience-building.
“Community organisations still sit on the periphery of formal disaster management arrangements.”
Aims of the inquiry
- To report on current preparedness, response and recovery workforce models (including the role of the Australian Defence Force, impact of more frequent and intense natural disasters due climate change, role of civil and volunteer groups)
- Consideration of alternative models
- Consideration of practical, legislative and administrative arrangements to support Australia’s resilience and response to natural disasters.
Read the full final report here.
Further reading
Disaster season looms, but the senate inquiry has failed to empower communities, by Monica Taylor and Dr Fiona Crawford in The Conversation
NSW flood inquiry highlights role of community and Indigenous leadership in emergency response (2022), by Alison Barrett
See Croakey’s extensive archive of articles on the climate emergency.
