AESM Vol 33, ISSUE 2 2023

VOL 33, ISSUE 2 2023 

SEASONAL 

BUSHFIRE OUTLOOK 

SPRING 2023 

MAUI WILDFIRES: 

LESSONS FOR 

OUR FLAMMABLE 

CONTINENT 

WHAT IT TAKES 

TO SURVIVE BEING 

LOST AT SEA 

CARE ECONOMY 

TO BALLOON IN 

AUSTRALIA 

INDIGENOUS RANGERS 

BURNING THE DESERT 

IN THE RIGHT WAY

Get 

storm 

ready. 

Storms can strike at any time, that’s why it’s important 

to always be prepared. 

Prepare your home 

Stay safe while driving 

Trim trees and branches close to your house 

Secure loose items in your backyard 

Clear gutters, downpipes and drains 

Get your roof checked for damage or corrosion 

Make sure all shades, sails and awnings are 

properly fitted 

Get your insurance up-to-date 

Always follow flood warning signs 

Never drive through flood water 

Shelter vehicles under cover, not under trees 

Avoid driving when a storm is coming 

Get your insurance up-to-date 

Helpful hints: 

You can ask the council or energy 

company to check trees on your street 

that may pose a threat to your property or 

powerlines. 

Even if you’ve cleared your gutters 

recently, they can soon fill up with leaves 

and other debris, especially after a 

downpour. On average you should check 

they’re clear every couple of weeks. 

If you don’t already know your neighbours, 

go and introduce yourself. They might 

need a hand getting storm ready. Plus, 

when bad weather strikes it’s important to 

be able to tell the SES who lives nearby. 

Make sure everyone in your household 

knows what to do in severe weather. 

For tips on developing a house 

emergency plan use the SES guide at 

www.stormwise.com.au 

If you do need help during a severe storm, call the Queensland State Emergency Service on 132 500 

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Those who take up the challenge will find a purpose like no other.

FEATURE 

CONTENTS 

FEATURE 

9-14 

Maui Wildfires 

Lessons for 

our Flammable 

Continent 

Australia is experiencing an 

unseasonably warm winter. 

The country looks set for 

a hot, dry, El Nino-fuelled 

summer, putting fire crews 

on high alert. 

Seasonal Bushfire 

Outlook Spring 2023 

AFAC, the National Council 

for fire and emergency 

services, has released the 

Seasonal Bushfire Outlook 

for Spring 2023. 

7 

FEATURE 

Flood Communities 

Strengthened 

The experiences of people 

affected by the extreme 

floods in New South Wales 

and Queensland in 2022 

are providing vital insights 

on preparedness, response 

and the early stages of 

recovery 

15 

How to Survive Being 

Lost At Sea 

Four Australians and two 

Indonesian crew members 

have been found alive after 

going missing off the coast of 

Aceh. What does it take to 

survive these conditions? 

21 

Care Economy to 

Bloom in Australia 

Australia’s care economy 

could increase from its 

present about 8% of GDP 

to about 15% in 40 years, 

according to the government’s 

Intergenerational Report 

23 

www.ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Future Elimination of 

Cyclones - Weather 

Control 

Scientists are exploring 

ways of preventing natural 

disasters, from bushfires to 

floods to hailstorms. So why 

not cyclones? 

27

THE REGULARS 

• Editor’s Note 

3 

• Recent Events 

Technology to overcome communication black spots 

Reforming Victoria’s Triple Zero Service 

CFA Climbs for Mental Health 

CFA saves lives Emergency Services Blood Challenge 

• Let’s Talk Mental Health - Choosing the right App 

• Beach Drownings - Learning from Survivors 

• In the Spotlight - Disaster Relief Australia 

• Emergency Breaks - The Blue Mountains vs Southern Highlands 

4 

5 

6 

7 

19 

37 

39 

41 

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31 

Early Years of Women 

In Policing 

This year marks a significant 

milestone for women in 

policing: the 125th anniversary 

of the first official recognition 

of a police matron in Australia. 

MAGAZINE CONTACTS 

33 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT 

Editorial Content 

editor@ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Advertising Enquiries 

advertise@ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Distribution Enquiries 

distribution@ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Indigenous Rangers 

Burning the Desert in 

the Right Way 

Dozens of Indigenous 

ranger groups across 12 

Indigenous Protected Areas 

have been hard at work in an 

unprecedented collaboration, 

burning to reduce the fuel 

load before the summer’s heat 

Each edition features a 

profile on a person, team, 

partnership, squad or unit 

to showcase their unique 

contribution to the Emergency 

Services industry. 

EMERGENCY BREAKS 

Explore local surrounds, or 

new places that are only a 

short plane trip or drive away, 

so you can maximise every 

minute of those days when 

your name doesn’t appear 

next to a call sign on the roster 

POSTAL ADDRESS: 

Suite 112, Locked Bag 1 

ROBINA TC, QLD 4230 

Scan Me 

to download the AESM App 

www.ausemergencyservices.com.au

Danger lurks in the surf beaches of 

Australia in the form of rip currents 

or rips. These narrow, fast-flowing, 

seaward channels of water are 

responsible for an average 26 

drownings a year and 80-90% of the 

thousands of surf rescues. Yet, unlike 

other well understood and feared 

natural hazards such as bushfires and 

floods, the ever-present menace of rip 

currents is often overlooked. 

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON PG 37 


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WANT TO CONTRIBUTE? 

We are always looking for new 

and relevant content that 

our readers will enjoy. If you 

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options. You may have a story 

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3 


RECENT EVENTS 

New state-of-the-art technology will be 

unveiled today, helping first responders 

overcome dangerous communications 

black spots to keep them better 

connected during emergencies. 

Mobile Wi-Fi equipment has now been 

installed in over 1,300 Fire and Rescue 

NSW and NSW State Emergency Service 

(SES) vehicles, which will ensure 4G or 

satellite communication access during 

incident responses. 

The cutting-edge, highly resilient 

communications technology will enable 

firefighters and NSW SES members to 

continue using radios, mobile phones 

and other hand-held devices anywhere 

and at any time, through new equipment 

attached to their vehicles. 

The ‘vehicle as a node’ systems will allow 

crews to connect to satellites when there 

is no land-based 4G or radio connectivity. 

This will mean that if the communications 

infrastructure is damaged in a disaster, 

they will still be able to stay in contact. 

The technology will enhance connectivity 

and voice clarity, leading to greater 

interoperability with other emergency 

services and improved situational 

awareness during operations. 

Now that the system has been installed, 

work will commence on enabling Fire 

and Rescue NSW vehicles to be used 

as ‘mobile Wi-Fi hubs’, allowing for 

mobile phone and live video streaming 

connectivity for first responders. Video 

streaming allows emergency services 

to share live footage from the incident, 

heightening situational awareness for 

ground crews. 

The technology is now standardised for 

any new vehicle acquired by Fire and 

Rescue NSW and NSW SES across the 

state. 

Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, 

said: 

“I’ve visited many communities impacted 

by natural disasters and know we must be 

doing everything we can to improve our 

emergency response.” 

“Whether it’s telling people to evacuate, 

getting latest advice and emergency 

communications through to communities 

who may be cut off – this new equipment 

is crucial to that work.” 

“That is why we are providing our first 

responders with technology they can rely 

on to overcome connectivity challenges.” 

“These new systems are an important 

step forward in adapting our response 

EMERGENCY SERVICES INTRODUCE 

TECHNOLOGY TO OVERCOME 

COMMUNICATIONS BLACK SPOTS 

to disasters and emergencies and 

supporting our combat agencies to 

provide help faster, where and when it’s 

needed.” 

Emergency Services Minister, Jihad Dib, 

said: 

“Communications blackspots have long 

been a challenge for first response 

agencies and can seriously hamper efforts 

to respond in emergencies and disasters.” 

“Since March, more than 400 SES vehicles 

have installed these new systems, and we 

have now completed the fit-out to more 

than 900 Fire and Rescue NSW vehicles.” 

“This state-of-the-art technology provides 

better support and protection for our 

frontline firefighters and SES crews as they 

carry out their mission to safeguard the 

community.” 

Fire and Rescue NSW Deputy 

Commissioner – Strategic Capability, 

Megan Stiffler, said: 

“The technology rollout across the 

organisation has taken about 12 months 

to complete. This is the first big step 

in bringing the hub’s various functions 

online.” 

“The hub basically turns each fire truck 

into a modern communications node and 

also introduces the latest AVL technology 

that allows Fire and Rescue NSW to deploy 

the closest fire truck to an emergency.” 

NSW SES Commissioner, Carlene York 

APM, said: 

“The technology increases communication 

coverage across the state and will be 

a great boost in regional areas where 

coverage is limited.” 

“When the mobile broadband connection 

or public safety network has an outage, 

our vehicles can now switch to satellite 

connectivity with ease to keep members 

in the field in communication with each 

other and with the State Operations 

Centre.” 

NSWSES 

www.ausemergencyservices.com.au 4

RECENT EVENTS 

Victoria’s emergency triple 

zero service will undergo a 

significant transformation 

to improve governance, 

accountability and oversight 

under new legislation 

introduced on the 30th 

August, by the Andrews Labor 

Government. 

The Triple Zero Victoria 

Bill 2023 will reform the 

Emergency Services 

Telecommunications Authority 

(ESTA) to bring it closer to 

government, ensuring greater 

oversight and providing 

clear and transparent 

accountabilities for the 

organisation, board and 

Chief Executive Officer. The 

legislation will commence by 

the end of 2023. 

Under the reforms, ESTA 

will be renamed Triple Zero 

Victoria and established as a 

new statutory authority, led by 

a new board and CEO directly 

accountable to the Minister for 

Emergency Services that draws 

on expertise from across the 

emergency and health services 

sectors. 

Given the unique nature of its 

services, maintaining Triple 

Zero Victoria as a statutory 

authority will preserve its 

operational autonomy and its 

ability to respond quickly to 

emergency situations. This is 

a similar arrangement to how 

other emergency services like 

Ambulance Victoria operate. 

Delivering on another key 

recommendation from the 

ESTA Capability and Service 

Review led by former Victoria 

Police Chief Commissioner 

Graham Ashton, Triple Zero 

Victoria will strengthen its 

partnership with emergency 

service organisations and key 

government departments 

with the establishment of an 

Operational Committee. 

The committee will include 

representatives from 

ambulance, police, fire and 

VICSES, and will provide advice 

to the Board to help ensure 

Victorians calling triple zero 

receive the highest quality 

service. 

This will be supported by 

New Legislation To Reform Victoria’s 

Triple Zero Service 

robust reporting requirements 

that will enable Triple Zero 

Victoria to quickly escalate and 

resolve issues that could affect 

emergency service delivery, 

making sure Victorians get 

the help they need, when they 

need it. 

Under the legislation, the 

Department of Justice and 

Community Safety will be 

required to endorse Triple 

Zero Victoria’s annual 

financial plans and operating 

budgets. This will make sure 

it is financially robust and 

gives greater transparency 

of the organisation’s financial 

position. 

The Inspector General for 

Emergency Management 

will continue to monitor and 

provide assurance around the 

performance of Triple Zero 

Victoria. 

Since October 2021, the Labor 

Government has invested 

$363 million to help ESTA 

meet overwhelming demand 

– employing more than 400 

extra staff, building better 

support and surge capacity 

for busy times, strengthening 

mental health support for 

staff and supporting critical 

technology upgrades. 

In 2022-23, ESTA answered 

almost 2.7 million calls for 

assistance, representing a call 

every 11 seconds or 7,350 

calls every day. Despite this 

demand, ESTA has consistently 

exceeded the 90 per cent 

ambulance call answer 

performance benchmark since 

last August. 

ESTA’s dedicated workforce 

will be supported through 

the transitional period. Staff 

employed by ESTA will transfer 

to Triple Zero Victoria on the 

same terms and conditions 

they are currently employed 

under to help ensure the 

continuity of service to the 

community. 

The Minister for Emergency 

Services Jaclyn Symes said: 

“These reforms mark a new 

era for Victoria’s emergency 

call-taking and dispatch 

service. They will ensure 

Victorians can continue to 

have confidence that when 

they call Triple Zero, they will 

get the help they need, when 

they need it.” 

“Our dedicated and tireless 

ESTA staff do an incredible 

job on the frontline every day 

– these reforms will also give 

them certainty that the highly 

skilled service they provide will 

be supported by a strong and 

resilient system.” 

Emergency Services 

Telecommunications Authority 

CEO Debra Abbott stated: 

“The establishment of Triple 

Zero Victoria will cement 

the organisation as a world 

leading, integrated call-taking 

and dispatch service which 

also delivers operational 

communications to our 

emergency services partners.” 

“These reforms will ensure 

Triple Zero Victoria can deliver 

an effective and sustainable 

service to the Victorian 

community now and for 

decades to come.” 

5 


RECENT EVENTS 

CFA saves 3000 

lives during blood 

challenge 

CFA members climb 

to new heights for 

mental health 

Up to 700 participating 

Victorian and interstate 

emergency services members 

climbed the stairs of Crown 

Metropol in Melbourne on 

Saturday, to raise money and 

awareness for mental health 

and cancer research. 

The 10th annual 

Melbourne Firefighter Stair 

Climb, organised by the 

000Foundation, raised a total 

of more than $605,000. 

This year’s beneficiaries are 

Lifeline, Peter MacCallum 

Cancer Foundation and 

000Foundation. 

The challenge saw firefighters 

get into 25kg of protective 

gear and race up 28 floors of 

the tower one-by-one. 

CFA Deputy Chief Officer 

Garry Cook said it’s positive 

to see emergency services 

personnel come together 

in person to support such a 

worthwhile cause. 

“Our members are 

enthusiastic participants of 

this event and it’s great to see 

their contributions make a 

difference by raising money 

and awareness for mental 

health programs and cancer 

research,” he said. 

Firefighters and emergency 

personnel from all over 

Australia flocked to 

Melbourne to be part of the 

stair climb. 

CFA firefighters climbed 

alongside members from 

FRV, FFMVic, Victoria 

Police, VICSES, Ambulance 

Victoria and members from 

Tasmania, New South Wales, 

South Australia and New 

Zealand. 

Since the Melbourne 

Firefighter Stair Climb 

Challenge began in 2014, 

the event has raised 

more than $3.5 million, 

benefitting charities and 

organisations such as Alfred 

Hospital Burns Unit, Peter 

MacCallum Cancer Centre, 

Murdoch Children’s Research 

Institute, Lifeline, Black 

Dog Institute, Emergency 

Services Foundation and 

000Foundation. 

People can still donate 

and learn more about the 

Melbourne Firefighter 

Stair Climb online at www. 

firefighterclimb.org.au. 

CFA Media 

Greenvale FF Simon White, who made his first-ever blood donation as part of 

the ES Blood Challenge. 

CFA proudly achieved third 

place overall in this year’s 

Emergency Services Blood 

Challenge, behind NSW and 

Victoria Police. 

Team CFA saved around 3000 

lives by making more than 

1000 donations. 

The overall contribution by CFA 

members included around 600 

plasma, 390 whole blood and 

15 platelet donations between 

1 June to 31 August. 

The drive encouraged 

emergency service members 

to make a significant 

contribution to those in need 

by donating blood and plasma. 

Greenvale firefighter Simon 

White made his first-ever 

blood donation during this 

year’s challenge. 

“I’ve been wanting to do it for 

a while and being from the UK 

during the outbreak of mad 

cow disease prevented me for 

many years,” he said. 

“This year, they lifted the 

restriction and I was excited to 

help out. 

“If you’ve got an opportunity 

to help someone else, such as 

donating blood, then for me 

it’s a no-brainer.” 

CFA Chief Officer Jason 

Heffernan, who personally 

made a donation this year, 

said members should be 

proud of the contribution 

they’ve made and the positive 

impact it’s had on those in 

need of blood. 

“Our members really get 

behind initiatives that benefit 

the community and this is no 

exception,” he said. 

“While the blood drive has 

concluded this year, I hope 

many of our members can 

keep up these good habits and 

continue donating blood, if 

they can.” 

For more information about 

the Emergency Services Blood 

Challenge and how to make a 

blood donation yourself, visit 

the Lifeblood website at www. 

lifeblood.com.au. 

CFA Media 


Seasonal Bushfire Outlook - Spring 2023 

AFAC, the National Council for 

fire and emergency services, has 

released the Seasonal Bushfire 

Outlook for Spring 2023. 

The Seasonal Bushfire Outlook 

for spring 2023 serves as a strong 

reminder to communities and 

businesses across the country to 

prepare now. 

Australia’s climate influences have 

shifted significantly since last 

spring. Following above average 

rainfall experienced during 

consecutive La Niña years, the 

Bureau of Meteorology predicts a 

switch to higher chances of above 

average temperatures and below 

average rainfall for almost the 

entire country. 

Recent rainfall means many 

regions have also seen increased 

fuel growth, which is contributing 

to increased risk of bushfire for 

many regions of Australia during 

the spring season. 

For spring 2023, increased risk 

of bushfire has been identified 

for large areas of the Northern 

Territory, Queensland and New 

South Wales, as well as regions in 

Victoria and South Australia. 

AFAC CEO Rob Webb said ‘The 

climate influences driving 

increased risk of bushfire this 

season are widespread. Almost 

the entire country can expect 

drier and warmer conditions 

than normal this spring, so it is 

important for Australians be alert 

to local risks of bushfire over the 

coming months, regardless of their 

location.’ 

‘Fire is a regular part of the 

Australian landscape in spring. 

Wherever you live, work or travel, 

now is the time to plan and 

prepare. Understand your risk, 

know where you will get your 

information, and talk to your 

family about what you will do.’ 

State and territory fire authorities 

will continue to monitor local 

conditions closely and undertake 

bushfire mitigation activities 

where possible. 

Fire potential can vary greatly, 

even at the smaller scale, 

between bordering states and 

territories. Each state and 

territory’s assessment takes into 

account different land use types 

and vegetation types. This is 

influenced by different forecasts 

for temperature and rainfall over 

these regions. 

The Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for 

spring 2023 is delivered in a new 

format to help communities better 

understand their bushfire risk and 

take appropriate action to prepare 

to protect people and property. 

Key changes include a simplified 

one-level framework and more 

targeted information, including 

jurisdictional maps, place names, 

and links to relevant fire authority 

websites. 

Mr Webb said ‘The updated format 

of the Seasonal Bushfire Outlook 

is informed by the expertise of 

fire authorities across Australia 

and the Bureau of Meteorology. 

Fire agencies are now able to 

share more relevant and targeted 

information with communities to 

empower them to be safer and 

more prepared for this upcoming 

season.’ 

This Seasonal Outlook was 

developed by AFAC, the Bureau of 

Meteorology, Queensland Fire and 

Emergency Services, the NSW Rural 

Fire Service, ACT Emergency Services 

Agency, ACT Parks and Conservation 

Service, Country Fire Authority, 

Department of Energy, Environment 

and Climate Action Victoria, 

Tasmania Fire Service, SA Country 

Fire Service, Department of Fire and 

Emergency Services and Department 

of Biodiversity, Conservation and 

Attractions WA, and Bushfires NT. 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 

SEASONAL BUSHFIRE OUTLOOK 

SPRING 2023

Maui wildfires: Extra logistical 

challenges hinder government’s initial 

response when disasters strike islands 

Ivis García 

Associate Professor of Landscape 

Architecture and Urban Planning, 

Texas A&M University

Wildfires destroyed the Hawaiian tourist town of Lahaina 

on Aug. 8 and 9, 2023, leaving many of its roughly 13,000 

residents homeless. Fires also burned in other areas on Maui, 

Hawaii’s second-largest island, and its Big Island. President 

Joe Biden issued a disaster declaration on Aug. 10, which 

authorizes federal aid for communities in harm’s way. 

The Conversation asked Ivis García, an urban planner who has 

researched disaster recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, to explain 

how the U.S. government responds to disasters like these and 

how Maui’s geography could interfere with aid delivery.

Is it harder for aid to reach an island 

than the US mainland? 

The Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, which delivers emergency 

assistance after disasters, has to deal 

with big transportation challenges in 

cases like this. Initially, FEMA will be 

focused on bringing food, generators, 

cots, meals and anything else people 

need, and that aid will be arriving on 

planes and boats rather than by road. 

Later, FEMA might bring temporary 

homes – often called trailers – but 

only if there’s enough suitable land 

to accommodate them. There were 

not a lot of FEMA-supplied trailers 

in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria 

struck in 2017. On islands, like Maui, 

there’s usually not a lot of room to 

set up trailer parks, whether or not a 

disaster has just occurred. 

Likewise, it will be harder to deploy 

emergency personnel. Aid workers 

will have more trouble getting to 

Maui than they would have arriving 

in North Carolina, for example. And 

there could be few places for them to 

stay. It’s not clear if that’s going to be 

a problem on Maui, where there were 

about 26,000 hotel rooms before the 

wildfires broke out. 

Everything about the immediate 

response to a disaster in places 

like Hawaii and Puerto Rico is more 

expensive than on the mainland. 

That includes food, shelter and 

transportation. You can’t just drive 

there or go rent a car when you 

arrive. There’s typically little public 

transportation available, and there 

are few roads even if an aid worker 

can obtain a vehicle. 

When aid does arrive by boat, 

unloading it can be hard and take 

a long time. The disaster may have 

damaged the local harbors and ports, 

and the harbors in places like Lahaina 

are usually small and not suited 

for cargo. Reports don’t indicate 

that Kahului, Maui’s cargo port, was 

damaged. 

Hawaii is closer to California than 

Japan but thousands of miles away 

from both places. Because of U.S. 

laws, all government-paid assistance 

needs to originate in the United 

States. The same is largely true as 

well for private aid because of the 

Jones Act, a 1920 law that requires 

goods shipped between U.S. ports to 

be transported by vessels that belong 

to Americans and are primarily U.S.- 

operated. 

The government has the power to 

issue a waiver of the Jones Act during 

disasters. Former President Donald 

Trump issued, a 10-day waiver after 

Hurricane Maria. 

Some members of Congress have 

sought for years to repeal the Jones 

Act, at least for shipping to remote 

places like Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and 

Puerto Rico, without success. 

What can Maui residents expect 

from FEMA? 

Residents of a disaster area may 

qualify for FEMA’s critical needs 

assistance – one-time payment that 

in recent disasters has been for $700. 

On top of emergency aid, food and 

clothing, FEMA will help residents 

apply for housing aid as needed. 

FEMA’s housing aid rarely exceeds 

$35,000; other government agencies 

sometimes provide further funding. 

FEMA usually sets up an assistance 

center for this, often in coordination 

with local nonprofits. This process 

could take several months to get 

underway, and FEMA also accepts 

online applications from individuals. 

In the meantime, displaced residents 

may get money or vouchers to cover 

short-term hotel stays. 

Lodging costs are very high on Maui, 

even in normal circumstances. So it’s 

likely that many local residents will 

find it nearly impossible to cover their 

short-term housing costs with their 

FEMA assistance. That means large 

numbers of displaced people are 

likely to relocate to another Hawaiian 

island or another state with cheaper 

housing and hotels. Most likely, many 

of them won’t return. 

That’s what happened in Puerto Rico 

after Hurricane Maria. 

Researchers have estimated that 

of the nearly 400,000 people who 

left in 2017 and 2018 after Maria, 

maybe 50,000 had returned by 2019. 

It’s worth noting that regardless 

of whether one resides in Maui 

or elsewhere, FEMA only provides 

housing support for up to 18 months. 

Residents at that point might be 

making their own houses habitable 

again. Often, nonprofits pitch in 

with this work. If residents were 

homeowners, rather than renters, 

and had insurance, they’ll eventually 

get money from their policies to 

rebuild or, depending on state laws, 

relocate. 

FEMA’s housing aid primarily benefits 

homeowners, and there’s evidence 

that low-income people can struggle 

to get the housing help they need 

from the agency. Renters sometimes 

qualify for FEMA grants to cover 

losses not insured by an insurance 

policy, such as furniture and other 

personal belongings. 

Renters, business owners, nonprofits 

and homeowners located in disaster 

areas can also apply for Small 

Business Administration disaster 

loans. 

What about tourism? 

There were many tourists in Puerto 

Rico who got stranded after Maria. 

Their hotels were damaged, and 

they were evacuated, along with 

local residents, to shelters. That’s 

happening in Hawaii now, with the 

wildfires. 

Once those tourists leave, the hotels 

damaged by wildfire will need to 

rebuild before the local tourism 

industry can recover. Many of the 

people who work in smaller tourism 

operations will be busy building their 

own homes before they can focus 

again on restoring their businesses. 

Larger hotels that were damaged, 

such as the historic Best Western 

Pioneer Inn, will probably wait for 

their insurance policies to pay out 

before rebuilding. 

In Puerto Rico, which like Hawaii 

depends heavily on the revenue it 

gets as a popular travel destination, 

it took at least two years for tourism 

to bounce back because the island’s 

recovery was so slow and complex. 

This article was first published on The 

Conversation 

11 


Maui wildfires: 

‘Australia is sleepwalking’ 

a bushfire scientist explains what 

the Hawaii tragedy means for our 

flammable continent 

David Bowman 

Professor of Pyrogeography 

and Fire Science, 

University of Tasmania

As I heard reports of the fire tearing 

through the Hawaiian island of Maui, 

I felt utterly depressed. As a fire 

scientist, I know the unfolding horror 

– which has killed 93 people so far – 

is just the beginning. It’s a portent of 

what Australia and other countries 

will experience in a warmer world. 

For Australians, the reports 

inevitably bring back memories of 

our awful Black Summer in 2019-20. 

Like the Maui tragedy, those huge, 

uncontrollable bushfires were a 

terrifying glimpse of the intense fires 

we can expect as climate change 

worsens. 

Global warming – the result of fossil 

fuel burning – means bushfires 

will become more frequent and 

severe. Of course, we must reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions. That is 

blindingly obvious. 

But we must do more than that. 

Australians must urgently adapt to 

our fiery future. 

Record-breaking heat and fires 

The Maui fires have been fuelled by 

strong winds, dry vegetation and low 

humidity. People were forced to run 

into the ocean for safety. Hundreds 

of structures have been damaged or 

ruined and many people are injured. 

Hawaii is not the only part of the 

northern hemisphere being ravaged 

by fire. 

In recent weeks, wildfires have 

ripped through through Canada, 

Greece, Spain, Portugal and 

elsewhere. At one point, 1,000 fires 

were burning in Canada alone. 

The fires have in part been fuelled 

Wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, seen from infrared satellite at approximately 10:25 PM - NASA - NASA Earth Observatory 

by record-high temperatures. In 

July, temperatures reached 53.3° at 

California’s Death Valley. In fact, July 

was Earth’s hottest month on record. 

The southern hemisphere is 

also experiencing highly unusual 

conditions. Antarctica is struggling to 

freeze over; it’s reportedly missing a 

chunk of ice bigger than Greenland. 

And Australia is experiencing an 

unseasonably warm winter. The 

country looks set for a hot, dry, El 

Nino-fuelled summer, putting fire 

crews on high alert. 

Australians must heed the warnings 

Australia, too, is fast becoming a 

continent of more uncontrolled fire. 

Let’s compare the period of 1988 to 

2001, with the period 2002 to 2018. 

In Australian forests, the average 

annual burned area in the second 

period was 350% greater than in the 

first. If we include 2019 – the year 

the Black Summer fires began – the 

increase rises to 800%. 

The Black Summer fires were started 

by lightning and human activity. They 

were fuelled by extreme heat, record 

low rainfall and widespread dieback 

of vegetation. It meant the fires 

burned at unprecedented intensity. 

The Black Summer fires burned 

more than 24 million hectares 

nationally. Some 33 people were 

killed by the fires, more than 429 

died from smoke-related effects, 

and more than 3,000 homes were 

destroyed. 

The drying and warming that drove 

the Black Summer fires are linked 

to human-caused climate change. 

These changes are resulting in 

longer fire seasons and extended 

periods of drought. 

As I watch the fires blazing in Hawaii, 

I’m constantly asking myself: when 

will Australians – who live on one of 

the most fire-prone continents on 

Earth – get a grip on this escalating 

global problem? How many more 

warning signs do we need? 

What must be done 

When the bushfire royal commission 

handed down its report in October

Australian Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-20 

2020, I described it as a “clarion call 

for change”. Finally, Australia had a 

map for its journey toward adapting 

to fires and other natural disasters. 

The scope of the commission’s 

recommendations was vast. For 

governments alone, it called for 

changes across land-use planning, 

infrastructure, emergency 

management, social policy, 

agriculture, education, physical 

and mental health, community 

development, energy and the 

environment. 

The commission also called for 

an acknowledgement of the role 

of Indigenous fire managers in 

mitigating bushfire risks. 

Almost three years on, we haven’t 

seen the changes needed. We’re 

behaving as if we’ve got an endless 

amount of time. Australia is 

sleepwalking into our fiery future. 

The pandemic shows humans are 

amazingly adaptable. We used an 

integrated approach to mitigate and 

adapt to that threat. We need an 

equivalent response to adapt to fire 

and climate change – but it’s just not 

happening. 

There is much Australia can do to 

adapt to fire. We can improve our 

urban planning regimes and building 

standards. We can better manage 

fuel loads in our forests. We can 

increase our firefighting capacity 

and get much better at bushfire 

preparation and early warning 

systems. 

And importantly, we should draw 

on Indigenous knowledge and the 

expertise of Aboriginal communities. 

These approaches could prove vital 

not only managing extreme fires in 

Australia, but elsewhere in the world. 

Looking ahead 

One thing Australians can all 

agree on is that we don’t want 

catastrophically uncontrolled fires. 

As our Black Summer showed, these 

fires not only destroy lives, homes 

and biodiversity. They actually 

threaten the Earth’s systems. Black 

Summer pumped huge amounts 

of carbon into the atmosphere. It 

depleted the ozone layer. It created 

an algal bloom in the Southern 

Ocean bigger than the Australian 

continent. 

It’s vital that we slash greenhouse 

gas emissions as quickly as possible, 

to stabilise Earth’s climate. But that’s 

not sufficient. Australians have to 

adapt to fire, too. 

The fires in Hawaii remind 

Australians that our summer is just 

around the corner. We don’t have 

much time. 


Conversation 


FLOOD THREATENED COMMUNITIES 

STRENTHENED BY THEIR 

COLLECTIVE INSIGHTS 

The experiences of people affected 

by the extreme floods in New 

South Wales and Queensland in 

2022 are providing vital insights on 

preparedness, response and the 

early stages of recovery to help 

reduce future flood risk. 

Findings from independent research 

conducted by Natural Hazards 

Research Australia in partnership 

with Macquarie University, the 

University of Southern Queensland 

and the Queensland University of 

Technology were released today 

at the Natural Hazards Research 

Forum in the report, Community 

experiences of the January – July 

2022 floods in New South Wales 

and Queensland. 

A total of 192 flood-impacted 

residents (100 in New South 

Wales/92 in Queensland) were 

interviewed using an approach 

that invited residents to share their 

flood story. A further 430 residents 

participated in an online survey. 

Lead researcher and occupational 

psychologist A/Prof Mel Taylor 

from Macquarie University said 

the personal experiences of those 

impacted by the floods are captured 

by the research. 

“Each person’s experience is 

unique and the power of this 

research is that it captures the lived 

experiences – before the floods,

during the floods, and the early 

recovery stage – of so many people 

who have been through some of 

the worst flooding on record in 

Australia, and some people multiple 

times,” A/Prof Taylor said. 

“What we found is that there are 

big picture issues that affect how 

people were impacted by the 

floods – community connection 

and communication, local capacity 

for action, flexibility in disaster 

adaptation and personal control 

over decision making. If we can 

make change in these areas we 

can improve not just disaster 

preparedness, response and 

recovery, but capacity for managing 

any kind of adversity.” 

The research report provides vital 

context that will assist emergency 

management organisations, 

government departments, local 

councils, community organisations 

and community members in better 

understanding the complexities 

of community experiences before, 

during and after severe weather. 

The results of the research will 

be used to inform strategies 

to improve flood safety across 

Australia explained Andrew Gissing, 

CEO of Natural Hazards Research 

Australia. 

“There are always lessons to be

learnt from each and every natural hazard. The insights 

from this research apply right across Australia and show 

the complexity in which people experience a natural 

hazard, in this case flood. There is no one definitive flood 

experience but we can make change to improve the 

outcome when it starts raining. The detailed knowledge 

available from this research will inform insights nationwide 

and shape the future we need as we work towards making 

communities safer from the severe weather we know will 

worsen,” Gissing explained. 

The full research report and a summary report can be 

both be found at naturalhazards.com.au/floods2022 

The report identifies themes from the community 

interviews and surveys, including the accuracy of flood 

data, the inclusion of local knowledge, the need for timely 

official information, the sense of being forgotten, the 

changing role of community responders, and the impacts 

of planning decisions and infrastructure maintenance. 

Respondents reported a range of challenges arising 

from the large-scale clean-up, insurance claims, the 

bureaucracy of financial support, temporary housing, 

and the longer-term struggles with ’community recovery 

fatigue’. 

The researchers investigated the levels of preparedness 

and the role of prior flooding experience to identify why 

some residents were more prepared than others and 

what actions they had taken. Residents were also asked 

what actions they took in the lead up to and during the 

floods, and the challenges they faced. 

The researchers also asked how residents received 

information and who they trusted for information. They 

looked at the types of housing impacted, their pre-flood 

modifications and the challenges posed in reconstruction 

under the threat of future floods. They assessed the 

residents’ satisfaction with the support provided by 

external organisations and the community. 

There are four broad challenge areas identified by the 

research. These are: 

• the gradual erosion of trust 

• the need to embrace self-activating communities and 

integrate community into all phases of disaster 

• managing the long-term psychological impacts of an 

increasingly complex disaster landscape 

• the need to see disaster support as part of a holistic 

person-centred approach. 

NSW State Emergency Service Commissioner Carlene York 

APM said the research provides a wealth of data following 

several years of severe to catastrophic flooding. 

“We have seen significant impacts on communities, many 

of which still have a long period of recovery ahead and 

are at risk of future flood events. This research is vital to 

address gaps and improve community preparedness and 

safety,” Commissioner York said. 

Watch A/Prof Mel Taylor briefly explain four findings in this short video: 

YouTube:Natural Hazards Research Australia 

improve community safety before and during disasters, 

and to recover afterwards. The important insights 

gained through this research project will inform future 

preparedness, response and recovery work undertaken 

by the NSW SES.” 

A/Commissioner Mike Wassing of the Queensland 

Fire and Emergency Services said accurately gauging, 

considering and applying community experience and 

perspective is an important part of contemporary 

emergency service agencies and the services they deliver. 

“This research demonstrates that community members 

directly impacted by the 2022 rainfall and flood events 

have valuable insights that they are willing to share, 

together with an optimism that lessons learned from 

their tragedy can genuinely contribute to the evolution of 

prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery policy. 

QFES looks forward to seeing the uptake and application 

of these important findings and to expanding research 

partnerships on further community-focused topics.” 

This research was funded by Natural Hazards Research 

Australia with the support of the NSW State Emergency 

Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services. The 

research team consisted of A/Prof Mel Taylor (Macquarie 

University), A/Prof Fiona Miller (Macquarie University), Prof 

Kim Johnston (Queensland University of Technology), A/ 

Prof Anne Lane (Queensland University of Technology), 

Dr Barbara Ryan (University of Southern Queensland), A/ 

Prof Rachel King (University of Southern Queensland), 

Dr Harriet Narwal (Macquarie University), Madeleine 

Miller (Macquarie University), Dipika Dabas (University 

of Southern Queensland) and Helga Simon (Macquarie 

University). 

The research report and a summary report can be both 

be found at naturalhazards.com.au/floods2022 

Nathan Maddock 

Natural Hazards Research Australia 

“It is through learning from community experiences and 

working together that we grow our collective capability to 

17 


Lets Talk 

Mental Health 

NOT ALL MENTAL HEALTH APPS ARE HELPFUL. 

EXPERTS EXPLAIN THE RISKS, AND HOW TO CHOOSE ONE WISELY 

There are thousands of mental health apps available on 

the app market, offering services including meditation, 

mood tracking and counselling, among others. You would 

think such “health” and “wellbeing” apps – which often 

present as solutions for conditions such as anxiety and 

sleeplessness – would have been rigorously tested and 

verified. But this isn’t necessarily the case. 

In fact, many may be taking your money and data in 

return for a service that does nothing for your mental 

health – at least, not in a way that’s backed by scientific 

evidence. 

Bringing AI to mental health apps 

Although some mental health apps connect users with 

a registered therapist, most provide a fully automated 

service that bypasses the human element. This means 

they’re not subject to the same standards of care 

and confidentiality as a registered mental health 

professional. Some aren’t even designed by mental health 

professionals. 

These apps also increasingly claim to be incorporating 

artificial intelligence into their design to make

personalised recommendations (such as for meditation 

or mindfulness) to users. However, they give little detail 

about this process. It’s possible the recommendations are 

based on a user’s previous activities, similar to Netflix’s 

recommendation algorithm. 

Some apps such as Wysa, Youper and Woebot use AIdriven 

chatbots to deliver support, or even established 

therapeutic interventions such as cognitive behavioural 

therapy. But these apps usually don’t reveal what kinds of 

algorithms they use. 

It’s likely most of these AI chatbots use rules-based 

systems that respond to users in accordance with 

predetermined rules (rather than learning on the go as 

adaptive models do). These rules would ideally prevent 

the unexpected (and often harmful and inappropriate) 

outputs AI chatbots have become known for – but there’s 

no guarantee. 

The use of AI in this context comes with risks of biased, 

discriminatory or completely inapplicable information 

being provided to users. And these risks haven’t been 

adequately investigated. 

Misleading marketing and a lack of supporting evidence 

Mental health apps might be able to provide certain 

benefits to users if they are well designed and properly 

vetted and deployed. But even then they can’t be 

considered a substitute for professional therapy targeted 

towards conditions such as anxiety or depression. 

The clinical value of automated mental health and 

mindfulness apps is still being assessed. Evidence of their 

efficacy is generally lacking. 

Some apps make ambitious claims regarding their 

effectiveness and refer to studies that supposedly 

support their benefits. In many cases these claims are 

based on less-than-robust findings. For instance, they may 

be based on: 

• user testimonials 

• short-term studies with narrow or homogeneous 

cohorts 

• studies involving researchers or funding from the 

very group promoting the app 

• or evidence of the benefits of a practice delivered 

face to face (rather than via an app). 

Moreover, any claims about reducing symptoms of poor 

mental health aren’t carried through in contract terms. 

The fine print will typically state the app does not claim to 

provide any physical, therapeutic or medical benefit (along 

with a host of other disclaimers). In other words, it isn’t 

obliged to successfully provide the service it promotes. 

For some users, mental health apps may even cause 

harm, and lead to increases in the very symptoms people 

so often use them to address. The may happen, in part, as 

a result of creating more awareness of problems, without 

providing the tools needed to address them. 

In the case of most mental health apps, research on 

their effectiveness won’t have considered individual 

differences such as socioeconomic status, age and other 

factors that can influence engagement. Most apps also 

will not indicate whether they’re an inclusive space 

for marginalised people, such as those from culturally 

and linguistically diverse, LGBTQ+ or neurodiverse 

communities. 

Inadequate privacy protections 

Mental health apps are subject to standard consumer 

protection and privacy laws. While data protection 

and cybersecurity practices vary between apps, an 

investigation by research foundation Mozilla concluded 

that most rank poorly. 

For example, the mindfulness app Headspace collects 

data about users from a range of sources, and uses 

those data to advertise to users. Chatbot-based apps 

also commonly repurpose conversations to predict 

users’ moods, and use anonymised user data to train 

the language models underpinning the bots. 

Many apps share so-called anonymised data with third 

parties, such as employers, that sponsor their use. 

Re-identification of these data can be relatively easy in 

some cases. 

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) 

doesn’t require most mental health and wellbeing 

apps to go through the same testing and monitoring as 

other medical products. In most cases, they are lightly 

regulated as health and lifestyle products or tools for 

managing mental health that are excluded from TGA 

regulations (provided they meet certain criteria). 

How can you choose an app? 

Although consumers can access third-party rankings for 

various mental health apps, these often focus on just 

a few elements, such as usability or privacy. Different 

guides may also be inconsistent with each other. 

Nonetheless, there are some steps you can take 

to figure out whether a particular mental health or 

mindfulness app might be useful for you. 

• consult your doctor, as they may have a better 

understanding of the efficacy of particular apps 

and/or how they might benefit you as an individual 

• check whether a mental health professional or 

trusted institution was involved in developing the 

app 

• check if the app has been rated by a third party, 

and compare different ratings 

• make use of free trials, but be careful of them 

shifting to paid subscriptions, and be wary about 

trials that require payment information upfront 

• stop using the app if you experience any adverse 

effects. 

Overall, and most importantly, remember that an 

app is never a substitute for real help from a human 

professional.

Surf group found safe after days at sea in Indonesia. 

A sea survival expert on what it 

takes to survive being lost at sea 

News that four Australians 

and two Indonesian crew 

members have been 

found alive after going 

missing on Sunday from 

a boat trip off the coast 

of Aceh in Indonesia has 

made headlines around 

the world. 

The group, which was on 

a surfing trip, was found 

“bobbing around on their 

surfboards”, according 

to media reports quoting 

the father of one of the 

Australian surfers. 

Our research in the 

Extreme Environments 

Laboratory at the 

University of Portsmouth 

focuses on how humans 

survive and respond to 

adverse environments. 

So what does it take to 

survive such gruelling 

conditions? 

A HIERARCHY OF 

SURVIVAL 

There is an established 

hierarchy of survival. 

Without air you only 

survive for a matter 

of minutes. Without 

sufficient warmth you

only survive hours. Without 

sufficient drinking water 

you can survive up to six or 

seven days in a maritime 

environment. Without food you 

can survive 40–60 days. 

So, those who survive more 

than a few hours are almost 

always in warm air or water. 

Because you can eventually 

cool even in water that is 

relatively warm, you are better 

off out of the water than in it. 

Being on top of a surfboard is a 

step in the right direction. 

DEALING WITH DEHYDRATION 

When the water and air are 

warm, the primary problem is 

dehydration. 

Death due to dehydration 

occurs when you lose about 

15–20% of your body weight in 

fluid. 

Even at 5% dehydration you 

can get headaches, become 

irritable and feel lightheaded. 

At 10% you may be dizzy, 

feel faint, have a rapid pulse 

and rapid shallow breathing. 

Thereafter, hallucinations and 

delirium are common. 

To survive longer than six or 

seven days, when dehydration 

is your major threat, you must 

do two important things. 

First, try to find fresh water. The 

absolute minimum you need 

to find is 110–220 millilitres a 

day, although 400mL per day 

is safer. 

If you were prepared, you may 

have taken water with you as 

you embarked on your survival 

voyage. 

If you are lucky, it might rain 

and you may be able to collect 

some rainwater in suitable, 

uncontaminated containers. 

Surfers are unlikely to have 

devices such as a solar still 

or a reverse osmosis pump 

available to purify water for 

safe drinking. But other sources 

of useful fluids include fish 

“lymph” squeezed from the 

flesh of fish. This has about 

the same salt concentration 

as human body fluid (0.9%), 

so is only helpful if you are 

very dehydrated. 

Fish eyes, spinal fluid and 

turtle blood can also help 

when desperate. 

What you must not do, 

despite what becomes an 

overwhelming urge, is drink 

the seawater that surrounds 

you. 

Seawater has an average salt 

concentration of 3.5%, so 

drinking it adds to the salt 

load of the body. 

You should also not drink 

urine in this situation, 

because it will also contribute 

to salt building up in your 

body. 

CONSERVING FLUIDS 

The second important factor 

is to conserve body fluid. 

The body of a 75kg person 

contains nearly 50 litres 

of water, and in a survival 

situation where dehydration 

is your greatest threat, 

conserving this water is 

crucial. 

The body helps. With a body 

fluid loss of 1% of body 

weight and consequent 

decrease in blood volume 

and increase in salt 

concentration, the body 

increases the production of 

the anti-diuretic hormone 

that lowers urine production 

by the kidneys. 

You can provoke this 

response by drinking nothing 

in the first 24 hours of a 

survival voyage. 

At the same time, it is 

important to do as little as 

possible. Try to minimise 

heat production by the 

body, which will mean less 

sweating. 

So “bobbing around” on a 

surfboard is better than 

paddling it and getting hot 

and sweaty. 

Normally, you would seek 

or make shade on your 

survival craft and rest during 

the hottest parts of the 

day. This is not possible on 

a surfboard, but periodic 

wetting from waves may keep 

you cool and help reduce 

sunburn (which can impair 

your ability to control your 

body temperature) by cooling 

the skin and covering it 

periodically. 

The longer-term challenge 

is starvation – but this is a 

less pressing problem than 

dehydration. 

STAYING CALM IN A CRISIS 

Survival at sea depends on 

knowing how your body 

works and what it needs, and 

then doing the right things. 

Experience helps. Being used 

to the sea means you remain 

more relaxed in a crisis and 

are less likely to become 

seasick (which can accelerate 

dehydration, impair body 

temperature regulation and 

destroy morale). 

Being with others helps 

morale and decision-making. 

Young and fit people, such 

as many surfers, are less 

likely to have other healthrelated 

problems that may 

compromise their survival 

prospects. 

Mike Tipton 

Professor of Human and 

Applied Physiology, 

University of Portsmouth 


Conversation 


‘Care’ economy to balloon in an 

Australia of 40.5 million: 

Intergenerational Report 

Michelle Grattan 

Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra 

Australia’s care economy could 

increase from its present about 8% 

of GDP to about 15% in 40 years, 

according to the government’s 

Intergenerational Report, to be 

released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers 

on Thursday. 

The projections say in four decades’ 

time Australians will be living longer, 

with more years in good health - but 

the larger cohort of aged people will 

increase the need for care. 

By 2062-63, life expectancy for men 

is projected to be 87 years (currently 

81.3), and for women 89.5 (85.2). 

Australia’s population is expected to 

grow at a slower rate in the coming 

four decades than in any 40 year 

period since federation, according to 

the report, prepared by the federal 

treasury. By 2062-63 Australia would 

have a population of 40.5 million. 

The Intergenerational Report puts 

a long lens on the nation’s future, 

looking at the implications of 

demographic changes and covering 

a broad range of economic and 

social areas. The first report was 

done under the Howard government 

and the most recent in 2021. While 

these reports are important for 

policy makers in identifying trends 

and signposting looming problems, 

they are also limited by the extended 

time frame and the inevitability of 

changing circumstances and different 

policies. 

This year’s report again highlights 

the economic and budgetary issues 

presented by an ageing population. 

The combination of increased 

longevity and low fertility means 

Australia will continue to age over the 

next four decades. “The number of 

people aged 65 and over will more 

than double and the number aged 

85 and over will more than triple,” 

the report says. This will make for 

“an ongoing economic and fiscal 

challenge”. 

“The average annual population 

growth rate is projected to slow 

to 1.1% over the next 40 years, 

compared to 1.4% for the past 40 

years,” the report says. “Australia’s 

population is projected to reach 40.5 

million in 2062–63.” 

Present projections are for the 

number of health care and social 

assistance workers to increase by 

15.8% from 2021 to 2026. The former 

National Skills Commission projected 

the demand for aged care workers 

alone was expected to double by 

2050. 

Chalmers said the report showed 

growth in the care economy “is set to 

be one of the most prominent shifts 

in our society” over the period, with 

the care sectors playing a bigger role 

in driving growth. 

“Whether it’s health care, aged 

care, disabilities or early childhood 

education – we’ll need more welltrained 

workers to meet the growing 

demand for quality care over the next 

40 years. The care sector is where the 

lion’s share of opportunities in our 

economy will be created,” he said. 

The report projects population 

growth to fall to 0.8% in 2062–63. 

Both migration and natural increase 

are expected to fall relative to the 

size of the population. Net migration 

is assumed at 235,000 a year. 

“The 2023–24 Budget forecast that 

net overseas migration will recover in 

the near term due to the temporary 

catch‐up from the pandemic. It is 

expected to largely return to normal 

patterns from 2024-25. Even with 

the near‐term recovery, on current 

forecasts, cumulative net overseas

migration would not catch up to pre‐pandemic levels until 

2029-30,” the report says. 

“Over the next 40 years, net overseas migration is 

expected to account for 0.7 percentage points of 

Australia’s average annual population growth, falling 

from 1.0 percentage points in 2024–25 to 0.6 percentage 

points by 2062–63.” 

On budgetary pressures, the report follows a familiar 

theme. “The main five long‐term spending pressures are 

health and aged care, the NDIS, defence, and interest 

payments on Government debt. Combined, these 

spending categories are projected to increase by 5.6 

percentage points of GDP over the 40 years from 2022– 

23 to 2062–63.” 

On the crucial issue of productivity, which has languished 

for years, the report downgrades the assumption for 

productivity growth “from its 30-year average of around 

1.5% to the recent 20-year average of around 1.2%. 

“Placing more weight on recent history better reflects 

headwinds to productivity growth, such as continued 

structural change towards service industries, the costs 

of climate change, and diminishing returns from past 

reforms. This downgrade is consistent with forecasts in 

other advanced economies.” 

The report points to areas where there are opportunities 

to lift productivity growth. 

These include reforms to reduce entry and exist 

barriers for firms, facilitating the diffusion of technology, 

and encouraging labour mobility. It also highlights 

the potential of digital innovations, including artificial 

intelligence. 

On human capital, the report says, “The jobs of the future 

will require increasingly specialised skillsets and there 

is potential to support Australians at all stages of their 

human capital development. Promotion of foundational 

skills – such as in literacy and numeracy – at an early age 

will facilitate participation in the expanding knowledge 

economy over the next 40 years.” 

Chalmers said the report “will make the critical point that 

the trajectory or productivity growth in the future is not 

a foregone conclusion, and it will depend on how we 

respond to the big shifts impacting our economy”. 

Meanwhile the Business Council of Australia is unveiling 

a reform plan, titled Seize the Moment, for ways to 

reverse Australia’s “productivity slump” and boost 

competitiveness. It claims if implemented the reform 

package would “leave each Australian $7000 better off a 

year after a decade”. 

Among its multiple proposals, the BCA says there should 

be “broad-based reform of the tax system to minimise 

distortions and increase incentives to invest, innovate and 

hire”. 

It also says federal and state governments should commit 

to a “10-year national net zero roadmap based on a 

whole-of-system approach to decarbonising the economy 

to 2050”. It calls for more action to increase women’s 

economic participation, a more flexible industrial relations 

system, “a coherent system of lifelong learning”, and an 

agenda for microeconomic reform. 

This article was first published on The Conversation 

25 


A gift for living 

If you’re aged 50-74 you’ll be sent a free bowel cancer screening kit. The kit is simple to use and 

can detect bowel cancer before any symptoms appear. Around 80 Australians die of bowel cancer 

every week, but if detected early, up to 90% of cases can be successfully treated. So be sure to 

complete and return your kit. It’s a gift that could save your life. If you’re over 74 talk to your GP. 

By 2020 people aged 50-74 will receive a kit every two years. 

australia.gov.au/bowelscreening 

1800 11 88 68 

Authorised by the Australian Government, Capital Hill, Canberra.

Right now, people in coastal China 

are fleeing successive typhoons. 

Parts of the Philippines are awash. 

Typhoons are intense circular 

storms, which Australians know as 

tropical cyclones and Americans call 

hurricanes. Damage from cyclones 

has increased sevenfold since 

the 1980s, even as death tolls fell 

dramatically. In the 2010s, tropical 

cyclones did A$872 billion worth of 

damage globally. 

Why? Our world has more heat in 

the oceans and atmosphere, which 

can supercharge cyclones. A cyclone 

is a heat engine, transferring heat 

from warm ocean water up into 

colder layers of the atmosphere. 

More heat in the system means 

more intense heat engines. 

No wonder there’s been 

renewed interest in Cold War era 

experiments in weather control. 

While early efforts had little success, 

our new research evaluates other 

methods of weakening these 

storms by pumping up cold water 

from the depths or spreading 

particles in the lower atmosphere 

to reduce incoming heat and 

encourage early rainfall. But these 

techniques could have unexpected 

– or even dangerous – side effects.

In the future, we could 

snuff out cyclones. 

But weather control 

comes with new risks 

Aaron Tang 

PhD Scholar in Climate Governance, 

Australian National University 

Jack W. Miller 

Research assistant, 


Mark Howden 

Director, 

ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster 

Solutions, 


Roslyn Prinsley 

Head, Disaster Solutions, 


Thao Linh Tran 

Research Fellow, 


This article was first published on The Conversation

Why are researchers even looking into this? 

Tropical cyclones are lethal. In 1970, an enormous cyclone 

struck Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Meteorologists 

knew it was coming, but they had no way to communicate 

to people in its path. The storm killed up to 500,000 

people. 

Since then, we’ve invested in far better early warning 

systems. Deaths have fallen substantially now that people 

have time to evacuate. 

But in developing countries in particular, deaths still 

happen. And then there’s the damage to farms, houses, 

roads and livestock. You may well survive the storm only 

to be forced into poverty. 

Scientists are exploring ways of preventing natural 

disasters, from bushfires to floods to hailstorms. So why 

not cyclones? 

Can we really turn a cyclone into a normal storm? 

It is certainly possible. But it’s not easy. 

In the 1960s, the United States explored the use of cloud 

seeding to stop hurricanes from forming. During Project 

STORMFURY, planes flew high above cyclones out at sea 

and sprayed them with silver iodide, a chemical which 

could encourage water droplets to clump together and fall 

as rain. This, the theory ran, would disrupt the hurricane 

from forming. While some seedings seemed to correlate 

with weaker hurricanes, the link was never adequately 

found and the project was eventually abandoned. 

Instead, researchers are exploring two new options. 

Cyclones need hot sea surfaces to form. If we could cool 

the surface – such as by piping chilled water from depths 

below 200 metres – we could prevent the cyclone from 

ever forming. 

The problem is it’s expensive. Norwegian cyclone-busting 

startup OceanTherm estimates it would cost about A$750 

million to develop the technology, and another $105 

million every year to keep it going. 

29 


And worse, cooling one area of the 

sea does nothing to stop cyclones 

from forming elsewhere. Models 

suggest ocean cooling will, at best, 

have only a limited dampening effect 

on cyclones. 

There’s a more likely option – aerosol 

injection. Scientists already know that 

dust blown from the Sahara into the 

Atlantic reduces cyclone formation. 

We could use planes or drones to 

inject hygroscopic (water-attracting) 

particles into the lower atmosphere, 

where they would reflect and scatter 

sunlight and trigger rainfall and 

energy release. 

This method has a stronger scientific 

pedigree, given it already occurs 

naturally. But we don’t know what 

side-effects it would have and we still 

aren’t sure what happens to energy 

redistributed by the intervention. 

Other research has found aerosols 

could reduce cyclone intensity while 

boosting rainfall on the rotating outer 

edges of cyclones. More intense rain 

could still cause substantial damage. 

As you’d expect, it’s easier and 

more effective to intervene early 

in a cyclone’s life, before too much 

energy builds up. Making the call to 

try to stop a cyclone means taking 

decisions early. That’s a challenge, 

because cyclones can become 

stronger faster in a hotter world. 

Difficult politics, difficult policy 

Cyclone control missions might 

conjure up the image of Hollywood 

action heroes off to save the world. 

Unfortunately, it’s more complicated 

than that. 

Let’s say the Philippine government 

spots a extremely dangerous cyclone 

forming and decides to disrupt it. But 

the heat doesn’t magically go away. 

It just moves. Suddenly, another 

storm reappears, heading straight 

for China, a country you have a testy 

relationship with, and who may blame 

you for weather manipulation. 

Far-fetched? Not at all. When Cuban 

dictator Fidel Castro heard of Project 

STORMFURY, he feared it was an 

attempt to turn the weather into a 

weapon. 

Only three years ago, China’s 

neighbours sounded the alarm 

about the Middle Kingdom’s plans to 

reroute an atmospheric “sky river” to 

dry northern regions. This, according 

to nations like India, could take water 

away from their rivers. 

So who would decide how or when to 

snuff out a cyclone? How would they 

decide? Should private companies be 

allowed to run their own field tests or 

should these large-scale interventions 

be government-only? Who would be 

responsible for any side-effects? 

There are more thorny questions. 

If cyclone control is perfected, what 

would stop a country trying to 

redirect cyclones towards a rival? 

Could cyclone technologies be 

misused, following similar fears with 

large-scale geoengineering? Most 

importantly, are these technological 

risks worth the potentially reduced 

risks of cyclones? 

What’s next? 

We’ll need to find answers for 

questions like these. As cyclones get 

stronger, we will urgently need new 

institutions to help tackle scientific 

uncertainties, develop monitoring 

capabilities and find ways of making 

collaborative decisions at speed. That 

won’t be easy – most international 

agreements move slowly, and most 

don’t meet their intended goals. 

Technologies like particle injection 

are promising, but not ready for 

deployment. As the technology 

matures, so should our institutions. 

It’s why we’re researching the science 

and policy of these interventions. We 

must hash out how and when to use 

technologies like these – before we 

need to respond urgently.

This year marks a significant milestone for women in policing: the 125th 

anniversary of the first official recognition of a police matron in Australia. 

Long before women police officers came 

police ‘matrons’: who were they and 

what did they do? 

Alice Neikirk 

Lecturer, Criminology, 

University of Newcastle 

However, women worked in this role for at least 50 

years before receiving official recognition. 

Known as “police matrons”, these women opened the 

door for other women to move into the police force as 

officers, yet their role is still unrecognised or dismissed 

as an extension of her husband’s policing duties. 

While many Australians will have never heard of them, 

they were trailblazers for women in law enforcement. 

The female touch in policing 

During the Victorian era, it was considered 

inappropriate for men to touch a woman who was not 

their wife or an immediate family member. This made 

men policing women (at least of certain social classes) 

difficult, particularly if they needed to search a female 

suspect. To get around this, police began to call on 

women to search arrestees for them. 

Initially, these might have been whoever was nearby – a 

woman living near the police station, for example. But 

quickly it was recognised that a “female touch” was also 

helpful for comforting lost children, talking to female 

victims of crime, and occasionally soothing an unruly 

male arrestee. Neighbourhood women were not viewed 

as entirely suited for these more complex roles, but the 

wives of police officers were. 

In Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, 

early police stations had both temporary holding cells (a 

lock-up) and a residence for a police officer. The officer 

living on site was frequently married – these women 

became police matrons. 

Police matrons in the Victorian era searched female 

offenders, were responsible for lost or arrested 

children, kept watch over mentally unwell inmates, and 

occasionally allowed families facing violence at home to 

stay in the station. 

They also performed tasks we would not generally 

associate with the work of a police officer. They 

cleaned and maintained the cells, mended clothes, and 

hosted clothing drives for the poor. The police stations 

sometimes doubled as neighbourhood medical centres. 

These were all tasks that fell to the police matron. They 

fit within assumptions of the period regarding the 

natural, nurturing role of women. 

Discrimination leading to innovation 

Because these tasks were viewed as “naturally” 

women’s work, questions regarding compensation 

were skirted. For decades, these were not formal 

appointments. The matrons were not sworn in, they did 

not have access to a police pension, and they did not 

have any authority over male inmates (or male officers). 

A few received a modest stipend based on the number 

of searches they conducted or if they performed 

an extended psychiatric watch. These matrons 

would be on-call 24 hours a day, and diaries kept by 

early matrons show the long hours they kept. Yet 

their activities were viewed as an extension of their 

husband’s role, not requiring separate pay. 

These women did not go on patrol or have powers 

to arrest. But there is evidence that police matrons 

performed tasks that align with current approaches to 

policing. 

For example, a key role of male police in the early 

Victorian era was to prevent crime by being out in the 

community: an officer’s presence alone would often 

deter offending.

Police matrons rarely worked outside of the station, 

but they did get to know the needs of their community 

and tried to identify causes of crime. They became 

advocates, trying to address what they saw as the root 

causes of crime: excessive consumption of alcohol 

leading to the violent breakdown of families. Matrons 

advocated for increased regulation of alcohol and for 

stations to provide sanctuary for domestic violence 

victims. 

Today, these efforts would be understood as forms 

of problem-orientated policing: identifying a problem 

in a community and working with the community to 

devise solutions for the underlying causes of crime. We 

cannot go as far as claiming that police matrons started 

the movement towards problem-orientated policing. 

But we can recognise that they predated today’s “best 

practice in policing” model by roughly 150 years. 

Though we know police matrons were working in this 

field in the mid-1800s, and gained a degree of official 

recognition in the 1890s, it was not until 1915 that the 

New South Wales Police Department advertised two 

positions for women police officers. 

These two positions attracted nearly 500 applications. 

The first two female police officers in NSW were not 

allowed to wear a uniform and had to sign a waiver 

releasing the police department of any responsibility for 

their safety. Their tasks were similar to police matrons 

– they were responsible for women and children that 

came in contact with the criminal justice system. It 

wasn’t until 1979 that female officers in Australia could 

carry a firearm, though they were required to keep it in 

their handbag. 

Today, women make up over 30% of police in 

Australia and have reached the highest ranks as police 

commissioners. Although Australians may not know 

much about the early police matrons, it was they who, 

more than 100 years ago, paved the way for all this to 

happen. 


Watching the burn from the ground with Anangu Luritjiku Ranger Preston Kelly on 

Haasts Bluff Aboriginal Lands Trust. Andre Sawenko, CC BY-ND

Indigenous rangers are burning the 

desert the right way – to stop the 

wrong kind of intense fires from raging 

Rohan Fisher 

Information Technology for Development 

Researcher, Charles Darwin University 

Boyd Elston 

Co-Chairperson of the Indigenous Desert Alliance 

and a Regional Land Management Coordinator at 

the Central Land Council, Indigenous Knowledge

Even though it’s still winter, the 

fire season has already started in 

Australia’s arid centre. About half 

of the Tjoritja West MacDonnell 

National Park west of Alice Springs 

has burnt this year. 

The spread of buffel grass 

(Cenchrus ciliaris) has been seen 

as a key factor. This invasive grass 

has been ranked the highest 

environmental threat to Indigenous 

cultures and communities because 

of the damage it can do to desert 

Country. 

Widespread rains associated with 

the La Niña climate cycle trigger 

a boom in plant growth. When 

the dry times come again, plants 

and grasses dry out and become 

potential fuel for massive desert 

fires. 

These fires often don’t get much 

notice because nearly all Australians 

live near the coast. But they can be 

huge. In 2011, over 400,000 square 

kilometres burnt – about half the 

size of New South Wales. 

After three years of La Niña rains, 

we’re in a similar situation – or 

potentially worse. Fire authorities 

are warning up to 80% of the 

Northern Territory could burn this 

fire season. 

That’s why dozens of Indigenous 

ranger groups across 12 Indigenous 

Protected Areas have been hard 

at work in an unprecedented 

collaboration, burning to reduce 

the fuel load before the summer’s 

Yilka Rangers burning using drip torches. Rohan Carboon/Indigenous Desert Alliance, CC BY-ND 

heat. So far, they’ve burned 23,000 

square kilometres across the Great 

Sandy, Tanami, Gibson and Great 

Victoria Deserts. 

Burning the arid lands 

Australia now has 82 Indigenous 

Protected Areas, covering over 87 

million hectares of land. That’s half 

of the entire reserve of protected 

lands, and they’re growing fast as 

part of efforts to protect 30% of 

Australia’s lands and waters by 

2030. These areas are managed by 

Indigenous groups – and fire is a 

vital part of management. 

The goal is to protect against 

devastating summer bushfires, 

which are more destructive. Without 

Indigenous rangers expertly 

managing the deserts through 

landscape-scale fire management, 

these protected lands would be at 

risk of decline. 

As Braeden Taylor, Karajarri Ranger 

Coordinator, says: 

A big wildfire just destroys 

everything, it destroys Country. The 

first aim is to do a bit of ground 

burning and then aerial burning, 

that way we know everything is 

protected. Using the helicopter and 

plane, we can access Country that’s 

hard to get to in a vehicle. It might 

not have been burnt in a long time 

and we can break it up 

It’s good working with other groups. 

Fires that start on their side might 

come over to us and fires on ours 

might go to them. Working together 

we protect each other, looking after 

neighbours. 

This animation shows landscape burns conducted by Indigenous rangers in the Tanami 

Desert in 2023. North Australia Fire Information, firenorth.org.au. 

So how do the rangers cover such 

distances? These protected areas 

are extremely remote. There is 

often no or very limited road access.

So rangers work from the sky – 

and, where possible, the ground. 

The ranger fire program relies on 

helicopters and incendiaries [fire 

starting devices]. This year, rangers 

have spent 448 hours in the air, 

covering 58,457 kilometres and 

dropping 299,059 incendiaries. 

When the incendiaries hit the 

ground, they begin burning. Not 

every incendiary hits the right spot, 

so it takes time to guarantee a good 

burn is under way. These arid lands 

tend to have more grass than trees, 

so the fires move along the ground 

and don’t get too intense. 

Rangers couple aerial burning with 

fine-scale ground burning using 

drip torches around sensitive 

areas. That’s to ensure protection 

of cultural sites and threatened 

species like the bilby, night parrot 

and great desert skink. 

This is vitally important, given about 

60% of desert mammal species have 

already gone extinct over the last 

250 years, while many others have 

seen their range reduce. Changes 

to fire regimes are a major factor in 

these declines. 

Fire can forge community 

These desert-spanning fire projects 

give Traditional Owners the ability 

to see remote Country, practice 

This image shows flight lines from aerial prescribed burns (APBs) in 2022 and 2023. Indigenous 

Desert Alliance, CC BY-ND 

culture and transfer knowledge 

down the generations. 

As Ronald Hunt, Ngaanyatjarra 

Ranger, says: 

When we burn it cleans up all the 

spinifex grass and when the rain 

comes it all grows up fresh. It’s good 

for the animals, the bushfood and 

all. Its good using the helicopter, 

going places that it’s hard to get 

to. It’s good to work together with 

other groups, sharing stories and 

looking after the Country. They have 

their stories, and we have ours, and 

then we come together to work. 

In recent years, there has been a 

surge of interest in Indigenous fire 

management – especially after the 

devastation of the Black Summer 

fires of 2019–2020. 

The goal is to shift from wrong-way 

fire – where fuel builds up until 

large, damaging bushfires ignite – to 

right-way fire, culturally informed 

fire regimes led by Traditional 

Owners. 

These fires are done regularly, 

with small fires of varying intensity 

producing a fine-scale mosaic of 

vegetation at different stages of 

recovery and maintaining longunburned 

vegetation as safe 

harbours for wildlife and plants. 

Recent research shows the return 

to these right-way fire regimes at 

a landscape scale is having a real 

effect. In areas where this is done, 

the desert landscape is returning to 

a complex, pre-colonisation pattern 

of mosaic burns. 

These large-scale efforts should 

make Country healthier and bring 

reprieve from dangerous fire. 

View from a helicopter during an aerial planned burn on Haasts Bluff Aboriginal Land Trust. 

Indigenous Desert Alliance, CC BY-ND 

This article was first published on 

The Conversation

Danger lurks in the surf beaches of 

Australia in the form of rip currents 

or rips. These narrow, fast-flowing, 

seaward channels of water are 

responsible for an average 26 

drownings a year and 80-90% of the 

thousands of surf rescues. Yet, unlike 

other well understood and feared 

natural hazards such as bushfires 

and floods, the ever-present menace 

of rip currents is often overlooked. 

Until now, the firsthand effects of 

rips on the people caught in them 

had also been overlooked. Not 

enough was known about the human 

element of rip currents – who is 

getting caught, what their experience 

is actually like, what they know about 

rips, and what information about 

rips people are likely to understand 

and remember. 

Research concentrated more on 

physical characteristics of the 

hazard, such as flow dynamics and 

types of rips. This is important, and 

such findings have been used to 

develop the best strategies to escape 

a rip. But understanding the human 

element is essential too. 

With this in mind, we interviewed 

56 rip current survivors for our 

newly published research. Their 

recollections painted a vivid picture 

of their experience. They offered 

invaluable insights into how people 

respond to being caught in a rip. 

Many survivors were naive about the 

risks 

Many interviewees had been naive 

and unprepared for encountering 

a rip. They knew little about rip 

currents and didn’t understand 

the dangers. They confessed to 

overestimating their swimming 

abilities and underestimating the 

conditions. 

Some described approaching the 

ocean as though it was a swimming 

pool. 

We just basically ran into the water, 

as you do when you arrive at the 

beach, you throw down the towel, 

and we just raced into the water. 

What is being caught in a rip like? 

Once caught in the rip’s grip, panic 

was a very common response, 

leading to a mental “fog” that 

hampered decision-making. 

Even if you know what to do it’s hard 

to put that into action when you’re 

actually in the rip […] because your 

first emotion is panic. 

This visceral fear led to dangerous 

mistakes. Many survivors had tried 

to swim directly against the powerful 

current - a potentially fatal strategy. 

I actually did think I was gonna die, 

I thought, ‘Oh my God that’s it, I’m 

gonna drown, that’s ridiculous […] 

how can I drown? That’s ridiculous,’ 

but I really did think that was it. […] I 

couldn’t think clearly enough to work 

out what to do. 

The aftermath of these experiences 

painted a distinct picture. All the 

interviewees emphasised nothing 

could match the actual experience 

of a rip current for understanding 

its force and handling its threats. 

They felt current safety information, 

though plentiful, wasn’t as effective 

as it could be. 

Perhaps if people can get a sense of 

when they’re in a rip what are some 

of the sensations […] it’s about giving 

people some pointers of what it feels 

like to be in a rip […] I think for a 

lot of people it doesn’t really mean 

anything, particularly visitors, if they 

haven’t had a lot of experience. 

These interviews underscore the 

complex human aspects of the 

problem. Our strategies can’t just 

focus on stopping people from 

entering rips. This is practically 

impossible, as people will always 

want to swim at unpatrolled 

locations. 

Survivors shared a conviction 

that personal experience was the 

greatest teacher. 

Once you understand rips, I think the 

fear of them disappears because you 

can use a rip to your advantage. 

What are the lessons for surviving 

rips? 

While throwing everyone into 

a rip current for “experience” is 

hardly feasible, innovations such 

as virtual reality could provide a 

safe, controlled approximation of 

the experience. The importance 

of personal experience also 

underscores the need for Surf Life 

Saving programs such as Nippers 

– immersive education for children 

and young people in a controlled 

environment. As one survivor told 

us: 

Most of us learn from our 

experience, and I think you have 

to experience things before you 

appreciate the reality of them. I 

certainly all these years have never 

really truly appreciated the enormity 

of a rip until I got caught into one. 

Our study identified the potential 

for psychological prompts to jolt 

swimmers out of their “rip fog”. 

These prompts could guide them to 

make the best escape decisions and 

resist panic that could cloud their 

judgement. Signs could be placed on 

the beach, providing simple, clear 

messages such as “REMAIN CALM” if 

caught in a rip. 

One interviewee recalled having to 

“slap” a person during a rescue to 

get him to focus on escaping the rip. 

Just as I got to him he had just given 

up […] I could see it in his face as I 

was swimming to him, and the only 

thing above the water was this much 

of his arm and that’s what I grabbed, 

and I pulled him up out of the water, 

and I slapped him across the face 

because […] I saw the look in his eye 

as he went under and it was sort of, 

well I don’t know, resignation? And 

so I smacked him and yelled at him 

that, you know, he had to help me, 

that I couldn’t do this by myself. 

Our research underscores the need 

for innovative, behavioural solutions, 

such as Surf Life Saving’s Think Line 

campaign. This “line in the sand” 

aims to get people to stop to think 

about the risks before entering 

the water, look for rips and other 

dangers, and plan how to stay safe. 

By integrating these insights into 

rip current safety strategies, we can 

promote a safer, more informed 

relationship between beachgoers 

and the sea. And that could reverse 

the tragic trend of increased 

drownings at our beaches. 

For more about rip current safety 

and to find your nearest patrolled 

beach visit Beachsafe.

‘Your first emotion is panic’: 

rips cause many beach 

drownings, but we can 

learn from the survivors 

Samuel Cornell 

PhD Candidate, UNSW Beach Safety 

Research Group, School of Population 

Health, UNSW Sydney 

Amy Peden 

NHMRC Research Fellow, School of 

Population Health & co-founder UNSW 

Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW 

Sydney 

Rob Brander 

Professor, UNSW Beach Safety Research 

Group, School of Biological, Earth & 

Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney 


Flashback 

DISASTER RELIEF AUSTRALIA PREPARES 

AUSSIE COMMUNITIES FOR DISASTER 

The expectation that disasters will become both more frequent and more 

intense represents a significant challenge to the nation. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT 

Community driven plans designed to reduce exposure to hazards, lessen the vulnerability of people and 

property and improve preparedness for adverse events have proven to help communities become more 

resilient to natural disasters. 

Disaster Relief Australia seeks to address a significant disconnect between the desire to have community 

led approaches to disaster resilience and the provision of simple, actionable information and the 

manpower to deliver them. 

Announcing Project Resilience 

Project Resilience is Disaster Relief 

Australia’s contribution to the Minderoo 

Foundation’s broader Resilient 

Communities initiative. Resilient 

Communities aims to lift Australia’s 50 

most vulnerable communities to be 

on par with Australia’s most resilient 

communities by 2025. 

A STRONG COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PLAN WILL 

ENABLE EACH COMMUNITY TO: 

• Prioritise the social and 

infrastructure assets that are 

most important to them, including 

understanding and managing the 

local natural environment. 

• Mitigate the impact of emergencies 

and disasters and enable more rapid 

recovery. 

• Foster community connection 

to improve social and mental 

health outcomes and community 

cohesion in times of need. 

• Take ‘ownership’ of the 

community resilience plan. 

39 


www.disasterreliefaus.org 

Who is Disaster Relief Australia? 

Australia is a volunteer workforce able 

to rapidly deploy disaster relief teams 

in Australia and around the world in 

the wake of natural disasters. Despite 

the many challenges of operating in a 

COVID-19 environment, during the first 

six months of 2021, DRA has deployed 

multiple large-scale operations across 

Australia. 

Adopting local communities 

DRA operates seven Disaster Relief 

Teams (DRTs) in Townsville, Brisbane, 

Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide 

and Perth. Each DRT has the capability to 

conduct disaster relief and community 

support operations with scaled capacity 

dependent on the skills and deployment 

readiness of volunteers as well as the 

location, size and complexity of the 

disaster. 

Under Project Resilience, each DRT will 

adopt a community and work through 

a nationally led program to help that 

community build its resilience to natural 

disasters. 

Raising community resilience 

Project Resilience aims to help 

communities understand how they can be 

more prepared for disasters through costeffective 

efforts like improved warnings, 

community engagement, training, 

volunteering and the prioritisation of 

protection of assets and community led 

planning. 

‘Disaster Wise’ assessment 

Disaster Relief Australia is a lead agency 

for the provision of localised pre and post 

disaster aerial imagery and mapping data. 

In the first phase of the project Aerial 

Damage Assessment Teams (ADAT) deploy 

to map infrastructure, community assets 

and topography. 

Risk Mitigation Planning 

Data gathered from the Disaster Wise 

assessment is overlayed with community 

knowledge to generate contextualised 

picture of what is important to the 

community. 

Community Scenario Modeling 

Under Project Resilience, DRA offers 

communities the opportunity to conduct 

scenario modeling based on an allhazards 

model. Scenario modeling helps 

communities identify and understand 

their risks, as well as how to mitigate 

them. This includes identifying areas 

where volunteers can have a meaningful 

impact. 

Disaster Resilience Volunteering 

Once the actionable tasks are identified, 

it’s time to mobilise a community 

Drone mapping in NSW – Mogo flood analysis 

volunteer workforce. Each disaster relief 

team manages the induction and training 

of motivated community volunteers. A 

series of working weekends are planned 

where DRA volunteers work side by side 

with community volunteers on disaster 

resilience activities. These types of 

activities vary depending on the risk, but 

can include tree-felling, clearing debris 

and relocating small structures. 

An ambitious plan 

Over four years Disaster Relief Australia 

aims to work with one community per 

year per DRT as part of a broader effort, 

we will see Australia’s 50 most vulnerable 

communities lifted to be on par with our 

most resilient. 

* Fire & Flood Resilience Blueprint, Minderoo 

Foundation, https://www.minderoo.org/fire-andflood-resilience/ 

DRA’s Adam Moss, facilitating a community-led resilience activity in Gympie, Queensland. 


TRAVEL 

EMERGENCY 

Breaks 

Words: Brooke Turnbull 

The Three Sisters rock formations 

at Katoomba NSW

We’re doing something a bit different this 

month for Emergency Breaks. We do a lot 

of recommendations, but not a whole lot of 

comparisons. So, this month, we decided to 

take you on not one but two journeys down to 

the mountain regions of New South Wales. Both 

regions are spectacular and both regions have 

vastly different things to offer the discerning 

traveller. So welcome to our Face Off series of 

the Southern Highlands vs the Blue Mountains. 

Location: 

Both regions are in the hinterlands of 

New South Wales. You can find the Blue 

Mountains to the west of Sydney, within 

an easy car or bus ride of the city. The 

Southern Highlands are further south, 

toward the west of Wollongong and 

its surrounds. Wollongong has its own 

regional airport, but if we’re being honest 

it’s easier to fly into Sydney and either hire 

a car or catch an easy train to get south. 

So ding, ding, ding for this round, the 

Blue Mountains wins with easy access to 

Sydney city. Though, please don’t let this 

put you off from the journey further south, 

we can already smell a comeback! 

Things to Do: 

Here’s where both regions really start to 

shine in their separate ways. We’ll start 

with the Blue Mountains, as the winner of 

the location round. 

The Fitzroy Falls - Southern 

Highlands NSW

There is plenty to do around this region. First up is Katoomba, 

from visiting the iconic Three Sisters rock formations, riding the 

old mining train track and walking around the bush track to see 

the locations of old cabins and the routes that the tough as nails 

miners lived through while servicing the whole area, Katoomba is 

rich with history both from the miners, as well as the Indigenous 

peoples whose land the old mining town sits on. 

The Gundungurra and Darug peoples have lived on the land 

for thousands of years, sharing stories, customs and history 

throughout the region. From Katoomba to the Jenolan Caves, this 

area is scared and honoured among the Indigenous people of 

the land. To learn more about the Indigenous history of the area 

and the effect that colonialism had on its people, you can visit the 

Waradah Aboriginal Centre. Take in the glory of the Dreamtime 

stories and enjoy a spectacular Aboriginal show. 

Once you’ve taken in the history, its time for adventure. Head on 

to Scenic World at Katoomba to experience the Blue Mountains 

from the Scenic Skyway, just make sure to check the weather or 

you might be travelling through the literal clouds given how high 

up you are. 

Jenolan Caves - Image Credit: VISITNSW 

Take a walk through the Jenolan Caves and attempt to work out 

which ones are stalacmites and which ones are stalactites, and 

then let us know because we’re still trying to figure it out. 

If you’re ready for more, check out abseiling through a waterfall 

with the Blue Mountains Adventure Company, this will set you 

back around $295 per person but then you’ll be able to brag to 

all your friends about that time you canyoned through a waterfall. 

And finally, once you’re down with all the pulse racing, adrenaline 

fuelled excitement, head back to the main town and delight in the 

local food and wine, shopping and maybe even, if its more your 

speed, have a round of golf at the Fairmont Resort and Spa. 

Ok, so you may be thinking, forget the Southern Highlands 

get me to the Blue Mountains immediately but wait. What the 

Southern Highlands lacks in adventure sports, it makes up for in 

good vibes. The region has been a pull for thousands of travellers 

for the last century or so, thanks to its delightful, quaint villages, 

festivals, food and wine and wide-open spaces. There is nowhere 

you can travel in the Southern Highlands where you won’t want 

to sigh in happiness. 

Dirty Janes in Bowral 

If you’re looking for some bushwalks, don’t go past the Fitzroy 

Falls walk. Especially after the rain this waterfall is one of the most 

incredible you’re likely to come by. 

For shopping and the best antiques you’ve seen, head to Bowral 

and Dirty Janes antique store. Filled with vintage treasures, dainty 

jewellery and mid-century furniture you can pass hours at a time 

rifling through the different wares that this shop has. 

If you’re looking for local produce and wine then look no further 

than Berrima. If the Southern Highlands is the crown of local 

produce, then Berrima is certainly the jewel within it. Its elevation 

and cool climate is perfect for producing mouthwatering pinot 

noirs, chardonnays and sauvignon blancs. Dine at the award 

winning Eschalot for a taste of the region. And if you’re looking 

to really get into it with your book bestie (because why travel 

to the coziest place in Australia with anyone else) head to the 

Bendooley Estate that has both food and wine and is home to 

the Book Barn, housing thousands of new and first editions of 

national and international authors. 

Check out Mittagong for relics of old iron works and do the Natai 

Gorge Lookout walk or the Box Vale Mine walking track, an easy 

circular 4.4km to get your steps up before heading to lunch. 

Places to Stay: 

Soak up the cuisine in Berrima 

43 


Ok, so it was sort of a tie for the activities available at each place,

oth regions were perfect depending on what you were up for. It 

all comes down to this, where to stay in each area. Will we have a 

clear winner? Read on and decide. 

The Blue Mountains has a variety of quaint and unique places to 

stay and as usual we’ve picked out three different price ranges to 

suit your budget. 

For a low-cost option, we’ve gone with Springmead B&B. If you’re 

going to head to the mountains, a B&B is exactly the sort of vibe 

you should be aiming for. Picture roaring fires, cute baby animals 

roaming the paddocks and early morning mist on the horizon. 

With breakfast included and modern comforts like free WiFi 

Springmead sets you back about $160 per night in low season 

and is the perfect budget option. 

The Mountain Heritage Hotel still retains the cozy vibe, but 

also gives you unfettered access to the Katoomba township 

and perches you high above sea level overlooking the ranges 

themselves. Two swimming pools, a wellness spa and a fitness 

centre round this property off beautifully and it comes in at the 

perfectly respectable, mid-range price of $233 per night in low 

season. 

Finally, let’s go all out with the Fairmont Resort and Spa. We 

mentioned this one earlier if you’re into golf, but it’s also perfect if 

you’re into spoiling yourself and your loved one absolutely rotten. 

With a wellness spa, two swimming pools, three restaurants and 

9.5 hectares of property to explore and wander, the Fairmont will 

round out your cozy Blue Mountains holiday. At $306 per night 

in low season, it’s not really budget but it’s still very reasonably 

priced. 

The Mountain Heritage Hotel - www.mountainheritage.com.au 

The Southern Highlands have such a vast array of properties 

scattered throughout the villages and towns within the region it 

was nearly impossible to narrow it down. But we did it. For you. 

You’re welcome. 

Starting with the adorable Dormie House for our budget option, 

guests have access to a tennis court, restaurant and free WiFi. 

Dormie House is located in Moss Vale and is a modern style 

board house/B&B, so bunker down with your fellow guests in the 

shared lounge area for a game of Scrabble or Monopoly (maybe 

not Monopoly if you want to make friends). $150 in low season, 

not only is it adorably named but it’s also adorably priced. 

Peppers Manor House located in Sutton Forest is a location that’s 

particularly favoured by couples. So if you’re looking to curl up 

with your special someone, look no further than this 1920’s art 

deco style accommodation. Featuring a beautifully appointed 

garden, swimming pool, free WiFi and onsite bar, it’s a great place 

to connect with each other. And for $299 a night on low season, 

it’s a great price too. 

The Dormie House Moss Vale - www.dormiehouse.com.au 

Finally, the last on our list is the stunning Park Proxi Gibraltar 

Bowral. The property sits in the highlands and offers 360 views 

of the surrounding region, which you can take in while you play 

an 18-hole round of golf (wow, we’re really into golf this month). 

A bar and restaurant, a heated swimming pool and onsite 

fitness centre complete the atmosphere. At $329 per night in 

low season, once again while exceptionally appointed the price 

remains very reasonable. 

Ok, so we’re inclined to go with the Southern Highlands as the 

winner for the places to stay round, just purely because of the 

utter, astounding array of choices available to you. Which means, 

with Blue Mountains winning round one, a tie in round two and 

Southern Highlands winning round three…we’ve got ourselves 

an even tie across the board. It might be a cop out, but also how 

could we possibly choose between these two iconic locations? 

Our advice? Check them both out yourself and let us know which 

one was your winner. 

The Park Proxi Gibraltar Bowral - www.parkproxibowral.com 


safeworkmonth.swa.gov.au 

For everyone’s safety, 

work safely

ARE THEY TRIPLE OK? 

Look beyond the uniform of your peers and 

family and friends in the emergecy services 

and ask “are you OK?” 

Learn more ruok.org.au

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AESM Vol 33, ISSUE 2 2023

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