Red Cross welcomes Royal Commission’s final report

Red Cross welcomes the final report of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.

Based on long-standing knowledge and experience both domestically and internationally, Red Cross has advocated for improvements in how governments, businesses and civil society organisations prepare for natural disasters and how communities can be best supported to recover. 

Red Cross acknowledges the finding of the Royal Commission that “non-government organisations should be included in recovery planning processes at the local, regional, jurisdictional and national levels as appropriate”.
 
Red Cross spokesperson Noel Clement, Australian Programs Director, said:
“The recommendations of the Royal Commission are an important step to significantly improve Australia’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters.

“We welcome the recommendation for the creation of a national recovery and resilience agency to further strengthen how different stakeholders, from governments to Red Cross, work together before, during, and after a disaster. Disaster management requires the cooperation and coordination of all governments, the community sector, business and scientific agencies. We stand ready to contribute our expertise to this significant opportunity to strengthen our disaster management as a nation.” 

“In considering their response, we hope all governments strongly consider the need to invest in disaster risk reduction, particularly at the community and household level.”
 
Red Cross is currently considering all of the Commission’s findings and recommendations and will engage with governments, business and other civil society organisations to help drive improvements so needed for communities. 

Disaster recovery is a long and challenging road. Since July, we have had 850 people apply for grants for the first time. Red Cross remains committed to helping communities impacted by last summer’s bushfires now and in the years to come. Our Recovery Officers and volunteers remain on the ground, helping people in 46 regions in four states by providing psychosocial support and assistance as their communities recover. We’ve also provided financial grants to more than 5,500 people and helped more than 12,600 others with support and information. We've already disbursed or spent $178 million, with more distributed every day.  

Further information about our bushfire response can be found at redcross.org.au/bushfirereport 

For media inquiries, or more information, contact 1800 733 443 or media@redcross.org.au