About the Resilient Australia Awards

The Resilient Australia Awards is a nation-wide program that celebrates, shares and promotes initiatives that build and foster community resilience to disasters and emergencies. Since 2000, the awards have showcased innovation and exemplary practice across Australia; celebrating achievements that might otherwise go unseen, and inspiring others to build greater disaster resilience in their own communities.

With the exception of multi-jurisdictional projects, submissions are judged in their state or territory, and jurisdictional winners considered for national awards. 

The Australian Government is proud to sponsor the Resilient Australia Awards in partnership with the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience and the states and territories.

Resilient Australia National Award

Award of excellence across all National Award categories (excluding photography). Projects demonstrate the most systemic change and groundbreaking results.

Will be announced on 24 November 2025.

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Resilient Australia National Collaboration and Partnership Award

Recognition of projects that encompass activity across two or more partners, sectors, states or territories, and consistently demonstrate the power of collaboration and partnership when working toward a goal or mission with partners combining efforts and resources. Judges considered winning projects from all Award categories except Photography.

Will be announced on 24 November 2025.

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Resilient Australia National Research for Impact Award

Open to all tertiary institutions (colleges and universities). Applicants will showcase research that is having or will have a significant impact on knowledge, capability and practice and will enhance disaster resilience outcomes as a result. Applications for this Category will only be received and judged at the national level.

Finalists

Volunteer Training in Low Cost Multifaith Health Promotion

GJS Intellectual Company Australia

It is very difficult to persuade people to live longer and healthier as human beings. Many people in this world involve themselves in unhealthy habits that destroy themselves.

Cheap and simple techniques to enhance health of human being have to be further investigated. Education of health in different languages has to be promoted to encourage fortunate people to live longer especially during the outbreak of natural disasters.

Collaborating 4 Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction - Transforming policy and practice so that nobody is left behind

University of Sydney, Centre for Disability Research and Policy

In 2015, Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) was absent from Australia's emergency management practices. People with disabilities were often overlooked, and there were no tools to implement principles such as accessibility, non-discrimination, participation, and collaboration. Disability was consigned to the "too-hard basket."

By 2021, informed by the Collaborating4Inclusion partnership research - inclusive emergency management principles were embedded into Australia’s Disability Strategy, National Disability Insurance Scheme legislation and Practice Standards. The Aged Care act followed by strengthening emergency and disaster management standards.

By 2025, our research culminated in nationally consistent Practice Standards guiding government and emergency sector leadership in Disability Inclusive Emergency Management (DIEM).

This transformation was achieved through a grassroots, co-production approach that developed community-led emergency preparedness frameworks, tools, and resources. Using a novel Knowledge-to-Action methodology, our partnership research merged scientific and local knowledge, refined tools through real-time feedback, and produced a comprehensive DIDRR roadmap.

Since 2019, 24 projects have been completed, including 10 led by multi-sector partners. Five additional partnership projects (2024–2027) are currently underway.

All our initiatives involve three key stakeholder groups:

1. People with disabilities, carers, and representatives
2. Service providers from community, health, disability, and social welfare sectors.
3. Government and emergency services personnel responsible for disaster planning, response, and recovery.

Our DIDRR research has developed through four stages: identifying scope (2015–2018), defining roles and responsibilities (2018–2021), building cross-sector capability (2021–2024). Now, moving into the next critical phase: building data-informed decision systems (2025–2028) to sustain and scale inclusive emergency management nationwide.

Key outputs, such as the DIDRR Framework and DIEM Toolkit, and outcomes like the integration of disability-inclusive planning in Australia’s Disability Strategy and adoption of DIDRR frameworks in state policies, highlight our impact. DIDRR is now a national priority, transforming emergency management practices and positioning Australia as a global leader in disability inclusion.

Exploring Cultural Capital Development and Local Emergency Management on Country

Indigenous Connection Pty Ltd

In November 2024, Indigenous Connection Pty Ltd (a Darwin based majority indigenous owned company) delivered a pilot project that explored the integration of cultural capital into Local Emergency Management on the Tiwi Islands. This project feels like a strong fit for the 2025 Resilient Australia Awards and aligns to the principles shared across the AIDR and the National Emergency Management Agency. Funded by the NAB Foundation, it engaged Cultural Knowledge Providers (CKPs) and the Northern Territory Emergency Services (NTES) to identify gaps and opportunities in disaster readiness to improve the local emergency management plans. The initiative demonstrated high community willingness to participate and highlighted the potential for cultural employment, improved resilience through local engagement and improved relationships between key stakeholders.

IC approached NTES, interested in exploring Local Emergency Management processes on Country. Inviting NTES to identify elements that are working well and points of friction throughout the phases of Emergency Management. Key concerns were identified pertaining to community participation, autonomy, preparedness and resilience.

IC explored opportunities to embrace cultural capital thinking within Local Emergency Management across four initial spheres:

1. Situational Analysis,
2. Leadership Design,
3. Communications,
4. Community Engagement.

IC employed CKP’s and worked with local Police Members across the Tiwi Islands, engaged with in-community applied research process to share their voice, perspectives and experience.

IC also explored voluntary community-member participation compared to remunerated community-member participation. IC received 100% CKP willingness to accept paid invitations to participate in Local Emergency Management Committee meetings.

The research identified Cultural Capital gaps within Local Emergency Management processes which could be bridged through deliberate investment in cultural capital development resulting in the simultaneous outcomes of improving relationships, building institutional trust and creating paid casual employment opportunities. The project identified community-member willingness & capacity to be employed to assist Local Emergency Management with planning, preparedness and ongoing engagement.

Building Financial Resilience to Disasters: The Financial Counselling Disaster Framework

Centre for Social Impact, The University of Western Australia

Natural hazards can devastate communities, pushing individuals and small businesses into sudden financial hardship, often impacting the most vulnerable hardest. The Natural Disaster Financial Recovery Support Project addressed this by placing financial resilience at the centre of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

Delivered by the Financial Counsellors' Association of WA in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact UWA, the project developed the WA Financial Counselling Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery Framework.

It was developed over 2 years and involved consultation with over 200 stakeholders, including financial counsellors, First Nations organisations, government agencies, peak bodies, and community members.

Grounded in lived experience and developed through a robust Developmental Evaluation approach, the Framework offers practical, trauma-informed tools for financial counsellors and other stakeholders to support individuals before, during, and after disasters. It clarifies roles, strengthens partnerships, supports inclusion, and equips the sector with training, planning resources, and guidance. It is already influencing national approaches and training in disaster financial counselling.

This is a sector-first innovation being scalable, adaptive, and aligned with national disaster strategies, policies and frameworks. It embeds financial counselling within emergency systems, shifts practice culture, and strengthens resilience from the ground up. Impact is already evident: financial counsellors in Broome, newly trained, supported isolated communities to access grants and negotiate debts post-disaster. Agencies such as DFES and the Department of Communities now recognise financial counsellors as essential disaster partners and are engaging with the sector to better integrate their support into disaster planning and response.

The Framework enables better coordination, clearer communication, and more inclusive disaster response. It is a practical toolkit and a call to action, one that positions financial counselling as a critical pillar of disaster resilience. As climate-related disasters intensify, this work offers a blueprint for strengthening local capability and financial wellbeing Australia-wide.

Queering disasters - a new research, policy and practice paradigm

The University of Sydney and Western Sydney University

This application showcases a sustained program of policy-oriented research including research projects, consultation, publication, engagement and impact from 2013 to the present hereafter referred to as ‘queering disasters’. It outlines what we have done, why it is significant, what impact it has had, and provides supporting evidence.

Globally, disasters occur daily - their frequency and impacts rapidly rising. International research and disaster risk reduction (DRR) practice examines the impacts of disasters on the vulnerabilities, needs, and capacities of marginalised and at-risk groups including, among others, women and girls, Indigenous peoples, the elderly, persons with disabilities, ethnic and faith-based minorities, and refugees and asylum seekers. However, little was known about the risks and impacts of disasters on sexual and gender diverse (queer) people. Our groundbreaking research has: (1) revolutionised this gap in understanding, (2) spurred globally significant research on this topic, (3) led to the development of Australian national guidelines for queer-inclusive DRR, (4) resulted in a shift in the position of the United Nations Office for DRR on the inclusion of queer people despite international protests and, (5) led to the development of a new sub-discipline of disaster scholarship termed ‘queer disaster studies’.

Our innovative work has involved collaboration with Australian and international organisations including queer peek bodies, the emergency management sector, NGO’s working on the ground and every-day queer citizens (amongst others), to identify the needs, capacities, vulnerabilities and opportunities for queer inclusive-DRR. The research and its policy/practice recommendations have and continue to have profound impacts and spin-off benefits. The primary winners of this work include ordinary queer people everywhere, who, for the first time are increasingly being ‘seen’ in DRR activities and the emergency management sector for whom new ways of practicing are being identified without the need for additional resources or special arrangements.

Community experiences of the 2022-2023 floods across Eastern and Southern Australia: A collaborative, multi-state research project

Macquarie University 

This award submission relates to one of the largest and most authoritative social science studies of community experiences of floods ever conducted in Australia. It comprises a series of three interlinked studies, funded by Natural Hazards Research Australia (NHRA), on community experiences of floods in 2022-2023 across eastern and southern Australia. The project spanned five Australian states, involved 29 researchers from six universities, and worked closely with stakeholders from across all levels of government, as well as industry, NGOs and community.

In the wake of the devastating floods of 2022-2023, the research responded to the needs of key emergency and disaster recovery agencies who had direct input into shaping the research priorities and approach. The research has generated multiple outputs, including publicly accessible reports, policy briefs and webinars, and is distinguished by the considerable investment in outreach and engagement.

The research used an innovative mixed methods approach, comprising hundreds of in-depth interviews with diverse community members in flood impacted areas and extensive online surveys. The research took an established trauma-informed approach used in post-bushfire research and adapted it for use after floods. Initial data collection in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (Qld) concluded in February 2023. This was then followed by data collection in Tasmania (TAS) in April/May 2023, and in Victoria (Vic), South Australia (SA) and Southwest NSW from March 2024 to April 2025.

This research has amplified the voices of people from flood affected communities, situating them at the heart of research outputs and discussions with multiple stakeholders. Due to the highly collaborative nature of the research it has had strong impact. Our research has contributed to multiple post-flood reviews, e.g. on post-disaster funding, insurance, relocation, and reconstruction. It has provided evidence to support State Emergency Service public communication campaigns and supported community organisations in gaining funding.

The Social Current: How Behaviour Flows Through Community to Save Lives and Build Resilience

The University of Melbourne

This research, led by Dr Brian Cook and Dr Peter Kamstra, is transforming how Australia’s drowning prevention sector engages with communities. This project has produced clear and measurable impacts with more than 1,350 direct participants, affecting approximately 6,750 participants within 6 months of engagement.

It begins with a critical insight: awareness-raising alone is insufficient to create the lasting, life-saving behavioural change required to reduce drowning, which is the leading cause of disaster-related fatalities in Australia.

The research demonstrates that normative learning, rooted in dignity, dialogue, and relational trust, catalyses changes in behaviour that diffuse both socially and spatially. These changes not only influence peers through social networks but are also carried by participants to unpatrolled beaches, where most drownings occur. This diffusion represents a breakthrough in disaster risk governance, addressing a key challenge: how to scale impact to reach those at risk. Crucially, ‘scaling’ is reconceptualised not as upward expansion or messaging volume, but as a socio-spatial flow of behavioural change that flows through communities.

Through close collaboration with lifesaving practitioners, this research reimagines public engagement on beaches. Participants are seen as co-producers of resilience, not just recipients of information.

Grounded in measured behaviour change, rather than intentions or perceptions, the program has demonstrated success in reducing risk-taking, increasing preventative action, and strengthening community-led governance. Already being replicated across coastal and inland settings, it delivers measurable, transferable outcomes, especially among historically under-engaged, high risk-taking groups like young males.

This work offers a replicable, cost-effective model of disaster resilience, starting with drowning but extendable to other hazards. It directly supports the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience by:

• Enabling locally led action;
• Building capability across sectors;
• Generating applied knowledge; and
• Reducing risk across all of society.

It sets a new benchmark for inclusive, effective, and impactful community engagement.

From Stories to Strategies: Culturally Informed Disaster Resilience in Action

Associate Professor Jenny Hou on behalf of Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

This project addressed a critical gap in Australia’s disaster risk communication: how to turn the practical/local knowledge and lived experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities into actionable resilience strategies. Too often multicultural communities are under-recognised as active agents of disaster resilience. Their cultural insights are overlooked within the dominant, functionalist logic of emergency management.

Our project enhances that. Funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments under the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Fund and led by Queensland University of Technology, we partnered with Cairns Regional Council, Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland, Centacare FNQ, Study Cairns, and Trinity Bay State High School. Through extensive fieldwork in Far North Queensland, particularly the Cairns region, we engaged deeply with 168 participants across 7 cultural groups: Bhutanese/Nepalese, Chinese, Colombian, Congolese, Filipino, Indonesian, and Japanese.

A key innovation of this project is moving beyond simply documenting/describing stories to using co‑creative, participatory storytelling as a tool for learning, development, and action. Through multi‑modal (written, oral, visual, digital, arts‑based) and multi‑format (e.g., photovoice, story circles, and digital workshops) storytelling, we empowered CALD communities, regardless of English proficiency or literacy levels, to share lived experiences, identify cultural strengths, and co‑design actionable strategies.

The impact is significant and continuing to grow. To date, we have published 5 peer‑reviewed papers, an industry report, and a groundbreaking storytelling toolkit, while the project is still underway; Produced creative resources (videos, case studies, ecosystem maps) that emergency managers, councils, and community organisations can readily apply; Developed scalable, transferable approaches that inform inclusive disaster communications and policies across jurisdictions and cultural groups.

This project demonstrates that disaster resilience is historically embedded, culturally informed, and community‑driven. By turning diverse stories into strategies, we provide cross-sectoral emergency stakeholders with practical tools to build disaster resilience that is inclusive, effective, and sustainable across Australia.

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Resilient Australia National Business Award

State and territory winners in the Business category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Business Award.

Finalists

Building Resilience from the Ground Up: Community Emergency Management Planning

The Six C's
Victoria

The Six C’s Community Emergency Management Planning (CEMP) program is a community-led initiative designed to empower local communities to plan, prepare, respond to and recover from emergencies in ways that reflect their unique needs, strengths, and risks. Developed and delivered by experienced emergency management practitioners, the program supports communities to build practical and localised Community Emergency Management Plans through a series of structured, facilitated workshops.

Since January 2023, The Six C’s CEMP model has been implemented across 10 Victorian communities including Culgoa, Bunbartha, Mooroopna, Murchison, Undera, Wickliffe, Streatham, Willaura, Lake Bolac, and Moyston. These communities have now formed local disaster resilience groups, begun identifying risks, assets, and actions, and initiated the process of embedding resilience practices into their local culture.

Designed to be inclusive, culturally aware, and adaptable to all community types, The Six C’s CEMP model aligns with national frameworks including the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. Its success lies in its hands-on, respectful, and co-designed approach, building capability, social connection, and local leadership while avoiding top-down or one-size-fits-all strategies.

Through this project, The Six C’s has helped build stronger, more connected communities that are better equipped to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. Our program not only supports emergency management outcomes but also strengthens mental health, community cohesion, and long-term resilience.

Flood Defence Fund

Insurance Council of Australia 
New South Wales

The Insurance Council is the peak industry body for Australia’s general insurance industry. We work with governments of all levels to advocate for targeted and effective disaster resilience measures to better protect Australia’s homes and businesses from extreme weather events. This includes extreme flooding events which are increasing in frequency and severity and are having a significant impact on insurance affordability and availability.

The Insurance Council estimates that 1.36 million properties are at risk of flooding nationally, and that around 298,000 of these properties face at least a two or five per cent chance of flooding each year.

Against this backdrop, the Insurance Council has developed a bold policy initiative to future-proof Australia against future flood events. As outlined in the Insurance Council’s ‘Advancing Australia’s Resilience report (https://insurancecouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/21226_ICA_Federal-Election-Platform-Report_2025_Final.pdf), the Flood Defence Fund (https://insurancecouncil.com.au/campaigns/defend-critical-infrastructure/flood-defence-fund/) is a multi-faceted flood infrastructure investment program that will protect the country’s most at-risk catchments which are predominately located in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

The proposal provides a guide as to where flood resilience investment can have the greatest benefit in reducing flood risk across 24 high risk catchments.

Released in the lead up to the 2025 federal election, the Fund is designed to provide much needed support to those Australians who need protection the most and put downward pressure premiums.

Future Ready Grape and Wine Business Pilot in South Australia

Resilient Ready 
South Australia

The grape and wine sector is a critical part of South Australia’s economy, contributing $2.12 billion annually, producing 80% of Australia’s premium wine, and supporting thousands of jobs and communities. This pilot project delivered a practical approach to disaster resilience in the states grape and wine sector.

A collaboration between Flinders University’s Torrens Resilience Initiative (TRI) and social enterprise Resilient Ready, this novel project tackled a critical challenge: the disconnect between existing disaster risk reduction (DRR) resources and the capacity of small businesses to engage with them. Spanning 18 wine regions and involving over 100 businesses, the initiative delivered a highly tailored micro-learning program. This included 10 concise, actionable modules, compelling lived experience videos, and regular online check-ins to foster engagement, connections and hear from industry experts.

The project delivered measurable impact: 80% of participating businesses reported increased confidence in managing disaster risks, while 75% took tangible action such as updating insurance coverage and strengthening supply chain plans. These outcomes represent a significant cultural shift in a sector traditionally constrained by limited time, resources, and capacity for proactive risk management. By translating awareness into action, the project empowered small businesses to move from vulnerability to resilience.

This project demonstrated that when support is local, practical, and tailored to real-world needs, small businesses can be empowered to take meaningful action on disaster risk reduction. More than just a training initiative, it created a scalable, adaptable model that can be applied across sectors. By fostering peer learning and building strong community connections, the project showed that even small, well-supported steps can lead to significant, lasting change laying the foundation for more resilient businesses and communities nationwide.

Wujal Wujal Rising: A Community-first Recovery Project

The Yellow Company 
Queensland

The spirit of resilience is what binds communities together through periods of loss and hardship. Resilience empowers people and communities to rise above challenges with renewed strength, purpose and courage.

Following the devastating impacts of Tropical Cyclone Jasper in late 2023, the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire community embarked on a recovery journey that prioritised cultural leadership, holistic healing and cross-agency collaboration.

The Yellow Company is a project management consultancy committed to delivering purposeful projects that enhance communities and build long-term resilience. In early 2024, Yellow was engaged by the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council (WWASC) to support the delivery of the community recovery project which concluded in June 2024.

This recovery effort extended far beyond the restoration of infrastructure. While Yellow supported governance, planning, and reporting processes, the project also prioritised the revitalisation of community life, placing strong emphasis on psychosocial wellbeing, cultural continuity, and social connectedness.

The achievements of Council, community members, and stakeholders throughout this recovery reflect the power of Indigenous-led governance, culturally embedded values, and genuine collaboration in delivering meaningful and lasting community resilience.

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Resilient Australia National Community Award

State and territory winners in the Community category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Community Award.

Finalists

Community-led Flood Resilience on the Kurilpa Peninsula

Resilient Kurilpa 
Queensland

Resilient Kurilpa (RK) is a community-led, volunteer-run disaster resilience initiative based in the Kurilpa Peninsula of Brisbane (West End, South Brisbane and Highgate Hill). Formed after the 2022 floods, the network brings together residents, neighbourhood organisations, apartment communities, and experts to build local capacity for flood preparedness, response, and recovery.

In 2023–24, with joint funding from the Australian and Queensland Governments, RK delivered a dynamic, place-based program that engaged over 500 residents directly and thousands more online. The project produced practical, innovative tools including:

• community-led flood website and Local Insights Blog (www.resilientkurilpa.com)
• Apartment Toolkit with flood planning templates
• six information sessions
• six educational workshops
• 19 blog articles
• a 10 minute trigger film to motivate apartment body corporates into taking flood preparedness action freely available on our RK’s YouTube page
• a case study and conference presentation shared nationally via Neighbourhood Centres Queensland.

Key achievements of these RK initiatives are detailed in the sections below.

In summary, this community-led process engaged directly with 534 residents and online its reach included 11,000 website visits, 2,000+ blog reads, 660+ webinar views, and 800+ views of the community-created Trigger Film freely available on RK’s YouTube page. This film is available at the following link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d830c296XuM&t=196s

Party Ready

St John Ambulance Victoria
Victoria

Emergency resilience and preparedness in a modern context extends beyond the understanding of how to respond to a natural disaster. Resilience comes from a deep understanding of problem solving, acting quickly and decisively when faced with confronting situations, and most importantly, trusting yourself that you will make the best decision that will keep you and your extended network safe and well.

The St John Ambulance Victoria (SJAV) Party Ready program takes Victoria’s adolescent population and teaches these life-saving skills in ways relevant to them, and their interests. The program supports the development of these vital capabilities by delivering first aid education contextualised to real-life social settings. The program instils the confidence and competence required to respond to high-stress, high-stakes situations—skills that form the backbone of emergency resilience.

Through Party Ready, young people learn how to assess a scene, make rapid decisions, and provide potentially life-saving care while waiting for professional responders. The program also covers mental health and crisis education, teaching participants how to identify distress in themselves and others and take calm, informed action. By engaging students through relatable scenarios such as parties, peer influence, and substance use, Party Ready fosters deep engagement and retention of key emergency response concepts.

Party Ready empowers the next generation of young Australians with the ability to stay composed in a crisis, support others, and take effective action, whether it's a collapsed friend at a party or a natural disaster in their community.

From Local Innovation to National Strategy: Animals in Emergency Resilience

RSPCA Tasmania 
Tasmania

READY, PET, GO! is Australia’s first nationally endorsed emergency preparedness initiative for animals and their people—developed by RSPCA Tasmania, the state’s peak animal welfare body, and adopted by all RSPCA member societies across the country.

The program responds to a life-threatening reality: many Australians delay or refuse evacuation during disasters because they cannot take their animals. With support from the National Disaster Risk Reduction Grants Program (NDRRGP), READY, PET, GO! was launched in 2023 to address this risk by closing key gaps in animal-inclusive emergency planning—identified through a review of 16 national and international programs plus extensive on-the-ground collaboration.

Unlike pre-existing resources READY, PET, GO! goes beyond “get ready” messaging. It provides step-by-step guidance on when and how to leave, what to expect at evacuation centres, and how to ensure animals are welcome, safe, and prepared.

Its centrepiece—a water resistant, high visibility, attachable and informative READY wallet—travels with the animal and includes vital information for carers and first responders.

Co-designed with councils, emergency services, diverse community groups, and people with lived experience, the program has already distributed thousands of resources, been adopted by all 29 Tasmanian councils, and supported more than 60 community events. In January 2025, it was formally endorsed by all eight RSPCA member societies as the national public-facing framework for animal-inclusive emergency preparedness.

As Australia’s peak animal welfare organisation, the RSPCA is uniquely positioned to lead this movement. READY, PET, GO! strengthens whole-of-community resilience, builds trust between the public and emergency services, and reduces risk to human and animal life.

This is not just a toolkit—it’s a transformative shift in how Australia prepares for emergencies: practical, scalable, inclusive, and compassionate.

Youth in Emergencies Development Program (YEDP)

Australian Red Cross 
South Australia

The Youth in Emergencies Development Program (YEDP), in collaboration with the South Australian Country Fire Service (SACFS) and Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly, and The Duke of Edinburgh International Award, is a two-year pilot program co-designed by students in years 9-12. Combining self-paced learning, workshops, and hands-on experience through a community resilience project it creates communities more prepared for disaster.

The project was designed to fill the gap that exists for people between the ages of 14 & 18 to have meaningful participation in the Emergency Management sector.

In the first year, 54 young people across South Australia co-designed the program, identifying key topics for leadership development:

• Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
• Diverse Communities
• Emergency Management 101
• Leadership & Teamwork

The program aligns with The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award requirements:

• Skill: 1 hour per week of learning (26hrs) through workshops and online modules.
• Voluntary Service: 1 hour per week (13hrs) developing and implementing a project that enhances community emergency resilience.
• Physical Recreation: 1 hour per week (13hrs) for regular sport or other activities.
• Adventurous Journey: A team challenge and overnight camp.

In 2024, 36 students graduated from the program. Through structured monitoring and evaluation, it is estimated that their voluntary service projects positively impacted approximately 1,400 South Australians, raising community awareness and preparedness for emergencies. The program’s innovative design has the potential to reach thousands more, contributing to greater national resilience.

By aligning with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the program successfully engaged young people who might not have otherwise considered a role in emergency and disaster management. Throughout the course, participants developed a genuine interest in the field, highlighting the program’s potential to inspire more young people to pursue volunteering or careers in the sector.

Building Financial Resilience to Disasters: The Financial Counselling Disaster Framework

Financial Counsellors' Association of Western Australia
Western Australia

Natural hazards can devastate communities, pushing individuals and small businesses into sudden financial hardship, often impacting the most vulnerable hardest. The Natural Disaster Financial Recovery Support Project addressed this by placing financial resilience at the centre of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

Delivered by the Financial Counsellors' Association of WA in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact UWA, the project developed the WA Financial Counselling Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery Framework.

It was developed over 2 years and involved consultation with over 200 stakeholders, including financial counsellors, First Nations organisations, government agencies, peak bodies, and community members across Western Australia.

Grounded in lived experience and developed through a robust Developmental Evaluation approach, the Framework offers practical, trauma-informed tools for financial counsellors and other stakeholders to support individuals before, during, and after disasters. It clarifies roles, strengthens partnerships, supports inclusion, and equips the sector with training, planning resources, and guidance. It is already influencing national approaches and training in disaster financial counselling.

This is a sector-first innovation being scalable, adaptive, and aligned with national disaster strategies, policies and frameworks. It embeds financial counselling within emergency systems, shifts practice culture, and strengthens resilience from the ground up. Impact is already evident: financial counsellors in Broome, newly trained, supported isolated communities to access grants and negotiate debts post-disaster. Agencies such as DFES and the Department of Communities now recognise financial counsellors as essential disaster partners and are engaging with the sector to better integrate their support into disaster planning and response.

The Framework enables better coordination, clearer communication, and more inclusive disaster response. It is a practical toolkit and a call to action, one that positions financial counselling as a critical pillar of disaster resilience. As climate-related disasters intensify, this work offers a blueprint for strengthening local capability and financial wellbeing Australia-wide.

Pioneering model of disaster recovery builds community resilience through empowerment

Social Futures 
New South Wales

The Recovery Connect program, delivered by Social Futures, stands as a pioneering model of disaster recovery, merging innovation with impactful leadership to transform community resilience in the Northern Rivers. Over the past two years, Recovery Connect has assisted 867 flood-affected households in the Northern Rivers, with 18,718 occasions of service.

Recovery Connect offers help with:

• addressing physical needs (furniture, food, clothes, housing services)
• accessing financial assistance, legal advice and financial counselling
• accessing mental health and wellbeing support
• addressing post-disaster recovery (planning, insurance, legal and more).

Committed to sustainability and scalability, the Recovery Connect program is built on a framework of capacity building, continuous monitoring, and proactive stakeholder engagement. The model's adaptability aligns seamlessly with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, presenting a viable template for other regions and types of disasters.

A cornerstone of Recovery Connect’s success is its inclusive community engagement strategy, which prioritises diversity and actively reaches out to underrepresented groups including First Nations people, LGBTIQSB+ communities, and people with disabilities. This focus has resonated with high participant satisfaction and broad demographic participation, underpinning the program’s success in building resilience and mitigating disaster risks. Data Exchange Surveys demonstrated the effectiveness of the program. Participants surveyed improved or maintained:

• community participation 86%
• employment 77%
• family functioning 82%
• housing 88%
• material wellbeing 89%
• mental health 89%
• safety 87%
• physical health 76%

Innovation is woven into the fabric of Recovery Connect, with creative solutions like securing donations and advocating for in-kind support, which have proven crucial in delivering resources to those in need. Its culturally safe, trauma-informed approach, enriched by local expertise and community bonds, epitomises excellence in disaster recovery.

Recovery Connect sets a benchmark for future disaster recovery initiatives, influencing policy and inspiring innovative practices across the sector.

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Resilient Australia National Government Award

State and territory winners in the Government category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Government Award.

Finalists

Disaster Resilience Ecosystem Mapping Project

SAFECOM
South Australia

Kimberley Floods State Recovery and Resilience Plan (2023 – 2024)

Department of Fire and Emergency Services, WA
Western Australia

Australian first – Aboriginal Cultural Incident Management Exercise

NSW DCCEEW, Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Council, NPWS, NSW Crown Lands and NSWRFS 
New South Wales

Resilient Australia National Local Government Award

State and territory winners in the local government category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Local Government Award.

Finalists

Resilient Australia National Mental Health and Wellbeing Award

State and territory winners in the mental health and wellbeing category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Mental Health and Wellbeing Award.

Pathways to Wellness - A FREE Community Training Opportunity in Mental Wellbeing and Resilience

Rant Arts 
Tasmania

Resilient Australia National School Award

State and territory winners in the school category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National School Award.

Finalists

Sustaining the Tropics Through Resilient Communities

Tropical North Learning Academy Smithfield State High School
Queensland

Resilient Australia National Photography Award

The People’s Choice photography winner in each state and territory will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Photography Award.

Finalists

The Gorge at Peace

Peter Rawlings 
Tasmania

Social Futures, Strong Mind in the Early Years Program

Social Futures, crediting Catherine Pilz from The Daily Telegraph
New South Wales

Emergency Response: Night Infrastructure Stabilisation

Adel Namehi, Geovert
Queensland