National finalists
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 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.
Winner to be announced at the National Ceremony.
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
Advancing Real-Time Aerial Wildfire Detection Through Plume Recognition and Knowledge Distillation
Pirunthan
Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS)-based remote sensing and artificial intelligence (AI) analysis enable real-time wildfire or bushfire detection, facilitating early response to minimize damage and protect lives and property.
However, their effectiveness is limited by three issues: distinguishing smoke from fog, the high cost of manual annotation, and the computational demands of large models. This study addresses the three key challenges by introducing plume as a new indicator to better distinguish smoke from similar visual elements, and by employing a hybrid annotation method using knowledge distillation (KD) to reduce expert labour and accelerate labelling. Additionally, it leverages lightweight YOLO Nano models trained with pseudo-labels generated from a fine-tuned teacher network to lower computational demands while maintaining high detection accuracy for real-time wildfire monitoring. Controlled pile burns in Canungra, QLD, Australia, were conducted to collect UAS-captured images over deciduous vegetation, which were subsequently augmented with the Flame2 dataset, which contains wildfire images of coniferous vegetation.
A Grounding DINO model, fine-tuned using few-shot learning, served as the teacher network to generate pseudo-labels for a significant portion of the Flame2 dataset. These pseudo-labels were then used to train student networks consisting of YOLO Nano architectures, specifically versions 5, 8, and 11 (YOLOv5n, YOLOv8n, YOLOv11n). The experimental results show that YOLOv8n and YOLOv5n achieved an mAP@0.5 of 0.721. Plume detection outperforms smoke indicators (F1: 76.1–85.7% vs. 70%) in fog and wildfire scenarios.
These findings underscore the value of incorporating plume as a distinct class and utilizing KD, both of which enhance detection accuracy and scalability, ultimately supporting more reliable and timelier wildfire monitoring and response.
Keeping Suffolk Safe - How a coastal town built resilience together.
Suffolk Park Community Association
Keeping Suffolk Safe is a community-led resilience initiative that has transformed local concern into collaborative action to reduce disaster risk and strengthen the future of Suffolk Park, New South Wales.
Since 2024, the volunteer-led Suffolk Park Community Association has brought together residents, local government, businesses and community organisations to address interconnected challenges including flooding, evacuation constraints, environmental degradation, water quality, climate adaptation and active transport. Rather than focusing on a single issue, the initiative has adopted an integrated approach that recognises the relationship between people, infrastructure and the natural environment.
Membership has increased more than tenfold, with hundreds of residents participating through community meetings, digital engagement, surveys and advocacy campaigns. This unprecedented level of participation has elevated local priorities into regional and local planning processes and strengthened partnerships across multiple sectors.
A key outcome has been unanimous support from Byron Shire Council to pursue resilience and adaptation opportunities for the Suffolk Park Southern Gateway Corridor, (a 3 decade long problem) reflecting the growing recognition of community-led approaches to disaster risk reduction.
By combining digital engagement, evidence-based advocacy and cross-sector collaboration, the initiative demonstrates how ordinary citizens can play an extraordinary role in building safer and more resilient communities. The project provides a scalable and transferable model for other communities seeking to strengthen resilience in the face of increasing environmental and climate challenges.
Keeping Suffolk Safe is ultimately a story of people who love where they live and who chose to come together to protect it for generations to come.
Why has cultural heritage not been routinely included in Australian disaster risk reduction, and what strategies can address this gap?
Charles Sturt University
This research, undertaken by Johanna Garnett as part of a doctoral program at Charles Sturt University, responds to a critical gap in emergency management in Australia: the systematic exclusion of cultural heritage from disaster policy, planning, and operational decision-making, often resulting in avoidable loss of cultural heritage assets.
Cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, plays a vital role in underpinning community identity, social capital, and cohesion. It contributes significantly to resilience building before disasters and supports recovery afterward. Despite this, it is frequently treated as peripheral, or overlooked entirely, within emergency management frameworks. The research was initiated in response to strong evidence from practice, communities, and academic literature highlighting a persistent disconnect between the emergency management and cultural heritage sectors.
It aims to improve understanding of risks to cultural heritage and generate practical, evidence-informed pathways to strengthen collaboration and embed cultural heritage within disaster risk governance in Australia. The focus is on system-level change rather than isolated interventions. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the research examines both formal governance arrangements and the operational realities experienced by practitioners across emergency management, cultural heritage, and community sectors. It investigates the enabling and constraining factors influencing cross-sector collaboration.
A key feature of the research is its systems-based, translational design. It explores how institutional arrangements, decision-making structures, and inter-agency processes enable or inhibit collaboration, identifying leverage points where targeted changes can deliver meaningful improvements in resilience outcomes. The research is also highly collaborative, engaging stakeholders across sectors to ensure findings are grounded in practice and reflect lived experience.
While ongoing, it is designed to deliver actionable strategies to support more inclusive, culturally informed disaster risk reduction and strengthen long-term community resilience in Australia.
Resilient Street: A Participatory Platform for Community Disaster Preparedness
University Of Tasmania
Resilient Street is a novel participatory platform designed to strengthen community disaster resilience by facilitating sustained, action-oriented preparedness, with an initial focus on bushfire risk in peri-urban Australia. Developed as part of a PhD research program, the project responds to a critical gap in digital disaster tools: most existing applications prioritise response-phase information, with limited support for preparation, mitigation, and ongoing behaviour change.
The platform directly supports the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework by helping people understand local disaster risk, take practical preparedness action, and contribute to shared responsibility for risk reduction. Users define a location on a map, such as a home, street, or community facility, and set a surrounding radius so the platform can highlight nearby preparedness resources, support structured preparedness tasks, and enable emergency scenario rehearsal.
Key features include gamification, contextual prompts, and synchronised scenario drills, allowing coordinated preparedness activities across households, streets, and communities. The platform is designed to be inclusive, supporting multi-language localisation and a range of user capabilities.
The design of Resilient Street was informed by participatory action research and crisis informatics, with consent, surveys, feedback mechanisms, and usage tracking embedded directly within the platform. This enables real-world evaluation of behaviour-change interventions, including reinforcement messaging and context-aware notifications.
Early findings demonstrate strong potential to increase awareness of preparedness strategies, improve engagement with risk-reduction activities, and generate new insights into how digital tools can influence sustained behaviour change.
Resilient Street contributes to national disaster resilience priorities by building public capability for disaster preparation, enabling locally led and coordinated action, strengthening shared responsibility, and generating evidence to inform policy and practice. The platform is scalable across hazards and regions, providing a transferable model for improving disaster resilience outcomes across Australia.
First Nations women, cultural fire knowledge, wellbeing and memory
National Indigenous Disaster Resilience (Monash University), Queensland Fire Department, Gambir Yidinji Cultural Heritage and Protection Aboriginal Corporation, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
First Nations Women, Culture Fire Knowledge, Wellbeing and Memory was an original research project conducted by the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience (NIDR) research program at Monash University. The project was an Indigenous-led impact evaluation of Australia's first Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (AUS WTREX). AUS WTREX brought together 30 First Nations women from across Australia and internationally in North-Queensland to strengthen cultural and operational fire management skills through Indigenous-led learning on Country.
The research project moved beyond a standard evaluation project and pioneered an Indigenous-led evaluation embedded in decolonial methodologies and Indigenous stand-point theory. The project conducted in-depth interviews with delegates before and after the training program, collected data through reflective journalling, and participant observation. Perhaps most significantly, the project pioneered a new method of data collection through having an embedded researcher. The embedded research – NIDR Research Fellow Zoe Schultz – was both a participant and primary researcher.
The evaluation found that the program generated profound and interconnected benefits extending well beyond technical fire training. Six key impact domains emerged: safety and support; confidence and empowerment; reciprocal exchange; connection and healing; cultural, personal and professional growth; and reincorporation into participants' families, communities and workplaces. Together, these findings demonstrate that culturally safe, Indigenous women-led learning environments create conditions for healing, leadership development and renewed cultural authority while simultaneously strengthening Australia's fire and disaster resilience workforce.
The evaluation provides an evidence base for governments, fire agencies and land management organisations to redesign professional development around Indigenous leadership, cultural safety and knowledge exchange. It demonstrates that when First Nations women are supported to reconnect with Country, culture and one another, the benefits extend far beyond individual participants, strengthening communities, institutions and Australia's collective capacity to care for Country in an era of increasing climate risk.
The Foundations in Disaster Recovery Short Course: Transforming Research to Practice
Dr Kate Brady, University of New South Wales and Dr Claire Leppold, University of Melbourne
The Foundations in Disaster Recovery: Impacts to People and Communities short course (Foundations course) is an unparalleled example of the translation of research evidence to build resilience in recovery work. Designed and facilitated at the University of Melbourne by leading disaster recovery researchers Dr. Claire Leppold and Dr. Kate Brady, this course is focussed on ensuring that people who work in disaster recovery have access to gold-standard research evidence that is relevant to their roles.
The course runs 3 times a year, with 313 participants completing it to date. To support accessibility, we have built in a scholarship scheme which awards fee-free places to date for community leaders and people from organisations with no access to professional development funding. The course adapts to a range of learning styles, blending self-paced online learning, live webinars, research materials with practical extension resources and an optional in-person workshop. The course design is intentionally flexible, based on consultation on the needs of participants working and living in post-disaster settings.
Learning outcomes are strengthened through the course design which has prioritised collaboration. Participants are connected with leading domestic and international experts in research and industry, including the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience team, Phoenix Australia, AIDR, NHRA, Australian Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent, QUT, Monash University, University of Sydney, Curtain University, Boston College (USA) and Loyola University (USA). Through these connections, participants are exposed to cutting edge research and build familiarity with the resources across the sector and organisations that they can continue to connect with in their work.
The translation of research through the Foundations course has uplifted recovery practices across Australia, leading to new collaborations and recovery initiatives with particular impact seen since 2024. It continues to connect people working and leading recovery with research that is transformative.
Amplifying people’s voices to reshape recovery: HowWeSurvive proof of concept
University of New South Wales
HowWeSurvive is an ambitious new initiative that aims to reshape a systemic problem in disaster recovery – the disconnect between the top-down bureaucratic response systems and the resulting disenfranchisement and alienation of affected communities.
With long-term independent funding in place until 2063, we have used the first two years (2024-26) to enact our proof of concept of achieving this by collaborating with others, innovating and focusing on simplicity and clarity of communication. We have built a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners. Beginning in Australia, we are building a world map of people’s stories of disaster recovery - our theory of change is that a world map of people’s voices, backed by research, advocacy, partnerships and messaging, will be too hard for decision makers to ignore. So far have gathered over 1500 stories across five countries and growing. The stories are culled from Royal Commission enquiries, evaluations and other seldom-read reports. With our partner MapAI we have added AI capability to allow for quicker story gathering and user interrogation with a wider ambition to add more capability in the years to come. We have published books, reports and papers, including an annual ‘Recovery Almanac’ of community leaders, researchers and practitioners’ views of recovery. We have led national research on post-disaster housing recovery, homelessness and the overlooked work of social workers in recovery. We are currently developing indicators for a long-term independent measuring of the quality of recovery to hold decision makers to account, working with some 35 community groups, NGOs and others.
We are collaborating with with senior leaders such as the NSW State Minister for Disaster Recovery and the head of the UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction and have formed productive partnerships with a number of organisations. Recently HowWeSurvive has been recently shortlisted for two major awards.
The After Disaster project- co-designing future disaster research now
University Of Tasmania
The After Disaster project addresses an urgent need to understand the physiological, psychosocial, community and structural factors underpinning resilience and recovery from disaster events in Australia. Recognising the vital importance of person-centred, collaborative research we worked alongside community members, people with lived experience and stakeholders to co-design:
- An ongoing longitudinal research study with 2126 people aged 50+ which commenced in 2021 before any specific disaster event, initially called the ISLAND Resilience Initiative;
- The After Disaster protocol, a pre-designed post-disaster longitudinal research plan for people of all ages, launched in 2025 and available to researchers/communities nationwide.
In February 2026 we begun implementing the After Disaster protocol on a small scale in Dolphin Sands, Tasmania, after tailoring it to that context following the December 2025 bushfire. The protocol is ready for implementation elsewhere after another disaster event.
Our research embodies the belief that the best outcomes arise when everybody has an opportunity to shape how research is conducted. Our research participants and stakeholders told us how important it is that they are consulted, that research is sensitive to their needs and that it generates practical outcomes for them (see supporting documents #2, #3). We commenced the prospective arm of our research before a disaster event so that we build connection with participants and gather baseline data. This best-practice approach is rare.
By taking this novel, forward-thinking, co-design approach to our research, we are discovering how Tasmanians prepare for disaster (see supporting document #4 pp1-6), what factors help and hinder recovery (see supporting document #4 pp7-31) and how people are recovering from a recent bushfire event. We plan to expand our pre-disaster data collection to adults of all ages and are sharing our resources to benefit as many people as possible.
Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence: From Research to Readiness
Bushfire Research Centre Of Excellence, ANU
Since the devastating Black Summer bushfires, investment and innovation in bushfire technology, particularly early fire detection, has accelerated rapidly. The Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence (BRCoE) was established to address the bushfire challenge through multidisciplinary research and emerging technologies. As its research program evolved through close co-design with emergency services and land managers, a critical challenge became increasingly clear: how to determine what works, what can be trusted, and how promising technologies can be translated from research and demonstration into reliable operational capability.
This need has shaped BRCoE's distinctive collaborative and independent research-to-impact model. The Centre brings together researchers, emergency services, land managers, government and industry to identify operational needs, develop and rigorously evaluate emerging solutions, overcome barriers to implementation, and create pathways for adoption.
Its research spans the bushfire risk-to-ignition continuum: satellite observations of vegetation flammability; lightning-ignition intelligence; artificial intelligence and camera-based smoke detection; and long-range drones for surveillance of remote landscapes.
Building on a much broader body of research and impact since the Centre's establishment, its achievements since 2024 demonstrate significant advances in knowledge, capability and practice. Research on fuel moisture has transitioned into a nationally available Geoscience Australia product. Research co-designed with ACT Parks is enabling beyond-visual-line-of-sight drone operations across >100,000 hectares of remote terrain. Lightning research is improving understanding of ignition-causing strikes, while nationally significant smoke datasets and independent benchmarking are strengthening evaluation of AI-based detection technologies.
Beyond individual projects, BRCoE creates pathways for system-wide innovation through operational demonstrations, national innovation events, independent technology assessment, policy engagement and public dialogue.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate a distinctive model for disaster research: starting with operational needs, applying independent scientific evidence to emerging technologies, and working with end users to translate what works into sustained capability—helping Australia understand bushfire risk earlier, detect fires faster and make better-informed decisions.
NAB Prevent, Protect and Recover - A Whole-of-Lifecycle Natural Disaster Resilience Model
NAB
Australia is facing increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, including bushfires, floods, cyclones and severe storms. The Australian Government's National Climate Risk Assessment confirms climate hazards will worsen under all plausible futures, with more frequent and severe extreme weather events expected across Australia.
Traditionally, disaster resilience, insurance, emergency response and recovery support have operated as largely separate activities. In many cases, assistance is only activated once a customer has already been impacted by a natural disaster.
NAB identified an opportunity to move beyond this predominantly siloed and reactive model by creating a more integrated approach that supports customers across the entire disaster lifecycle.
In response, NAB structured a new 'Prevent, Protect and Recover' – Whole-of-Lifecycle Natural Disaster Resilience Model, designed to help customers and communities better prepare for, withstand and recover from natural disasters.
This new and evolving model brings together three inter-connected pillars:
- Prevent – helping customers understand and reduce natural hazard risk through NAB's founding partnership with the Resilient Building Council (RBC), weather preparedness communications, resilience education and resilience-linked insurance incentives.
- Protect – providing financial protection through NAB Insurance (issued by Allianz), including cover for major natural hazards across all Home, Landlord and Motor Insurance products.
- Recover – supporting customers following severe weather events through Allianz catastrophe response and claims support, targeted CAT communications, and NAB disaster assistance and financial support pathways.
The need for action is significant. The Resilient Building Council estimates that more than 2.5 million Australians live in high bushfire-risk regions, while the Insurance Council of Australia reported almost 157,000 insurance claims and $2.2 billion in insured losses from four major weather events during the 2023–24 catastrophe season.
Together, this new ecosystem offers a practical, scalable model for strengthening household and community resilience before, during and after natural disasters.
Community Engagement for Disaster Risk Reduction (CEDRR)
University of Melbourne
Climate change and continued development in bushfire-prone areas are increasing bushfire risk, creating an urgent need for more effective approaches to support household preparedness. While many community education programs successfully raise awareness, there is limited evidence demonstrating whether they lead to sustained household risk reduction actions.
This study evaluated a community engagement approach that combined a bushfire safety lesson delivered by Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers and researchers with a structured, dialogic engagement designed to encourage participants to reflect on their own household risks and preparedness.
Outcomes were compared with a control group that participated in the engagement process without the bushfire safety lesson. The research was conducted in Mount Alexander Shire, Australia, involving approximately 180 intervention participants and more than 300 control participants, with follow-up conducted 4-6 months later.
The evaluation found that households participating in the intervention were 2.5 times more likely to implement new bushfire risk reduction actions than those in the control group. Statistical modelling indicated that these behavioural changes were driven primarily by normative learning, whereby participants reflected on and re-evaluated their own responsibilities and actions. Qualitative findings reinforced these results, with participants describing how opportunities to discuss locally relevant risks, reflect on their circumstances, and identify practical, personalised actions increased their confidence and motivation to act.
These findings provide robust evidence that participatory, dialogue-based engagement can significantly improve household bushfire preparedness beyond traditional awareness-raising approaches.
The research suggests that community engagement programs should move beyond simply communicating risk information and instead create opportunities for reflection, discussion, and personalised action planning to achieve meaningful and sustained behaviour change.
Babies and Young Children in the Black Summer (BiBS) Study
Western Sydney University
The Babies and Young Children in the Black Summer (BiBS) Study addressed a major gap in Australian disaster research and emergency planning: the needs of infants and young children and their caregivers. Before this study, there had been no comprehensive Australian research examining how disasters affect families with very young children. This is despite their heightened vulnerability, which arises due to specialised feeding and care needs, physical immaturity, and increased susceptibility to environmental hazards.
The goal of the BiBS Study was to build an evidence base to inform emergency planning and improve future support. The Study explored preparedness, evacuation, infant and young child feeding, safety, wellbeing, and recovery experiences, generating evidence-based recommendations for policy, planning, and practice. A national survey of 233 parents who experienced the 2019–20 bushfires with children 0–4 years provided insights into family experiences during a major emergency. To gain deeper understanding of community-level impacts, 22 parents from the severely-affected Eurobodalla Shire, NSW, were interviewed. The Study also surveyed or interviewed 63 emergency responders with experience supporting families during Australian disasters, capturing perspectives across emergency types, locations, and professional roles. In addition, 20 emergency policymakers and responders from eleven high-income countries were interviewed to identify international lessons and solutions.
The BiBS Study formed part of a larger project of the Australian Breastfeeding Association, which was funded by the Australian Government and based in Eurobodalla. Following data analysis, the project moved quickly to implementation. Working closely with parents, emergency responders, health professionals, NGOs, and government agencies, a resource development and capacity-building program was undertaken using Study findings. This resulted in a suite of evidence-based resources for parents, health workers, and emergency responders, which have since been adopted and used locally and nationally to improve disaster support for families with infants and young children.
Predicting and preventing wind-induced failure of solar trackers
James Cook University
Australia's renewable energy transition depends on utility-scale solar farms, most of which use single-axis tracking systems: long, slender rows of panels rotating on a torque tube. These flexible structures are vulnerable to wind-induced aeroelastic instabilities, torsional galloping and divergence, which have caused catastrophic failures at solar farms in Australia and overseas, including the widely reported damage at Oakey, Queensland. Until now, the knowledge needed to predict these failures was held largely in confidential commercial testing or overseas studies; no Australian university had published experimental research on the aeroelastic behaviour of solar trackers.
This PhD research, conducted at the Cyclone Testing Station at James Cook University, is the first Australian university study to experimentally investigate the aeroelastic instability of single-axis solar trackers using dynamically scaled aeroelastic wind tunnel models. Models replicating full-scale industry components were tested in simulated atmospheric boundary layer flows across a range of wind directions, tilt angles, structural configurations and multi-row arrangements.
The research identified which tilt angles and wind directions trigger instability, showed that stowing panels at the highest possible tilt angle minimises risk, and demonstrated that in multi-row arrays instability strikes all rows simultaneously, so shielding by upwind rows cannot be relied upon. Most importantly, it distilled this complexity into a simple stability criterion requiring only three parameters (site wind speed, natural frequency of the structure and solar panel panel breadth), allowing any engineer to screen an existing or proposed tracker system.
Published open access and in the international peer-reviewed journal Wind and Structures, the findings give designers, asset owners, standards committees and regulators an independent Australian evidence base. The ultimate beneficiaries are the regional and remote communities, many in cyclonic regions, whose energy security depends on solar infrastructure that stays standing through severe wind events.
Waka Ŋurrkanhayŋu: Regenerating the existence of life' Reducing the risk of disasters by restoring Indigenous culture in remote communities
University Of Canberra
Waka Ŋurrkanhayŋu – Regenerating the Existence of Life is an Indigenous-led disaster risk reduction, resilience, climate adaptation, and health initiative with and for the high-at-risk very remote Yolŋu community Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island, Northern Territory. The initiative emerged in response to requests from Yolŋu Senior Elders following the devastating impacts of Category 4 cyclones and their concerns regarding increasing climate and environmental threats, declining health, and erosion of traditional ways of being-knowing- doing.
Whilst responding to the call of the Elders, Waka addresses critical gaps in disaster resilience research and practice by making explicit the systemic factors that create vulnerability and resilience, and identifying pathways for restoring the adaptive capabilities and capacities that enabled Yolŋu to thrive for millennia. The initiative is co-led and co-implemented by Yolŋu community-based and academic researchers working together two-way through an innovative kinship- and clan-based Indigenous participatory action research that synergises and transcends Indigenous and Western knowledge systems.
Through using a systems approach and extensive engagement with all sixteen Yolŋu clans, Waka is the first research that holistically identified what strengthens Yolŋu, what weakens Yolŋu, and how Yolŋu resilience can be restored and strengthened. Waka is creating a nationally and internationally significant DRR model that addresses holistically the root causes of disasters and vulnerability while restoring and strengthening Indigenous resilience and adaptive capabilities and capacities.
The initiative produced significant community, research and policy impacts, including restoring and strengthening Yolŋu ways of being-knowing-doing, leadership and research capabilities and capacities; publishing in leading international journals and international handbooks; contributing to national resilience and climate-health policy, and establishing strategic partnerships across community, government, academic and philanthropic sectors.
Waka demonstrates that revitalising Indigenous ways of being-knowing-doing can simultaneously reduce disaster risk, strengthen resilience, improve health of humans and Country, and create sustainable futures for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike.
Resilient Australia National Business Award
State and territory winners in the Business category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Business Award.
Finalists
Embedding Enterprise Resilience to Safeguard Essential Community Services
Mission Australia
New South Wales
Mission Australia is a national Christian charity that has supported Australians experiencing disadvantage since 1859, delivering housing, aged care and community services across metropolitan, regional, remote and very remote locations. In response to increasingly complex disruptions, including extreme weather events, system interdependencies and evolving risk environments, Mission Australia has embedded an enterprise‑wide resilience and business continuity capability to safeguard essential community services.
Over the past two years, the organisation has implemented a deliberate, scalable program of work that integrates governance, operational preparedness and frontline capability. Enterprise Resilience and Business Continuity is now embedded across more than 250 services nationwide, supporting approximately 2,300 employees, and enabling proportionate responses ranging from local service‑level disruptions through to multi‑state and enterprise‑wide activations.
The initiative combines clear governance and escalation pathways, including executive and Board‑level oversight, with practical, locally embedded planning. Site‑specific Business Continuity Plans, an Extreme Weather Event Framework and defined enterprise response structures support consistent decision‑making while retaining flexibility to respond to local community needs. Cross‑functional collaboration between service leaders, corporate operations, technology, security and governance teams ensures workforce safety, service continuity and coordinated response during disruption.
Sustainability is achieved by embedding resilience into business‑as‑usual operations. Internally developed online training modules build workforce capability over time, while structured annual review processes, supported by standardised tools and central systems, ensure plans remain current and continuously improved. Regular exercises, live activations and post‑incident reviews reinforce learning and maturity.
Through this integrated, people‑centred approach, Mission Australia has strengthened its ability to protect its workforce, maintain essential services and support communities during increasingly complex and disruptive events, demonstrating a practical and transferable model for enterprise resilience.
Project Overwatch
Woolworths Group
Queensland
Our Commitment to Australian Communities:
During natural disasters, keeping supermarkets open and stocked with fresh food is a critical lifeline. ’ Project Overwatch is a pioneering initiative that shifts supermarket operations from reactive crisis response to proactive, data-driven preparedness. Our goal is simple: ensure that when a major event hits, stock remains safe and available on shelves so we can support and feed impacted regions when they need us most.
Key Achievements so far:
Community Food Security Mapped: We analysed and built individual risk profiles for 397 high-risk stores, prioritising 23 Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) remote sites where our supermarket is the community's sole supply of essentials.
The Chilled-Stock Breakthrough:
Grid failures threaten fresh food availability. We scientifically proved that deploying custom Thermal Refrigeration Blankets keeps chilled food safe for up to 4 hours longer. In live trials, this simple intervention saved up to 96% of vulnerable stock (saving $174,000 in a single event at our Warner store), directly preventing empty shelves post-disaster.
Rapid Recovery Preparedness:
The extended cold stock protection combined with the store risk profiles has enabled more efficient prioritisation of where to send external generators during severe weather events & prolonged power outages. This strengthens our ability to serve the community for longer during these times while minimising spoiled stock & land fill.
F27 Strategic Investment:
This work has allowed strategic business case creation to strengthen this vital community safety net. We have now secured F27 CapEx funding approval to roll out upgraded, universal-fit thermal blankets across 173 of our highest-priority regional and remote stores. This targeted funding strengthens the resilience of local supermarkets, ensuring they remain operational and fully stocked to serve as an anchor of support for their local communities.
Flying the KITE: Co-Designing Cultural Tourism as a First Nations-Led Strategy for Drought Resilience
Flinders University
South Australia
Drought threatens more than crops. It threatens the economic foundations, social fabric and long-term viability of regional communities. In South Australia's Riverland, agriculture is the dominant economic sector but it is significantly threatened by climate change-induced drought. The need to diversify local economies is urgent and real to safeguard the economic vitality of this regional community.
Flying the ‘KITE’ (Katarapko Island Tourism Experience), directly addresses this challenge by co-designing a cultural tourism experience with First Nations communities. Funded through the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund and led by Flinders University with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC), the project develops a community-owned tourism experience on Katarapko Island - a place of deep cultural and ecological significance in the Murray River National Park.
The project applies a place-based, community-led, and innovative approach. It places First Nations knowledge, leadership, and self-determination at the centre of the design. RMMAC members, Elders and Traditional Owners determine all elements of the tourism experience, such as what is shared, how it is shared, and on whose terms. This creates a genuine pathway for empowering local Aboriginal cultural heritage practitioners, generating community-controlled economic activity, and building place-based resilience, which cannot be achieved through infrastructural or grant funding alone.
The project also thinks beyond tourism. By bringing RMMAC together with local government, business and community organisations, it has cultivated cross-sector partnerships that have already extended into collaborations outside this project. Resilience is not a stated goal, but it is a demonstrated outcome of this project; through multi-stakeholder engagement, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing.
Flying the KITE shows what is possible when communities are trusted to lead, when institutions step back and support rather than direct, and when drought resilience is understood not just as a farming problem but as a whole-of-community challenge.
Primary Care Emergency Exercise Toolkit
Murray PHN
Victoria
The Primary Care Emergency Exercise Toolkit is a scalable, discussion-based exercise resource designed to strengthen emergency preparedness across primary care settings.
Developed by Murray PHN in partnership with Strategic Disaster Solutions, the toolkit empowers general practices, pharmacies, community health services, aged care homes, allied health and mental health providers, and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to confidently explore how they would respond to disruptive events.
Primary care organisations often operate under significant time pressures and may lack access to specialist emergency management expertise. This toolkit addresses that gap through a practical, trauma-informed and highly adaptable suite of scenario exercises that can be delivered independently without requiring formal training or external facilitation.
The toolkit includes structured scenarios covering natural hazards, infectious disease events, digital system disruption, critical incidents, and infrastructure failure. Each scenario is supported by facilitator guidance, escalation injects, structured debrief frameworks, and improvement action templates to support governance, leadership and service continuity.
Its innovation lies in its simplicity, usability and transferability. The resource is scalable across small practices and large multi-provider networks, adaptable to local risk profiles, and designed for repeat use, as organisational maturity increases. It shifts preparedness from compliance-based planning to practical, collaborative conversation. Early implementation in a primary care setting has resulted in documented process improvement, strengthened cyber risk controls, and the embedding of quarterly preparedness discussions within governance cycles.
The toolkit is being distributed to primary care providers across the Murray PHN region, with national transfer potential across Australia’s 29 Primary Health Networks. The toolkit strengthens community resilience by enhancing clarity of roles, escalation pathways, communication processes, and continuity planning across the primary care sector.
By building confidence before a crisis occurs, Murray PHN has created a sustainable, sector-wide preparedness resource with national transfer potential.
Resilient Australia National Community Award
State and territory winners in the Community category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Community Award.
Finalists
Outdoors Under Pressure: Building outdoor sector-wide natural disaster resilience and risk reduction
Outward Bound Australia and the National Centre for Outdoor Risk and Readiness
Australian Capital Territory
Outdoors Under Pressure: Building sector-wide natural disaster resilience and risk reduction.
Established by Outward Bound Australia in response to the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires which devastated ¾ of its operational areas, the National Center for Outdoor Risk & Readiness (NatCORR) exists to shift the outdoor sector from reactive response to proactive preparedness.
NatCORR is strengthening Australia’s outdoor sector by building coordinated capability in risk, resilience and climate adaptation for a sector both vulnerable and overlooked by the traditional approach to disaster management.
Over the past couple of years, NatCORR has delivered high-impact engagement across Australia through incident response workshops, weather readiness training, and national collaboration forums. These initiatives have directly supported outdoor providers to improve decision-making, incident management, and organisational resilience in increasingly complex environmental conditions.
NatCORR’s commitment is increasing the understanding of natural disaster impact on the outdoor sector, using this understanding to reduce the risk of future disaster impacts. This is achieved through increasing resilience, adaptability and preparedness at all levels and reducing exposure to risk, harm and/or severity of future disasters. To achieve this, NatCORR is leading a better connected and better prepared outdoor sector, with improved ability to anticipate, assess, prepare for and respond to natural disasters and extreme weather events.
NatCORR is also innovating through the development of sector-specific digital tools, including a heat forecasting and risk assessment platform tailored to outdoor activities, integrating weather data with human heat response modelling, in partnership with USyd.
In 2025, NatCORR convened a National Outdoor Risk & Resilience Symposium in partnership with peak-body Outdoors NSW/ACT, bringing together leaders from across the country to share insights, align approaches, and strengthen sector-wide capability.
Through collaboration, practical tools, and sector leadership, NatCORR is enabling a safer, more resilient outdoor industry—supporting thousands of organisations, workers, and participants across Australia.
Denmark Bushfire Ready Weekend
Bushfire Ready Denmark WA
Western Australia
A weekend of community-wide events designed to raise awareness about bushfire risks through engaging activities, informative seminars, hands-on workshops, and practical experiences. The weekend promotes realistic actions that residents can undertake and plan for. It allows direct community involvement, in providing residents to access fire brigade members, shire representatives, bushfire preparedness experts and Bushfire Ready facilitators. Emergency services and brigades use the event for community engagement and recruitment purposes. Coordinated by local Bushfire Ready groups, the event plays a key role in boosting preparedness and improving early emergency reporting to authorities.
Strengthening Disaster Resilience Through a Gendered Lens
Gender And Disaster Australia
Northern Territory
As disasters become more intense and frequent a critical factor continues to shape outcomes yet remains under-addressed: gender. Gender and Disaster Australia’s Lessons in Disaster (LID) training program is leading a national shift in how emergency management understands risk, response, and recovery. By equipping over 2,000 community members, volunteers and emergency services professionals with practical tools to apply a gender lens to their role, LID is transforming policy, practice, and outcomes across the disaster management sector helping build safer, more inclusive, and more effective responses for all communities. This is not just training; it is systemic change.
The Lessons in Disaster (LID) program is an evidence-based national training initiative designed to integrate gender into disaster planning, policy, and practice. It supports emergency management professionals in understanding how gender intersects with risk, vulnerability, and resilience, and in applying this knowledge to real-world decision-making.
The program is grounded in Gender and Disaster Australia’s broader work, including the National Gender and Emergency Management (GEM) Guidelines, and draws on extensive research into how disasters impact people differently based on gendered roles, rigid social stereotypes, and structural gender based inequalities.
The program is delivered by Gender and Disaster Australia, the country’s leading authority on gender and disaster. Participants include professionals across
- Emergency services
- Health systems
- Local government
- Community recovery organisations
The success of LID is driven by key elements such as an evidence-based approach, practical application, systems thinking, courageous conversations and capacity building. This cross-sector participation is a critical strength, enabling collaboration and shared learning across systems that must work together during disasters.
With climate change increasing the frequency and severity of disasters, inequities are being amplified. The LID program addresses this urgency by ensuring disaster management is not only effective but also equitable.
Rebuilding the social fabric: 5 years of community recovery
Reclink Australia
Victoria
Rebuilding the Social Fabric: Five Years of Community Recovery is a long-term, community-led disaster recovery initiative delivered by the Reclink East Gippsland team across remote and rural communities impacted by the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires, with recovery further impacted by Covid, isolation and ongoing social disruption.
We were fortunate coming into this project that we essentially had a blank canvas. For us, that meant innovation could be at the forefront of what we did. Rather than applying a fixed program model, we worked alongside communities over time to understand what recovery actually looked like on the ground, and what was needed to rebuild connection, confidence and participation.
Across five years (and counting!), the project has focused on strengthening the social fabric of communities. This has been achieved through delivering a wide range of sport, recreation, arts and volunteering programs designed as low-barrier entry points into wellbeing and reconnection.
Activities have included community music and photography programs, basketball, gentle exercise, creative arts and nature-based activities. These programs were intentionally designed to reduce barriers to participation, create safe and welcoming spaces, supporting people to re-engage at their own pace.
A strong focus on local employment, community champions and partnerships with local organisations has ensured the work is embedded in community life. Over time, some of our participants have grown into volunteering, leadership and informal community roles.
The most significant outcomes have been increased social connection, reduced isolation, improved confidence and stronger community cohesion across some of the region’s most remote towns. Our key message is that disaster recovery is not short-term. It requires sustained presence, trust-building and long-term investment in community connection.
Northern Rivers Community Emergency Hub Guide
Resilient Uki Inc.
New South Wales
When disaster strikes the Northern Rivers, formal services may not arrive for days. In the 2022 floods, communities proved they could step up, but without a guide, it was chaotic and traumatic. This project created the tool they asked for.
Resilient Uki, funded by the Northern Rivers Community Foundation, led the co-design of the Northern Rivers Community Emergency Hub Guide. A free, printable, plain-language guide enabling any community member to stand up a Hub in the first 72 hours of a disaster, with no prior training required.
Adapted from the internationally recognised Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO) model and its Australian iteration by Yarra Ranges Council (Victoria), the guide was co-designed with 10 Community Resilience Groups across Byron and Tweed Shires through surveys, an online session, and two in-person workshops. Over 400 community-suggested edits localised it for Northern Rivers hazards, networks, and the reality of operating without council support.
The guide covers Hub access, role assignment, information coordination, needs matching, community support, child safety, and communicating with official agencies. An editable local planning template and two public case studies accompany it.
What makes this innovative: unlike every comparable guide in Australia, this one was written by community. Not a government agency, specifically for communities that cannot rely on council support. It is the first of its kind adapted to the Northern Rivers context.
Beneficiaries: the 300,000 residents of one of Australia's highest climate-risk regions, 10 Community Resilience Groups with tools they can use immediately, and any community in Australia that adapts this freely available guide.
Implementation of the SES Storm Warning System
Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management
Tasmania
In May 2026 the Tasmania State Emergency Service (SES) successfully implemented a three-tiered Storm Warning System, aligning Tasmania with the nationally consistent Australian Warning System (AWS) enhancing the state's capability to warn and inform threatened communities during storms.
As the Response Management Authority for storms, Tasmania SES recognised the need for a modern warning framework that clearly communicated risk, impacts and the actions people should take to stay safe.
The initiative delivered the technical integration of storm warnings into the Tasmanian Government's home of emergency information and warnings, TasALERT. The impact-based warning system complements the Bureau of Meteorology severe weather and thunderstorm warnings while providing clear, action-oriented advice tailored to community's needs through an official and trusted source of emergency information.
The implementation built on lessons learned from previous AWS projects and demonstrated strong collaboration across emergency management stakeholders. Importantly, it established a consistent framework that empowers communities to make informed decisions before, during and after severe weather, helping to reduce risk to life, property and livelihoods.
The successful implementation of the SES Storm Warning System represents a significant advancement in Tasmania's emergency management capability, creating a more resilient and informed community while contributing to the national objective of delivering a consistent approach to information and warnings across all hazards and jurisdictions in Australia.
BeReadyBruny
Australian Red Cross
Tasmania
Be Ready Bruny was a collaborative disaster resilience project delivered across Bruny Island, Tasmania, between June 2024 and March 2025. Funded through the Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Grants Program with support from Kingborough Council, the project set out to raise risk awareness and motivate local people to take action, connecting a geographically isolated community with the knowledge, skills and relationships needed to withstand and recover from disasters.
Bruny Island presents a distinctive risk environment: an island off an island off an island, with approximately 600 permanent residents, an ageing population, complete dependence on the vehicular ferry for essential supplies, and significant exposure to bushfire, flooding and tsunami. When the ferry stops, or the isthmus between North and South Bruny floods, communities can quickly find themselves on their own.
Over twelve months, the project reached 418 community members through workshops, pop-up sessions, informal gatherings and school programs. It brought together residents, emergency services, local government and state agencies around a shared purpose, and left behind a community that is more connected, more informed, and actively continuing the work. This includes publishing monthly disaster preparedness updates in the Bruny News, to leading a community-driven property numbering project that will help emergency services find people when it matters most.
The project demonstrates what is possible when an NGO with deep expertise in psychosocial resilience works hand-in-hand with local government and leans into the rhythms and relationships of the community it serves.
Home grown program connects locals after a disaster
Cherry Gardens Connect2recover
South Australia
Home grown program connects locals after a disaster
Cherry Gardens Connect2Recover (CGC2R)
Connect2Recover is a fully community-led initiative designed to strengthen disaster preparedness and recovery within the geographically dispersed area of Cherry Gardens. The project addresses a critical, often overlooked systemic gap: the vulnerable period immediately following a disaster when first responders stand down, but coordinated recovery support has not yet arrived. It is a time when neighbours are trying to help each other, but without a way to coordinate, needs go unmet and offers of help are lost.
Born out of Red Cross RediCommunities workshops, the initiative bridges this gap by bringing together physical infrastructure and purpose built technology. Connect2Recover links key local venues, our only local venues—the Memorial Hall, Golf Club, Church, and Recreation Ground—into a functional "hub of hubs" that centralises our relief efforts. We have introduced a custom web platform (cherrygardensconnect.org.au) which features the innovative Recover Connect (Give Help / Get Help) tool.
Unlike conventional, automated systems, Connect2Recover prioritises human judgment, relationship-building, and the all important local knowledge. The platform allows residents to easily request assistance, offer resources, or volunteer without needing an app or login. Local volunteer moderators manually review entries, use a real-time tracking dashboard, and apply their knowledge to match community needs with available assets directly.
The platform is fully operational and has been rigorously tested across multiple devices through disaster simulation exercises, including bushfire and tornado scenarios. With strong coordinated offers of assistance by our hub partners during the recovery phase (as set out in memorandums of understanding) Connect2Recover lifts the local system. Connect2Recover is ensuring our community can effectively self-organise, share responsibility, and assist even its most vulnerable members after a disaster.
Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) Peer Leadership Development Program
Queenslanders With Disability Network
Queensland
Queenslanders with Disability Network's (QDN) Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) Peer Leadership Development Program sought to transform the role of people with disability from recipients of emergency information to leaders influencing disaster preparedness and resilience in their communities.
QDN worked in partnership with the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers (The Department), Queensland Police Service (QPS) and three local governments to co-design and co-deliver the Program. The Program was delivered with Southern Downs Regional Council, Redland City Council and Bundaberg Regional Council from October 2024 to October 2025.
Through co-design, leadership development, person-centred emergency planning and direct engagement with disaster management stakeholders, participants built the confidence, skills and networks needed to influence local preparedness efforts.
A key innovation of the program was its successful translation of national disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction policy into localised action. The combination of peer leadership, co-design and council partnerships, enabled the project to address a recognised gap in disaster resilience for people with disability and presented how lived experience can be embedded within disaster management arrangements to strengthen preparedness, inclusion and community resilience.
Twelve people with disability participated as Local Champions, working alongside councils, emergency services and community organisations to identify barriers, strengthen preparedness and improve inclusion within local disaster management arrangements.
Independent evaluation by the University of Sydney found participants increased their understanding of disaster preparedness, improved their personal emergency planning and strengthened their ability to contribute to community resilience. The program also increased awareness among local governments and emergency management stakeholders about the importance of disability-inclusive planning.
By combining peer leadership, co-design and cross-sector collaboration, the program created lasting local partnerships, informed community preparedness and demonstrated a scalable model for embedding lived experience in disaster risk reduction ensuring people with disability are recognised as leaders and active participants in disaster management.
Preventing bystander drowning through community co-design of public rescue equipment
Life Saving Victoria
Victoria
Public rescue equipment in Venus Bay is a state-first drowning prevention initiative designed to reduce risk in one of Victoria’s highest hazard coastal environments through co-designed infrastructure, emergency communication and public education.
Venus Bay is a remote, largely unpatrolled coastline with strong currents, high surf and a history of fatal drownings. After a bystander fatally drowned attempting a rescue in 2021, the local community, Venus Bay Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC) and Life Saving Victoria (LSV) worked together to develop a practical response that could reduce risk, support safer bystander action and strengthen emergency response.
The project delivered five publicly-accessible rescue equipment stations at key beach access points. Each station includes a rescue tube, official emergency marker, call button enabling two-way communication to Triple Zero (000), instructional and long-range signage, and multilingual support. Together, these features help bystanders call for help sooner, access rescue equipment quickly, and respond more safely in an emergency.
Co-design and community engagement were central to the initiative. Over 200 local residents, visitors, club members and stakeholders helped shape the solution through consultation, testing and feedback; building awareness, local trust and shared ownership of the infrastructure.
Early results have shown strong impact. The equipment helped save six lives within eight days of launching in December 2024, with a total 11 lives saved to date. Community awareness of the stations increased, and confidence in how to respond in an emergency improved. These outcomes demonstrate the value of combining shared knowledge, infrastructure, education, and innovation in a high-risk, unpatrolled setting.
The project shifts the focus from reactive response to proactive risk reduction. By combining public rescue infrastructure with collaboration and community at its heart, it provides a practical model for improving coastal safety, strengthening local partnerships and building long term resilience in other high-risk settings.
Resilient Australia National Government Award
State and territory winners in the Government category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Government Award.
Finalists
Resilience starts with foresight, not hindsight
Department of Premier and Cabinet, Tasmania
Tasmania
The Tasmanian Disaster Resilience Strategy is a statewide initiative that has transformed how Tasmania approaches disaster resilience. Led by Resilience and Recovery Tasmania within the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the project brought together government, local government, industry, community organisations, academia and community members to develop a shared vision and roadmap for strengthening resilience to natural, human-caused and biological disasters.
Tasmania has been experiencing increasingly complex risk environment, shaped by bushfires, floods, severe weather, the COVID-19 pandemic and cyber incidents. Recognising that resilience cannot be achieved by emergency services alone, the project adopted a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to create a coordinated framework for reducing disaster risks and building resilience across the state.
More than 120 representatives participated in strategic foresight workshops facilitated in partnership with the Australian National University National Security College’s Futures Hub. These workshops introduced innovative futures-thinking methodologies, enabling participants to explore emerging risks, challenge assumptions and identify long-term resilience priorities. The project also included statewide consultation through discussion papers, surveys, public engagement at the Hobart and Burnie Shows, and targeted engagement with the Premier’s Youth Advisory Council and the People with Disability Emergency Preparedness Project Group.
Beyond delivering a new statewide Strategy, the project strengthened relationships across sectors, established a network of strategic foresight practitioners, and built long-term capability within government to consider future risks and opportunities. The resulting Strategy provides an enduring framework that aligns efforts across Tasmania and supports coordinated action before, during and after disasters.
The project demonstrates how strategic foresight, collaboration and inclusive engagement can create lasting change and build a more resilient future for all Tasmanians.
Strategic Climate Resilience in First Nations Social Housing
NSW Aboriginal Housing Office
New South Wales
Climate change is intensifying disaster risk across Australia, with First Nations communities and social housing tenants among the most exposed to worsening flood, bushfire, storm and extreme heat. In response, the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO) secured funding through the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) Disaster Ready Fund (DRF). The Disaster Ready Fund (DRF) is the Australian Government’s flagship initiative for disaster resilience and risk reduction.
Through the DRF, the AHO, Finity and the Resilient Building Council (RBC) collaborated to develop an assessment program that shifts housing resilience from reactive recovery to proactive, evidence-based risk reduction investment.
Together, the partnership assessed more than 13,000 AHO and Aboriginal Community Housing Provider (ACHP) homes housing around 32,000 tenants, supported by 502 detailed property condition assessments across 34 local government areas. It combined property-level climate risk modelling, dwelling-level resilience ratings and a wellbeing-informed cost–benefit analysis to identify where resilience investment will have the greatest impact.
The results are practical and compelling. The project identified highly targeted flood interventions with benefit–cost ratios as high as 8.8 where house-raising is feasible and demonstrated that heat resilience upgrades for around 6,100 sub-3-star homes can achieve a benefit–cost ratio of 1.5 when wellbeing is included. It also showed that many resilience measures only become economically visible when wellbeing, including avoided displacement and physical and mental health impacts are valued alongside avoided asset damage.
For tenants, this is not only about protecting buildings. It is about staying safely in their homes on country, avoiding displacement, reducing heat stress and preserving stability, health and connection to place.
The project gives AHO a practical roadmap to prioritise upgrades, set resilience targets, engage and inform Aboriginal Community Housing Providers and to justify future funding requests, while offering a scalable national model for public housing, community housing and broader resilience planning.
Resilient Homes Fund - Department of Housing and Public Works and Queensland Reconstruction Authority
A Resilient Home
Queensland
Over 1,300 Queensland homes are in a stronger position to withstand the impacts of future flooding events thanks to the Resilient Homes Fund (RHF) Program, a jointly funded initiative (50:50) by the Queensland and Australian Governments under Category D of the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
The $741 million RHF was Australia’s first large-scale flood resilience program, integrating progressive policy, homeowner education and targeted grants for retrofitting, home raising and voluntary buybacks.
Established after the severe flood events of 2021-2022, the RHF focused on helping Queenslanders to be better prepared and return to their normal lives sooner should disaster strike again.
To date, over 1,300 flood-impacted homeowners have accessed grants to resiliently retrofit, demolish and rebuild or raise their affected homes. This equates to almost one home becoming resilient per business day since the program started.
A further 685 properties were bought back as part of the Voluntary Home Buy-Back program, which was administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA), in conjunction with local governments.
By improving resilience to flooding and reducing post-disaster displacement, the program helps protect existing housing stock and support community stability.
The program combines evidence-based risk assessment with practical resilience measures tailored to individual properties and communities.
Home Energy Support: Social Housing Upgrades Project
ACT Government
Australian Capital Territory
The Home Energy Support: Social Housing Upgrades Project is a large-scale ACT Government initiative to improve the resilience, comfort and energy efficiency of social housing properties, while also reducing energy bills and emissions. The Project delivers ceiling insulation and replaces gas appliances with efficient electric alternatives across all feasible public and community housing properties, with full completion targeted by 2028. To date, over 4,200 homes have been upgraded.
The Project addresses a critical and growing risk: vulnerable households are disproportionately exposed to climate-related hazards, particularly extreme heat and cold. Many social housing properties have historically been energy inefficient, increasing tenants’ energy hardship, health risks and reduced capacity to cope during extreme weather events.
In response, the Project delivers a coordinated and practical approach to disaster risk reduction by improving thermal performance (keeping homes cooler in summer and warmer in winter), removing financial barriers through fully funded upgrades, and strengthening households’ ability to safely remain in their homes during extreme conditions.
The Project is underpinned by strong collaboration across government, industry and community partners, and is supported by the ACT’s Integrated Energy Plan and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards. It has been designed to be scalable, delivering upgrades at pace through an innovative supplier panel while simultaneously building local workforce capability.
The Project is already delivering measurable outcomes. Evaluations show improvements in thermal comfort and energy efficiency, and increased ability for tenants to cope with heatwaves and extreme cold events. These improvements directly support disaster resilience by enhancing adaptive capacity and reducing vulnerability.
Through its scale, strong governance and focus on vulnerable households, the Project provides a nationally leading, practical model for reducing climate-related risk and building long-term community resilience.
Disaster Resilience Education Project
Department of Fire and Emergency Services
Western Australia
The Disaster Resilience Education Project is a Department of Emergency Services (DFES)-led initiative, funded by a 2024-2025 National Disaster Risk Reduction grant. The project developed and implemented school-based disaster resilience education programs for Pre-Primary children in regional Western Australia, focusing on hazard awareness, preparedness behaviours, and age-appropriate coping strategies. Programs were created in response to clear gaps in early years disaster resilience resources, identified through engagement with school communities impacted by flood, bushfire and cyclone.
A “teach the teacher” delivery model is used, supported by story-based learning, classroom activities and accessible resources making disaster preparedness practical and developmentally appropriate. Pilot delivery occurred in three schools across regional locations with relevant hazard and culturally responsive content integrated into resources and classroom discussion.
Target schools were chosen due to compounding factors including isolation, recent and ongoing devastating impacts from natural hazards and vulnerable and at-risk community members. Northampton, located 52kms east of its nearest city, is somewhat isolated and recently impacted by cyclone. Dunsborough is a high bushfire risk area. The school is situated within dense bushland, with one road in and attended by 400 students. Positioned 400kms east of Broome, Fitzroy Crossing is a remote Aboriginal community recovering from Western Australia’s worst flood event on record.
Evaluation confirmed strong perceived value and clear practical benefits for students and families. Teachers described programs as “amazing,” “highly valuable,” and well‑matched to the developmental needs of the age group.
The programs create benefit beyond the classroom, providing educators with curriculum-aligned tools and supporting children to share preparedness learning at home, contributing to broader household and community awareness. Programs are designed for ongoing use and wider dissemination, with online and hard copy formats, reducing access barriers for remote and regional communities.
Empowering First Nations tourism sector disaster resilience through community-led workshops and co-designed resources
Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation
and Articulous
Queensland
With demand for authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tourism experiences growing - and disasters disproportionately impacting Indigenous communities - the project aims to empower First Nations people and corporations in the tourism industry to build their disaster resilience capacity and capabilities. It also aims to fill a resource gap in developing culturally-informed resources tailored to First Nations businesses.
Articulous was engaged by the Department the Environment, Tourism, Innovation and Science’s (DETSI) Tourism Division to co-design a First Nations Disaster Resilience and Crisis Communications program. The program is jointly funded by the Queensland and Australian Governments, under the Queensland Disaster Risk and Resilience Fund.
Articulous partnered with DETSI’s Resilience and Recovery Team and the Our Country Advisory Services (OCAS) and First Nations stakeholders adopting a community-led co-design approach to develop a suite of authentic and culturally-grounded workshops and disaster resilience resources. The Articulous team includes a First Nations employee who played a critical role grounding the project in First Nations values.
Recognising and celebrating First Nations peoples’ resilience and caring for Country over countless generations was the starting point in co-defining, co-creating and co-testing all program aspects with 180 First Nations partners, stakeholders and workshop participants.
Continuous feedback has guided deliverables, with workshops increasingly focused on storytelling as the core learning mechanism, enabling participants to share lived experiences and local strategies for preparing for, responding to, recovering from and communicating in disasters.
As a result, more than 300 First Nations tourism operators, ranger groups, creatives and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation representatives participated in 11 workshops across Queensland, from the Bunya Mountains in the south-east-corner out to Barcaldine and Mt Isa in Queensland’s Central and North West, and up to Badu Island in the Torres Strait.
Schools in Fire Country
Country Fire Authority
Victoria
Schools in Fire Country is an innovative bushfire education program that enables Year 5 and 6 students to learn, investigate and contribute to bushfire safety in their local communities. Informed by more than a decade of research into child-centred disaster risk reduction, the program moves beyond traditional awareness-based education by positioning young people as active contributors to disaster risk reduction.
Through curriculum-aligned, inquiry-based learning, students explore local challenges, engage with experts and develop practical solutions to issues that matter in their communities. Supported by teachers, CFA volunteers, emergency management practitioners, Traditional Owners, local government and other local experts, students apply their learning in real-world contexts while building critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving skills.
Schools in Fire Country is a strengths-based, community-centred program that thrives through cross-sector collaboration. More than a dozen schools across Victoria have participated, strengthening connections between schools, emergency services and their communities. Regional working groups are now supporting expansion into additional high-risk areas through coordinated partnerships between education, emergency management and community stakeholders.
The program's impact extends far beyond the classroom. Students have developed projects addressing locally relevant issues including property preparedness, Fire Danger Ratings, pet safety and emergency planning. Through community showcases, local events and media coverage, students share their learning with families and communities, creating a ripple effect that encourages broader participation in resilience-building activities.
Recognised within the Victorian Emergency Management Strategic Action Plan and Victorian Bushfire Mitigation Strategy, Schools in Fire Country demonstrates how disaster resilience can be embedded within education while supporting broader policy objectives.
By enabling students to move from awareness to action, Schools in Fire Country is strengthening preparedness, reducing risk and building enduring partnerships that help communities become more resilient to future bushfires.
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
Community Support Hubs for Local Resilience
Adelaide Hills Council in partnership with BRM Advisory
South Australia
Community Support Hubs for Local Resilience is a transformative, community-led initiative that required a deliberate shift in mindset from the outset: recognising communities not as passive recipients of support, but as capable partners in disaster resilience. Through a courageous and genuine partnership, Adelaide Hills Council and BRM Advisory worked alongside communities to provide the guidance, training and tools needed to establish and lead Community Support Hubs (CSHs) that strengthen preparedness, response and recovery alongside formal emergency management arrangements.
The project responds to a common challenge in high-risk areas such as the Adelaide Hills: communities are willing to help after bushfires, storms, floods and extended disruptions such as power outages, but often lack the structure, tools and confidence to do so safely and effectively. In response, the project created a supported CSH model that strengthens local leadership, clarifies role boundaries and builds practical readiness.
Working with community groups, volunteers, emergency management stakeholders and sector partners, the project delivered guidelines, factsheets, templates, role cards, training, starter kits and peer networking. Its innovation lies in moving beyond awareness-raising to address the conditions for successful community-led action, including governance, risk management, insurance, spontaneous volunteers and alignment with formal emergency arrangements.
The project has strengthened community capability, improved understanding of local disaster risk, and established credible, locally led CSHs with a clear pathway towards a network of hubs across the Adelaide Hills.
Benefits are already evident in stronger planning, increased engagement, enhanced networks and demonstrated local leadership, with Bridgewater–Aldgate, Charleston and Houghton–Inglewood established and five additional hubs in development.
Its influence extends beyond the region through its contribution to the LGA South Australia Community Support Hub Guide 2026. The project shows that with the right structures, partnerships and tools, communities can play a confident and effective role in disaster resilience.
Farther Christmas - A Bottom Up Approach to Resilience from the Equatorial Ausrtalian Indian Ocean Territories
Shire of Christmas Island
Northern Territory
The Shire of Christmas Island acknowledges the very present dangers climate change poses to ourselves, and to our fellow Indian Ocean Territory neighbours on the Cocos (Keeling) Island. We have consulted with Federal Govt, advisors from WA DPLH, climate and planning experts to address the very real need to relocate families from areas of future known climate change pressure that will make human life unfeasible in present areas. With the assistance of the Australian Govt's 2025 Housing Support Program Stream 1 funding, Council has completed engagements with the community to finalise and gazette through the WA Planning Commission two Structure Plans that centre on both relocating families from residential areas that will suffer from rising sea levels and catering to the retention of young families otherwise on Christmas Island in addressing our local housing crunch.
Furthermore the HSP1 funds have also funded Council's EPBC referrals for heritage and environmental values on the two Structure Plan sites, clearing the way for the Commonwealth to transition the Structure Plan sites (presently vacant unallocated Crown Land) to the local government, the local stewards of the safety and prosperity of the people of Christmas Island.
The project also seeks to address future demand from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands who have just completed a Commonwealth-WA Govt Coastal Hazard Risk Management Plan that outlines the future date when living on Home Island, native and spiritual home to the Cocos Malays, must come to an end because of the inevitable rising of sea levels in the Indian Ocean. The two Structure Plans can at full capacity cater to 800 additional dwellings, enough ot relocate the 250 households from low lying areas from Flying Fish Cove Christmas Island, and 200 households from Home Island, Cocos should that be their choice in the future.
Live Flooded Road Alerts for Safer Communities - Fraser Coast Regional Council in Partnership with FloodMapp
Floodmapp
Queensland
Fraser Coast Regional Council, in partnership with FloodMapp and supported by the NRMA Insurance HELP Fund, has introduced a state-of-the-art flood forecasting and alerting system to enhance public safety and community awareness during flood events.
The project addresses a growing challenge in Australia: helping people avoid dangerous roads during flooding. By combining live flood road alerts with Waze and Google Maps, the initiative provides timely, location-specific information about flooded and at-risk roads to both council decision-makers and the public. This supports safer travel decisions, improves situational awareness, and helps councils respond more effectively as conditions change.
Since launch, more than 360 flood alerts have been issued across the Fraser Coast region, informing over 600 impacted journeys through Waze reporting. Drivers have also actively validated alerts in real time, providing direct community confirmation that flood road warnings remained accurate and relevant during events.
Flooding can disrupt communities quickly, particularly when roads become unsafe with little warning. Traditional communication methods remain important, but they can be difficult to maintain in rapidly changing conditions or may not reach people in time, particularly travellers or tourists. This initiative addresses that gap by delivering road hazard information through platforms many people already use while driving.
The strength of the project lies in its collaboration. Fraser Coast Regional Council (FCRC) provided local leadership and operational knowledge; FloodMapp supported the delivery of timely flood information and road impact monitoring; and the NRMA Insurance HELP Fund enabled the rollout of the initiative. Together, the partnership has created a practical and scalable model for improving how flood risk is communicated.
This approach can be readily applied in other flood-prone regions across Australia. It demonstrates how local government, industry, and funding partners can work together to deliver clearer, more timely information that helps keep communities safe and strengthens disaster resilience.
Gold Coast Resilient Home Design Guidelines
City of Gold Coast
Queensland
The City of Gold Coast’s Resilient Home Design Guidelines are a suite of free, publicly accessible resources that translate bushfire, flood and extreme heat risk into practical, household-level housing design decisions. Developed in response to escalating climate-driven hazard exposure, the initiative supports homeowners, renters, landlords and small-scale developers to improve safety, reduce damage and enhance the long-term performance of homes.
The Gold Coast faces compounding natural hazards, with more than half of the city affected by bushfire risk, over two-thirds exposed to flooding across ten major catchments, and increasing extreme heat days driving significant health, cost of living and liveability impacts. While these risks are well understood through planning and hazard mapping systems, they are rarely translated into the everyday decisions that shape how homes are designed, renovated and maintained.
The initiative addresses this gap through three coordinated guidelines - Bushfire, Flood and Heat Resilient Design - structured around a consistent decision framework that supports users to understand exposure, assess their property, identify design responses and prioritise actions over time.
Unlike conventional single-hazard guidance, the suite integrates multiple hazards within a shared structure, enabling users to identify co-benefits, manage trade-offs and make more informed decisions at the property scale.
Developed with specialist input from JDA Co (Dr James Davidson), Meridian Urban (Dr Ryan McNeilly Smith) and the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (Dr Alan Green), and grounded in applied South East Queensland (SEQ) case studies, the guidelines translate technical evidence, architecture principles and elements, climate data and planning frameworks into accessible, design-led actions.
By embedding resilience into everyday housing design decisions rather than relying solely on regulation or post-disaster intervention, the initiative establishes a scalable model for locally led adaptation. It demonstrates how practical design guidance can shift resilience from policy intent into lived practice across existing and new housing stock.
Exercise Dicheall: Strengthening Community Resilience through a Multi-Agency Emergency Management Exercise
City of Stirling
Western Australia
Exercise Dìcheall is a capability-based, multi-agency emergency management initiative delivered under the All West Australians Reducing Emergencies (AWARE) program and led by the City of Stirling. Developed from an initial concept into a structured, outcomes-driven exercise, it was designed to strengthen cross-jurisdictional capability, enhance operational readiness and support continuous improvement across metropolitan and regional stakeholders.
The initiative aligns with the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (2011) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (2018), promoting shared responsibility, improved preparedness and strengthened recovery capability. Built on a capability-based framework consistent with State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) core capabilities, the exercise simulated a complex, multi-hazard emergency in a controlled but realistic environment. This approach enhanced participant understanding of risk, strengthened decision-making under pressure and supported coordinated multi-agency response.
Exercise Dìcheall successfully activated and validated Local Emergency Management Arrangements (LEMA) across response and recovery phases. A key achievement was the integration of the City of Stirling, City of Vincent and City of Bayswater into a unified operational structure, including a combined Local Recovery Coordination Group (LRCG), providing a practical test of regional recovery coordination.
The exercise engaged three Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) and associated State Emergency Service (SES) units, reinforcing interoperability and strengthening relationships. Broader participation from agency and sector representatives as evaluators and observers enhanced oversight and shared learning.
Outcomes included strong multi-agency participation, activation of a regional recovery governance model, and measurable improvements in coordination, role clarity and readiness. The initiative also produced reusable training resources and a scalable model for future exercises.
Named in honour of James “Jim” MacLean ESM, Exercise Dìcheall reflects diligence and commitment, demonstrating innovation, collaboration and measurable impact in strengthening community resilience.
Ready & Resilient At-Risk Communities
Baw Baw Shire Council
Victoria
Ready & Resilient At-Risk Communities.
This nomination is being put forward by the Baw Baw Shire Emergency Management Team, with Ausnet and the Australian Red Cross recognised for their contributions to this initiative.
The Ready & Resilient Communities initiative is a series of interlinked projects which aim to support Baw Baw residents who are most at risk in emergencies to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies. With research indicating vulnerable cohorts bear a disproportionate social, health, and economic burden of disasters, the importance of this work cannot be overstated.
Three projects have been developed to support the aims of this initiative.
A People at risk in emergencies Action Group has been established with government, non-government, Community Sector Organisations and advocacy groups. The Action Group has workshopped the Victorian People at Risk in Emergencies Planning Toolkit, and results will form the basis of a Framework which will guide how agencies can collaborate in emergencies to better support disadvantaged groups.
Get Ready, Get Techy, Go! (Ausnet funded) digital literacy and emergency readiness workshops have also been developed for a range of at-risk cohorts including multicultural, low socio-economic, First Nations and people living with disabilities and/or chronic illness.
This is further supported by a Resilient Kids Initiative offering Red Cross 'Pillowcase' and 'Get Ready' programs to Primary School children; and Martial Arts based emotional regulation and resilience sessions for children in two communities which were most affected by storm and flooding events in 2024.
The core components that have made this program successful are it's whole-of-community and shared responsibility approaches where a range of sectors are collaborating around emergency preparedness for the first time. The tailoring of emergency readiness sessions for vulnerable cohorts is also innovative.
People most at risk in emergencies will benefit from this program, as will whole-of-community.
Weathering Well
Wagga Wagga City Council
New South Wales
Weathering Well is a community resilience initiative designed to strengthen social connection, mental wellbeing, and help-seeking behaviours across the rural communities of the Wagga Wagga LGA and Lockhart Shire. The program creates safe, welcoming opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to come together, learn practical skills, and access support before, during, and after challenging times.
The initiative delivers a diverse program of events and training that meets people where they are on their mental health journey, including community concerts featuring Dylan Wright and Sunday Lemonade, Mental Health First Aid training, presentations by The Unbreakable Farmer, wellness workshops, and suicide prevention sessions. Mental health professionals and support services are embedded within events, ensuring assistance is accessible, visible, and stigma-free.
A defining feature of Weathering Well is its focus on fostering genuine community connection. The project identified that sharing a meal is one of the most effective ways to bring people together, reduce social isolation, and encourage meaningful conversations. As a result, this became a central element of every event.
The program has also demonstrated flexibility and responsiveness to community needs. During Wagga Comedy Fest, Weathering Well introduced the free “Laugh Bus” service, providing transport from rural communities and unlocking discounted access to comedy performances - removing barriers to participation and enabled more residents to connect through shared positive experiences.
Weathering Well has deliberately extended beyond major population centres, delivering events in Uranquinty, Lockhart, Pleasant Hills, Ladysmith, Tarcutta, Yerong Creek, and across Wagga Wagga. By bringing opportunities directly to smaller communities, the project has increased access to mental health education, strengthened local networks, and fostered resilience across the region.
Through practical training, meaningful conversations, and community-led experiences, Weathering Well is helping rural communities build the connections, confidence, and support systems needed to weather challenging times together.
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.
Finalists
ICare Friday Lunch - Connections create a thriving resilient community
Livingstone Shire Council
Queensland
ICare Friday Lunches is a leading example of locally driven disaster resilience, demonstrating strong alignment with the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (2011) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (2018) through its focus on shared responsibility, community connection, and locally led action. Delivered at the Yeppoon Community Centre operated by Livingstone Shire Council and reinforcing the Council’s Be Prepared approach, the initiative is further supported by Queensland Health and the Tackling Regional Adversity Through Connected Communities grants program.
The program strengthens preparedness and connection by creating consistent, accessible opportunities for engagement. Guided by social worker Melanie Norman and volunteer leader Christina Taylor, a dedicated team of 19 volunteers warmly welcomes 100-120 community members each fortnight into a safe, inclusive environment where connection and preparedness go hand in hand.
Born from a commitment to reducing social isolation, the initiative fosters belonging, dignity, and connection. It brings together people of all ages: seniors, families, and vulnerable residents, to share meals, build relationships, and access informal support.
Strong partnerships underpin the program, integrating health promotion, wellbeing, and disaster preparedness through collaboration with emergency services, local government, Blue Care, schools, and community organisations. These partnerships strengthen both individual capability, community readiness and resilience.
Local high school students contribute through meal service and live music, fostering intergenerational connection and community pride.
ICare Friday Lunches reflects the strength of the Yeppoon community where volunteers lead with passion, partnerships are valued, and collective responsibility drives resilience before, during, and beyond times of adversity.
Embedding Mental Health in Disaster Response: DWO Model
Canberra Health Service
Australian Capital Territory
The Disaster Wellbeing Officer (DWO) Surge Workforce Model is a system-level initiative strengthening disaster mental health preparedness, response, and recovery across the ACT through rapid deployment of a trained workforce delivering early psychosocial support to disaster affected communities. Developed in response to increasing disaster frequency and complexity, the model establishes a trained, coordinated workforce capable of rapid deployment to deliver early psychosocial support.
The model embeds capability within existing services, supported by strong governance arrangements, defined workforce roles, operational manuals, and tested activation processes. A structured tiered workforce model has been developed, enabling a scalable, whole-of-system response to disasters.
The tiered approach is underpinned by key design rationales, including:
- Seamless activation, with clearly defined escalation pathways aligned to disaster scale and impact
- Strong organisational governance and work health and safety arrangements, ensuring safe workforce mobilisation across multiple service settings
- Alignment with national disaster resilience frameworks, including the operational principles of the National Partnership Agreement on Natural Disaster Risk Reduction
- A system-wide approach to recovery, enabling community partner organisations to stand up and sustain longer-term psychosocial recovery supports, while acute health services transition back to core business delivery.
This approach ensures that disaster mental health response is both immediate and sustainable, balancing surge capacity with longer-term recovery needs.
Outcomes include improved workforce readiness, consistent and trauma-informed service delivery, enhanced coordination across agencies, and faster access to mental health support for individuals and communities impacted by disaster.
The model demonstrates innovation through its translation of national frameworks into a practical, operational workforce model, ensuring scalable, sustainable, and coordinated mental health support before, during, and after disasters.
Safe Haven North Coast
Healthy North Coast and The Buttery
New South Wales
Organisations:
* NSW Ministry of Health
* Healthy North Coast
* The Buttery
Overview:
Safe Haven North Coast was established in response to the 2022 Northern Rivers floods providing flood-affected communities an accessible pathway to mental health and wellbeing support. From January 2024, the model continued and adapted to keep support available as other recovery services scaled back and recovery needs, funding constraints and renewed disaster risk changed.
Funded by NSW Health, commissioned by Healthy North Coast and delivered by The Buttery, Safe Haven North Coast operated across Lismore, Mullumbimby, Murwillumbah and Woodburn as a locally designed disaster recovery response. Supporting people experiencing emotional distress, suicidal thoughts, trauma, isolation and complex psychosocial stressors, while helping them navigate the practical pressures that make recovery harder.
Each site has its own look and culture, shaped around local need, relationships and access patterns. People can walk-in without referral, diagnosis or formal intake, sit down for a cup of tea, speak with peer workers, clinicians or case managers, and receive point in time support. Vulnerable community members were able to return for check-ins, individual and group support, building trust with staff who knew their names and circumstances. People can connect with other services working from the space (e.g., housing, alcohol and other drugs, financial, disaster recovery and social supports), supporting more coordinated, wrap‑around care.
From January 2024 to June 2026, Safe Haven North Coast supported 22,750 participants, delivered 34,140 occasions of service and 14,079 counselling hours. Evaluation findings show a 1.9-point average distress reduction after intervention, improved social connection, emergency department avoidance, which is more cost effective. During Cyclone Alfred, staff delivered services while attending recovery centres, demonstrating flexibility and the ability to maintain services and contribute to disaster recovery.
Climate Superpowers: Strengthening teacher and student resilience
University of Melbourne and all Climate Superpowers co-designers
Victoria
When disasters strike, school communities are on the front line. Teachers support traumatised students, manage their own distress, and bear expanding responsibilities, often with little support. Growing awareness of climate change amongst children and adults creates its own toll: eco-anxiety, moral distress, and a pervasive sense of helplessness that can undermine the very resilience communities need when the next event arrives. Addressing these challenges is fundamental to disaster preparedness and recovery.
The Climate Superpowers suite of resources was built to address this gap. Rooted in disaster resilience – it evolved directly from the Recovery Capitals project, joint winner of the inaugural 2021 Resilient Australia National Mental Health and Wellbeing Award – the suite includes free resources for young people, for teaching, and for teacher wellbeing, all grounded in the same strengths-based framework. People from disaster-affected communities were integral to the co-design, including young people from Kinglake who experienced the Black Saturday bushfires, and teachers affected by the Black Summer bushfires and other extreme weather events.
The Climate Superpowers website (climatesuperpowers.org), co-designed with young people and launched in late 2022, helps young people identify their strengths across seven domains and take action on climate change and disaster resilience. It has received over 27,000 visits and 9,000+ quiz completions. Since 2024, the initiative has expanded significantly to support school communities: co-designing classroom resources with students and teachers, and creating the Teacher Climate Superpowers platform (TCS, teacher.climatesuperpowers.org) – a professional development resource supporting teacher wellbeing and equipping teachers to support their students before, during and after climate-related disasters.
Both platforms are free, evidence-based, and built to scale – with a next phase of implementation and evaluation already in development.
EmergencyRedi South Australia: strengthening individual and community
disaster preparedness through inclusive local workshops
Australian Red Cross and NRMA Insurance
South Australia
EmergencyRediTM is an innovative disaster preparedness program delivered by Australian Red Cross that addresses a critical gap in Australia’s resilience landscape—low household preparedness, particularly among high-risk and underrepresented communities. Moving beyond traditional information-based approaches, EmergencyRediTM focuses on behaviour change, social connection, and inclusive engagement to support individuals and communities to take meaningful preparedness action.
Delivered through interactive workshops, the program combines practical tools—including the evidence-based and award winning RediPlan booklet—with facilitated discussions that help participants understand local risks, build confidence, and begin their emergency planning during the session. A defining feature is the integration of psychosocial preparedness, recognising that emotional readiness and social connectedness significantly influence how people respond to and recover from emergencies.
EmergencyRediTM operates through a strong cross-sector partnership model involving Australian Red Cross, NRMA Insurance Help Nation, local governments, and community organisations. This ensures delivery is locally relevant, trusted, and scalable, while effectively engaging diverse groups including culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people living with disability, carers, and older Australians.
Since April 2024, the program has delivered 789 workshops across three states, including over 320 workshops in South Australia, engaging nearly 10,000 participants. Evaluation shows significant improvements in preparedness knowledge, confidence, and behaviour, with high rates of participants completing plans and taking action within three months.
By embedding inclusion, local relevance, and action-oriented learning, EmergencyRediTM demonstrates that preparedness is most effective when it is community-led and socially connected—strengthening both individual capability and collective resilience. By empowering communities to take ownership of their preparedness and strengthening social networks, the program contributes to sustained reductions in disaster risk and improved community resilience.
Resilient Australia National School Award
State and territory winners in the school category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National School Award.
Finalists
Global Connections for Disaster Resilience
Tallebudgera State School
Queensland
Following the impact of Cyclone Alfred on the Tallebudgera community, Year 6 students participated in an innovative Global Competency Disaster Resilience Project designed to strengthen disaster preparedness, resilience and international understanding. The project combined immersive virtual reality (VR) learning delivered by Mindflight7, student reflection on lived experiences during Cyclone Alfred, and a partnership with a Japanese primary school.
Eighty-four students completed a survey documenting their cyclone experiences. Findings showed that 62% of students experienced damage to their home or community and 14% evacuated or prepared to evacuate. These experiences informed the project's design and highlighted the need for meaningful disaster resilience education.
Students participated in a tailored VR disaster program featuring interactive natural disaster simulations, tsunami and earthquake experiences, and ecosystem exploration. They then collaborated with Japanese students through live video conferencing to discuss disaster preparedness and create bilingual preparedness posters in English and Japanese.
The project empowered students to become advocates for disaster preparedness within their school and community while developing intercultural communication skills and global awareness. Through experiential learning, international collaboration and student-led action, the project strengthened disaster resilience knowledge and preparedness among young people and created a model that can be adapted by schools nationally and internationally.
Bushfire Advocacy for Youth, by Youth
Upwey High Scool
Victoria
Since 2023, a student-led group from Upwey High School has championed a transformative approach to bushfire safety by placing young people at the centre of school emergency planning. Beginning as participants in a collaborative research project with RMIT University and Leadrrr, the students contributed to the development of a framework for student participation in school bushfire planning. Seeing their experiences and ideas reflected in formal research reinforced their belief that young people have valuable insights that can strengthen emergency preparedness.
Following the completion of the research project in 2024, the students continued their advocacy, recognising that many young people in bushfire-prone communities lacked awareness and understanding of bushfire risks and emergency procedures. Their work has focused on improving student engagement in the development and implementation of Upwey High’s bushfire plan, ensuring students understand emergency procedures and have meaningful opportunities to shape them.
The initiative is student-led and has produced significant outcomes. Students now act as observers during bushfire drills, providing feedback that directly informs improvements to school emergency planning. Their involvement has increased student confidence, awareness, and preparedness while helping school leaders better understand the diverse needs of students during emergencies.
The group has extended its impact beyond the school through presentations to emergency management agencies, local government, national conferences, and international education forums. Partnerships and collaborations with organisations including the CFA, Yarra Ranges Council, the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, the Victorian Department of Education, and international education networks have amplified their message and influence.
The project demonstrates a sustainable, scalable model for youth participation in disaster resilience. Through advocacy, collaboration and practical action, these students have challenged assumptions about what young people can contribute, inspired emergency management professionals across Australia, and created a model for student-led bushfire safety that can be adopted by schools in high-risk areas.
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
Into the Furnace
Caversham, Perth, Western Australia
Aaron Cuthbert
Western Australia
Resilience is not the abscence of dnager, it is the ability to confront it head on with preparation, coordination and resolve. Working methodically despite extreme heat, reduced visibility and unseen dangers hidden within.
In this moment resilience is expressed through actions; trained individuals applying skill and experience to slow the fires spread and create opportunities for control. Each step on the fire ground showing committment to persistence in the face of overwhelming conditions.
The combination of training, teamwork, courage, determination and the will to succeed, all contributing to the resilience of fire crews dealing with the threat of fire to our community.
Hotspot Spotlight
Deep Creek National Park, 2026
SASES RPAS operational response
Sean Mcguinness
South Australia
Situational awareness is a key component required to understand and respond effectively to an imminent threat. SACFA requested RPA capability from SASES to provide aerial imagery once water bombing operations were finished for the day.
SASES drone members responded to provide thermal and visual imagery of the fire front and identify hotspots for the incident controller. The photo also vividly captures the red and blue lights of the responding vehicles to show the required level of response.
This high definition image captures the detail we were able to provide to onsite incident team and livestream to regional and state headquarters for thorough understanding of the scale of the evolving wildfire.
The imagery provided allowed appropriate decisions and actions to work to control this incident. Mulit-agency response is genuinely required to achieve disaster resilience, as this picture clearly displays
Fire Wise Kids in action
Belgrave South, Victoria
Siobhan Greene
Victoria
Fire Wise Kids is a new educational program developed by the Country Fire Authority in collaboration with students, educators, CFA members and other subject matter experts.
The program is delivered by trained CFA members to students from kindergarten to Year 4. Fire Wise Kids develops resilience through interactive, hands-on, age-appropriate activities.
Topics include everything from matches and lighter safety to understanding emergencies to bushfire preparation. Each lesson is tailored to the developmental level of students and centres on a few key messages and actions.
Fire Wise Kids extends beyond the classroom. Students are encouraged to go home and work together with their family to implement the actions discussed in class.
Some examples include:
• Practising actions that will keep them safe, like calling Triple Zero and home fire escape plans,
• Preventing home fires through eliminating home fire hazards,
• Reducing the impact of bushfires by cleaning up around their home,
• Preparing for bushfires by monitoring warnings and packing an emergency kit.
This photo depicts the Year 1/2 students at Belgrave South Primary practising crawling low under smoke using a smoke parachute. The class works together, taking turns to both hold and crawl under the parachute. Their teacher and CFA presenters observe and support, but the students are in control of the parachute. This fun activity combines important emergency messages with physical action to embed the message and build confidence, so students know what to do in a fire.
When students understand how and why fires happen, as well as how they can be prevented, prepared for, or responded to, it reduces anxiety caused by the unknown and feeling out of control. Practising simple actions ahead of time keeps them safer and more capable during emergencies. Fire Wise Kids remain confident and more resilient before, during, and after fires.
Catchment resilience
Emigrant Creek, Richmond Catchment, Northern Rivers NSW
Cris Servadio, North Coast Regional Landcare Network
New South Wales
This image captures riparian restoration and resilience in action, through a birds-eye drone shot of the successful planting of 3,300 trees and shrubs, and installation of one kilometre of cattle exclusion fencing at Emigrant Creek in the Richmond Catchment of the Northern Rivers NSW.
Thousands of seedlings are visibly thriving along the previously flood affected riparian zone of Jeff’s property, a successful grant recipient for the Caring for Catchments (CfC) project.
In partnership with Reforest Now and CfC, Jeff has successfully improved flood resilience and catchment health by stabilising riverbanks, slowing and filtering water, reducing erosion and sedimentation, enhancing water quality, and supporting the biodiversity and ecosystem functions that underpin resilient landscapes and waterways.
The true depth of this photograph lies in the collective effort behind it. Across 35 community-led projects delivered by Caring for Catchments from 2024-2026 over 62 hectares have been revegetated, 40km of riverbank restored and more than 84,000 native trees and sedges planted to reduce erosion and improve the condition of creeks and river systems. The projects span the Richmond, Tweed, Brunswick and Clarence catchments.
But landscape resilience cannot exist without community resilience. CfC has educated and inspired over 7,000 people on the vital importance of nature-based solutions, directly engaging locals and decision makers to plan, weed, plant, and maintain our local catchments.
Ultimately, this photo captures what resilience really means, if landscapes are strong, communities are strengthened and connected and through Landcare, they are building strong social capital. This capital is the engine behind healthy catchments: the sign of true recovery and resilience.
Images such as this show us what makes communities more resilient to future floods, droughts and bushfires both ecologically and socially.
Endewering.
Clarence Point, Tasmania
Kate McClafferty
Tasmania
'Endewering' represents a powerful metaphor for disaster resilience. At its core, the photograph shows a structure that is both delicate and remarkably durable. A spider web is engineered for flexibility, capability and rapid repair, qualities demonstrated by humans in response to disasters.
The fence provides a stark contrast: rigid, human-made, and symbolic of the constraints, boundaries, and environmental pressures that communities often face. Yet the web, anchored to the fence, uses this structure as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. This signifies how resilient communities work with realities of their environment, such as geography, infrastructure, climate, and risk instead of resisting them. They build systems that integrate with existing conditions, even when those conditions are challenging or restrictive.
The dew droplets add another layer of meaning, representing the ephemeral nature of human life and the shifting pressures that disasters bring. A droplet forms and grows, adding weight to the web. The web holds, it does not collapse. When the droplet releases, often suddenly, the web remains. This provides a reminder that circumstances change, often quickly yet some structures, relationships, and strengths endure.
Together, these elements create a visual narrative of disaster resilience. The image reminds us that strength is not always rigid, that adaptability is powerful, and that even the most fragile systems can endure when designed with flexibility, connection and purpose.
Floraville Station near Burketown in the Gulf of Carpentaria stays connected.
Lynda Coulson
Queensland
Standing amongst the vast Gulf Country landscape in Northwest Queensland, Floraville Station's resilience rises high in the sky - using state of the art communications to stay connected. In a region shaped by distance, isolation and extreme weather, these towers carry more than signals; they carry severe weather warnings, reassurance, hope and the ability for communities to respond and recover together.
This image reflects the strength and adaptability of our cattle farmers in remote Queensland communities and the critical role communication plays in preparedness and resilience across the regions.