IGEM Report 1: 2017-18 - THE CYCLONE DEBBIE REVIEW

The Cyclone Debbie Review

Underlying precepts

Public value and mobilising community

All governments strive to ensure the communities they serve value, or receive value, from the services that they deliver. The public value of all levels of government is ultimately determined by how well policy and practice are perceived as meeting community need and expectations. 20 This is particularly true of disaster management, when the spotlight of public interest can be intense and community needs and safety must be demonstrably at the forefront of government policy. 21 Maintaining community confidence and participation in the disaster management system in todays’ economic, social and climatic pressures is a priority. 22 Building and maintaining community confidence and participation in the System, as public value changes over time is difficult. In the disaster management field, global/current trends such as: changes in climate; increased migration to eastern-seaboard communities; changing disaster risk exposure; demographic shifts within communities; and increasing public demand on governments to deliver security and prosperity, 23 all contribute to changes in public value. The public sector needs to be able to adapt to these changing community and government needs. As such, those operating within the disaster management system also need to accommodate changes in community expectations and community needs. We need to do so within our development and implementation of policy. We all need to “continuously improve” to ensure the relevance of the disaster management system endures and delivers appropriate community outcomes across the range of contexts in Queensland.

For all levels of government, maintaining a level of trust with communities is key to both engaging community and delivering on disaster management community outcomes. Evidence demonstrates that during disaster events, inadequate information and warning provided to communities can quickly erode public trust in disaster management systems and government at all levels. 24 If information given to the community about disaster events does not meet its needs, it can lead to confusion, unrealistic community expectations and ineffective or unsafe response actions. A lack of relevant and timely information directly affects people’s ability to prepare and protect themselves and what’s important to them. “The public expect clear guidance which requires behind-the-scene interagency collaboration.” 25 The efficacy of warnings is dependent not only on our weather forecasting, our planning and inundation modelling, but also on factors at the community level. These can include: • Pre-existing community perceptions of risk and potential impacts. 26 • Previous experience of disaster events. 27

• Community-held knowledge of what to do to reduce impact and capabilities to carry out those actions (self-efficacy). • Understanding of what a warning means 28 at individual, household and neighbourhood levels (requiring an ability to contextualise warning information provided).

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3 UNDERLYING PRECEPTS

Disaster arrangements • Public value and mobilising community