QFES Volunteerism Strategy Discussion Paper : 2017

Changing world

One QFES: Many partners. Many services. Many capabilities.

The evolution and establishment of One QFES in 2016 presented a unique opportunity accompanied by a significant challenge — the need to evolve and undertake change to become a department not only ready for the future, but one firmly focused on meeting our legislative expectations as well as changing community needs and expectations. The embedding of emergency management in all of our services, across the four phases of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, is key to our process of change as it underpins all of the work QFES does. The department acknowledges our leadership role in striving to safeguard people, property and the environment from disaster impacts and to empower and support local communities to manage disaster risks, respond to events and to be more resilient. We acknowledge our volunteer workforce is a crucial component in our ability to do this and that our volunteers play an integral role in working with our many partners and the community to help keep the people of Queensland safe. As identified earlier, QFES faces the challenge of how to continue to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from the increasing demands caused by natural and man-made disasters and events coupled with the challenges traditional models of volunteerism present us. Together, these have highlighted a critical need to develop more flexible strategies to support the broader community and to ensure we have the systems in place to attract, retain and support our volunteers both now and in the future.

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olunteerism Strategy Discussion Paper : 2017

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services