The Hon Josh Wilson MP

Kaya, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to acknowledge the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation, the traditional custodians of the land you gather on today. I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, but it is a privilege to join you virtually at this Forum.

First, I would like to pay tribute to your work – your service and contribution in supporting the public in times of emergency, and in the clean-up and recovery that follows from a disaster event. As the theme of this year’s conference acknowledges, the emergency management landscape is changing rapidly, driven by more frequent, intense and convergent disaster events.

It will require your continued service and contribution, and new forms of collaboration across and between emergency services and recovery agencies, levels of government and with communities. Opportunities like the event you’re involved in today – thanks to WALGA are critical to fostering that collaboration, sharing lessons, and grappling with the challenges ahead.

I don’t need to tell a group of experts like you, but it is something that I want to call out and acknowledge: a locally led approach, centred on the community is critical to effective emergency response and recovery. And it is Councils, and the organisations around them, which bear a significant responsibility in building and sustaining that local capability and capacity.

The level of community solidarity, trust and resilience can define the difference between a good and a poor response, and it is local government that so often cultivates, maintains and manifests those vital elements. Today, I want to speak about the changing circumstances we face and shine some light on some of the ways the Albanese government is working in partnership with local government, particularly in WA’s regional and rural shires.

Across our great state of WA – and everywhere in Australia – we are experiencing the harsh realities of climate change. The fact is that many local governments are only recovering from one disaster event, when the next arrives. In March, Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle made its way across Queensland, the Northern Territory, and then swept down the coast of Western Australia.

I travelled with Premier Cook and spoke with communities in Exmouth and Carnarvon as they surveyed the damage and began the recovery. I saw firsthand the harmful impacts of the cyclone on households, community services and businesses, pastoralists, and growers. And, at the same time, I witnessed the incredible preparation, resolve and solidarity of the community in their response.

From October to April – during the Higher-Risk Weather Season – jointly funded federal and state disaster assistance was activated for 20 Western Australian local government areas across the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne, Mid-West, Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. That speaks to the widespread impacts we experience.

But as you know, the escalating risks confronting communities like these are not isolated. The sobering findings of Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment show a future of cascading, compounding and concurrent climate risks across our country. Like many reports of its kind, it demonstrated the urgent action we need to take in the face of mounting costs and harm.

As I often say, it demands an approach that is best encapsulated by the challenging imperative to do ‘everything, everywhere, all-at-once’. In this regard, the Albanese government is resolutely focused on disaster response and keeping Australians safe. We have acted to cut emissions to avoid the worst climate effects, while preparing for climate change impacts that are already locked in.

These linked tasks sit at the intersection of my work in supporting two critical portfolios: Minister Bowen in energy and climate, and Minister McBain in national emergency management coordination. In the first of those roles I was glad earlier this month to announce the Albanese Government would support 10 new generation and storage projects that will provide enough cleaner renewable energy to power more than 1 million households in WA.

In the same week, in my second area of responsibility, I visited Fortem in Vic Park in Perth’s suburbs – a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of first responders and their families through a national first-of-its-kind hub based in the West. On that visit, through support from the Albanese government, I was glad to mark the delivery of their new Outreach Trailer that will be deployed to support first responders in WA’s rural communities.

And while we are working day-in, day-out to deliver on our ambitious emissions reduction targets and respond to immediate disaster events, Australia must grapple with, prepare for, and invest in, managing the long-term, chronic climate impacts we cannot avoid. Climate adaptation is vital, and it is why we have developed a National Climate Adaptation Plan and highlighted the need for all governments, businesses and communities to plan for these future risks.

Planning for climate risks must become a normal part of our everyday decisions. Currently, the decisions we take on where we build our homes, how we manage health and safety, and how we protect our natural and built environment, don’t adequately reflect our climate future. Together, we must change that.

That is a huge task. But let me cite one practical example. Centred on the Commonwealth’s partnership with local government, is the expansion of the Climate Risk and Opportunity Management Program or the ‘CROMP’.

This is a tool that can help Councils understand and plan for their specific climate circumstances. And I am glad to say it is currently being piloted across local governments in Victoria, and will then be rolled out across the country. Increasingly, we are partnering with States, Territories and local governments to lift not only climate adaptation but also disaster resilience and risk-reduction in our communities and our infrastructure.

As part of the Albanese government’s $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund, 67 projects are being delivered in WA to reduce disaster risk and increase resilience to future disaster events. They include improvements to the Shire of Mundaring’s evacuation centre so continuous power can be maintained during an event, and the Shire of Carnarvon’s upgrades to the town's surge wall and coastal levee system.

Councils across WA are heavily involved in rolling out these projects and I extend my thanks for your contribution. Friends, I want to thank you again for allowing me to join you briefly today. Beyond the serious and complex climate challenges that I have touched on, and the promising progress we are making together to respond – across climate mitigation, adaptation, disaster response and recovery – I want to end where I began, with you - with people and communities.

I have no doubt that this forum will pose difficult questions on how we build stronger, more resilient places and communities in the face of increasingly challenging circumstances. But without question, the most important capacity in responding to those questions; in responding to our future climate and the emergencies we will encounter; is our human capital; our people and their skills, and their spirit, and their commitment to caring for their fellow Australians in the toughest circumstances.

So, let me finish by offering the government's sincere thanks for your work and to extend my best wishes for this important forum.