2022 NSW Independent Flood Inquiry
In March 2022, the New South Wales Government commissioned an inquiry into the preparation for, causes of, response to and recovery from the 2022 flood event across the state of New South Wales.
The Salvation Army made a submission to this inquiry with recommendations for how to better prepare for future floods and how the response can be improved.
The objective of this inquiry is to identify the specific areas of the response that can be improved by reporting on the preparedness of agencies and local communities, the transition from incident response to recovery, and assessing the cause factors contributing to the severity of this disaster. This will allow for smoother coordination and collaboration between all levels of government, improve the safety of emergency services, and better protect local communities and ecosystems from destruction.
The Salvation Army’s Moneycare financial counselling service is crucial in providing support for insurance; the lack of which exacerbates the impact that these disasters have. Because of this, we recommend that the New South Wales Government abolish the stamp duty for home and contents insurance and include these financial issues in their disaster preparedness guides. This will reduce the amount of stress that insurance issues inflict on New South Wales residents in the aftermath of these disasters.
To improve the efficiency of the response to future floods, we also recommend that the government of New South Wales establishes a register of organisations wishing to provide information and support services at evacuation and recovery centres, select locations for evacuation and recovery hubs with ample space for wraparound support services, and provide more resources for these community centres.
Finally, we conclude that if these recommendations are implemented, it will place New South Wales in a much better standing when disaster strikes again.
The Salvation Army will continue to advocate for the implementation of our recommendations to help better equip the New South Wales Government and provide more support for local communities during times of crisis.