July 2024 Update

It’s been a very busy few months and we’ve now reached the end of our Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF) program. We’re very pleased to present our final deliverables in this newsletter, and we thank everyone who has been involved throughout the past 18 months.

We’ve got plenty to keep us going over the next few months, including reviewing the draft Disaster Adaptation Planning guidelines, so watch this space!

Disaster Adaptation Planning (DAP) Guidelines Consultation

Australian Disaster Resilience Conference 

AdaptNSW 2024 Forum 

Measuring Resilience and
Resilience IP&R Support Package Update 

At the Hunter Resilience Forum in May 2024 you might remember we heard from Kimberly Brown from the University of Canberra, who presented on Early Insights for More Resilient Communities. The Community Resilience Insights Dashboard is now available, you can check it out here and compare how your LGA is tracking https://communityresilienceinsights.org.au/ 

At the Forum we also held a workshop on indicators of resilience and how to measure council and community resilience over time. We’ve updated the Resilience Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R) Support Package to include the outputs from this workshop (Section 4.6 and Appendix A), and we also added a new section on Local Strategic Planning Statements (Section 4.7).

Reach out to annaf@hunterjo.com.au if you have any questions!

Needs and Opportunities Analysis 

We’ve put together a Resilience Needs and Opportunities Analysis Summary Report to make it easier to interpret the project outputs. The Summary Report outlines; 

• Project scope and purpose 
• Councils’ role in building resilience 
• Needs and Opportunities Analysis components, strengths and limitations 
• Linkages with IP&R including how to include actions from the Needs Analysis in the IP&R 
• Regional-scale opportunities 
• Next steps and implementation  

Thank you to everyone who has provided time, data and information to inform the Needs Analysis, we really appreciate your support. 

Reach out to annaf@hunterjo.com.au if you have any questions!

Disaster Waste and Resource Recovery

The Disaster Waste and Resource Recovery Preparedness Project aims to enable the region to understand and prepare for waste generated by disasters (‘disaster waste’) and facilitate the diversion and recovery of materials from disaster waste and protect the region’s landfill. With support and involvement from councils throughout, the following deliverables were completed to build understanding of disaster waste needs and risks in the region and provide supporting resources to assist councils effectively plan for disaster waste management: 

• Constraints Mapping – Analysed and mapped disasters in the region such as floods, bushfires, storms, East Coast Lows, tsunami, and earthquakes. These maps also plotted current waste facilities across the region. 
• Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to understand what currently happens to disaster waste in the region.  
• Regional Risk Analysis 
• Type V Material Composition Matrix with predictions for disaster waste volume and composition from each disaster type in the region. 
• Regional Disaster Waste and Resource Recovery Management Plan  
• 11 LGA Disaster Waste and Resource Recovery Management Plans. 
• Memorandum of Understanding (draft) that outlines how councils will collaborate during and post disaster. 
• Multi Criteria Analysis Tool (MCA) – using the temporary transfer site criteria from the NSW Disaster Waste Sub-Plan, this tool provides a process of for councils to identify the best options for temporary transfer sties. 
• Temporary Transfer Sites Pre-Approval Process – Meetings with key stakeholders from the EPA, Department of Planning, and the Reconstruction Authority to explore potential pre-approval pathways for temporary transfer sites. 
• Temporary Transfer Site Pre-Approval Pilot – Murrurundi Old Showground Public Reserve in Upper Hunter Shire LGA and Teralba Worm Farm in Lake Macquarie LGA were identified through the MCA, providing the opportunity to pilot a site in an urban/metro setting as well as a rural setting. This pilot will test the pre-approval process put forward by the EPA, the outcome of which is likely to be determined outside the timeline of this project. 
• Disaster Waste and Resource Recovery Preparedness Project Report 

If you have any questions or would like to find out more,
please reach out to susanm@hunterjo.com.au 

Planwisely Subscription -
 Transport Vulnerability and Connectivity

In collaboration with Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and the JO Network, we’ve arranged for a 12-month subscription for councils to use the Planwisely platform. Planwisely is already used extensively by TfNSW and contains a wide array of TfNSW data along with foundational, demographic and movement data and satellite imagery, allowing councils to access and use data in real world planning, preparation, response and recovery, ‘test’ the usefulness and serviceability of the data and identify what else would better support them to deliver disaster resilience of their networks. 

Each council has been issued with 1-3 licences to trial and use over the next 12 months. To learn more or to find out who has been allocated a licence for your council, please reach out to janinec@hunterjo.com.au. 

TfNSW Customer Journey Resilience Plans 

Over the past 12 months, Hunter JO have worked with the TfNSW Network Resilience team to assist in delivery of the Customer Journey Resilience Plans (CJRP). You may remember last year we met with TfNSW and each council individually to identify the impact of disasters on local transport networks, opportunities for regional transport connectivity and determine any hazard mapping already available to each council.  

Draft CJR Plans were distributed and three workshops were delivered virtually to run through the draft documents before councils provided final feedback earlier this year. A regional Hunter CJR Plan has also been circulated and TfNSW will distribute the final versions once they are complete. 

If you have any questions or would like to find out more,
please reach out to janinec@hunterjo.com.au 

Simtables for Disaster Engagement

The Hunter region is continuing to use the Simtable for community engagement. Over the past year we’ve delivered: 

• 43 community workshops/ events 
  • 15 delivered by Hunter JO 
  • 17 delivered by council partners 
  • 11 delivered by other partners. 
• 13 demonstrations/ training sessions 
• 9 loans of the Simtable 

We’ve developed a Simtable User Manual and have also renewed our user support subscription in perpetuity, meaning that software updates, hardware repairs, and user support will be available for as long as it is required. 

To book in a loan of the Simtable, please visit the Hunter JO Simtable webpage. 

Spatial Data Scoping Study 

Along with Illawarra-Shoalhaven JO and Central NSW JO, Hunter JO participated in the Spatial Data Scoping Study. The study identified the current spatial data, governance and visualisation/ access tools that are available to local government in relation to disaster resilience, identified the needs and any gaps, and made recommendations for how these can be rectified.  

This study aims to inform the development of spatial data and tools by the state government, ensuring that local government perspectives are understood and accounted for. 

To request a copy of the report, please contact resilience@hunterjo.com.au

The Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF) is jointly funded by the
Australian and New South Wales governments