Submission Form

Please complete this form if you would like to provide input or comments about coordination,
preparedness for, response to and recovery from the 2019-20 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires.

Personal and Background Information

1. Full Name Wingecarribee Shire Council

2. Email ann.prendergast@wsc.nsw.gov.au

3. Mobile/Telephone 4868 0714

4. What is your preferred method of contact if we want to follow up with you?

email

5. The Commission would like to understand the views of community groups based
on their respective experiences and background.
a. Please select Option 1 if you are providing input and comments primarily
based on your personal situation.
b. Please select Option 2 if you are providing input and comments primarily
based on your professional knowledge, qualifications or experience, or on
behalf of a group or organisation

Option 1: Based on your personal situation, please complete the following.

a. What was your personal situation in relation to the 2019-20 Bushfires? Please
choose all that apply.
I was not living in an area affected by bushfire
I lived in an area affected by bushfires but was not evacuated, and
didn’t suffer personal or financial loss
I lived in an area affected by bushfires and was evacuated, but didn’t
suffer personal or financial loss
I lived in an area affected by bushfires and was evacuated, and I
suffered personal or financial loss
I was part of the emergency response as a fire fighter on the ground
I was part of the emergency response as an aerial fire fighter
 I was part of the emergency response as health professional
I was part of the emergency response as an Australian Defence Force
member
I was part of the emergency response as a Commonwealth or State
government employee
I assisted the emergency response as a community support volunteer
I assisted the emergency recovery (i.e. after the fire event) as a
community support volunteer
Other

b. Where do you live? Please provide your Local Government Area, town name
and post code.
Local Government Area Choose an item.
Town name
Post code

Option 2: Based on your knowledge, qualifications or experience, or your role

representing a group or organisation, what is your area of expertise? Please choose
all that apply.
Emergency/disaster response and/or management
Environment/land management
Land use, planning, building standards
Impacts of changes in climatic conditions
Wildlife conservation
Traditional land and fire management practices of Indigenous
Australians
Community welfare
Other
Input / Comments
6. In your experience, what areas of the bushfire emergency response worked well?
Given the lack of resources with bush fires burning in many different areas of the state, the
response by the local incident management team and the activation and response of local
brigades from an EOC perspective, appears to have worked well with mostly good coordination.
The support by other agencies namely FRNSW and SES was impressive in both the lead up to
the fires arriving in the shire and their support in the field. The local SES were well coordinated
and were used to advantage door knocking, delivering meals and assisting with tree
removal/make safe jobs.
The EOC operations were well coordinated with all agency representatives and those liaison
officers present, performing their duties professionally and in a timely manner. The
cooperation and willingness by all agencies to become involved and assist in other ways that are
not their core business was exceptional. Everyone worked extremely well together.

7. In your experience, what areas of the bushfire emergency response didn’t work
well?
What didn't work well was having Incident Control separated from the EOC in another Shire
without a dedicated RFS liaison officer stationed within our EOC. It definitely reflected in the
EOCs ability, despite having a Police Liasion officer in the Incident Management location, to
convey pertinant information in a timely manner. The Police Liaison Officer was requested to
perform other duties assisting the IMT and was therefore unable to pass on timely information.
The lack of situational awareness and changes greatly hampered the EOC efforts in providing
needed assistance and information. The one day we had an RFS liaison officer on the premises
(not in the EOC) their contribution was sparce as they were caught up in other duties.
Emergency Warnings were sporadic and in some cases the messaging served to instill panic
when received i.e. too late to leave, shelter in place. To the average person such a message
instills the flight or fight response. Messaging needs to be tailored to the recipient's level of
understanding of emergency management language and arrangements and designed not to
instill panic.
Neighbourhood Safer Places were problematic as people believed (by virtue of the name), it
was a safe place to shelter. Greater awareness of the 'neighbourhood safer place' intention
needs to be better understood by the greater community and it's limitations. It is a place of last
resort and should have signage indicating its intention, rules and limitations. Having 200 cars
tightly packed in the dark in the middle of an oval has already compromised the intention of the
'safer place'.
While we definitely agree that during an emergency event it is essential to have a 'Single Point
of Truth' for communicating fire progression and other emergency actions the combat agency
requires of the community, but some written parameters around what that includes would be
helpful. From an EOC's perspective, it would be beneficial to know what standing arrangements
for evacuation centres can be freely conveyed to the community by Council without prior
publication by the combat agency. In the case of large animal relocation for example, it is very
difficult to load and move horses at the best of times and almost impossible if they are
panicked. Animal owners as we have seen, are passionate about the wellbeing of their pets,
often to their own detriment. When there is a lack of information the community starts to
panic. It reflects badly on Local Government if it cannot reassure the community in a timely
manner that we have arrangements in place that will allow them to remove themselves and
their animals from harms way. A clearer definition therefore of what constitutes 'combat
agency only' advice would help alleviate concern and control panic.
During the fires our community relied on social media communications to try and piece
together what was happening. Unfortunately, updates were slow and sporadic and created
frustration and stress for those in affected areas. Communications at all levels by incident
control need to be urgently upgraded as this was the single largest item that caused problems
for the operation of the EOC and control of community panic and preparations. While the
community meetings process worked well, it is evident that greater resources need to be
allocated to the communications and media function.

8. In your experience, what needs to change to improve arrangements for

preparation, mitigation, response and recovery coordination for national natural
disaster arrangements in Australia?
The single most important change that needs to happen is the involvement of Local
Government in all aspects of the Prevent, Prepardeness, Mitigation, Response and Recovery
(PPMRR) cycle with the community. Community engagement by Local Government in
education and preparation is essential for the wellbeing of the whole community starting with
communications. From a community perspective, knowing that your LGA are concerned with
the well being of the community will not only build trust and cooperation, but greatly assist in
mitigating the effects of an emergency event, make organising and executing response easier
and further streamline future recovery coordination. The 2020 Bush Fire recovery process has
shown us how important and instrumental local government can be in the process however
funding that level of engagement is essential as many LGAs simple don't have the financial
resources to be able to execute at the level required.
From an interagency perspective, an annual review of MOUs by agencies will assist in
preparations and planning for a coordinated response.
The functional areas and supporting agencies have a limited number of officers with the
knowledge and/or experience of EOC operations and multi-agency response in general. There
needs to be significant mandatory training and preparation for EOC officers (multiple from each
agency in each EOC location) that will enable greater efficiencies and better record keeping
during an event and the smooth continuous operations of the EOC.
Funding for EOCs at a local level to upgrade equipment and technology is needed and financial
assistance (possibly a yearly budget) to enable education projects and community preparation
efforts would go a long way to facilitating local innovation and initiatives.

9. Is there anything else you would like to tell the Royal Commission?
Communications during emergency events from utility companies particularly those that
provide power to a local government area are critically important. It is recognised that during
emergencies it can be necessary for power to be disconnected. However where an LGA is a
water and sewer service provider any intention to disconnect power should be communicated
prior to the disconnection.
10. Do you intend to provide supporting material?
Yes
No
If you are providing any supporting material, please include it with your Submission if
possible. If you need to send it separately (e.g. if you make a Submission over the
phone), please ensure supporting material can be clearly identified as relating to
your Submission by including your name or other identifier so that it can be
considered with your Submission.

11. Do you agree to your submission being published? (Mandatory)

Yes, I agree to my submission being published in my name
Yes I agree to my submission being published anonymously
No I don’t agree to my submission being published

Once you have completed this form, email it to rcnda.submissions@royalcommission.gov.au or print the
form and post it to the Royal Commission at:
National Natural Disaster Royal Commission
Locked Bag 2000
Manuka ACT 2603