| FLYER ISSUE 12:
DECEMBER 2020
| READ IN BROWSER https://floods.optin.com/newsletter/awlist3776483/MzcwMTk1Mg==/fma-flyer-12-december.htm
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NEXT FMA MEETINGS: QLD CHAPTER 1O FEBRUARY + NSW CHAPTER 18 FEBRUARY
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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As I walked along what’s left of Currumbin Beach in Queensland recently, I picked my way around, over and between the tons of debris from our flood and storm events just before Christmas.
It reminded me of what is NOT covered under the previous Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) and is still ineligible under the new Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, (DRFA). Such items as debris removal and beach erosion were ruled ineligible under the old NDRRA a few years ago and are now perpetuated in the
new DRFA.
Whilst the DRFA is an agreement between the states and the Commonwealth governments, our state governments have taken the opportunity to make life even harder for local Councils who will find that the list of recovery work that is NOT eligible for DRFA funding is now greater than the small list that might be
eligible.
What’s more, Councils will have to provide “forensic” evidence of asset condition (such as photos and dates shown in their asset registers) to be eligible for any repair work subsidy.
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Pictured: Currumbin Beach in Queensland.
The whole point of disaster funding in previous years was to provide assistance from state and federal governments to Councils and communities dealing with unexpected impacts of such disasters as we are seeing now. After all, Councils are only representatives of their local ratepayers for the provision of basic
services. They are not constituted governments that could otherwise charge extra rates for unforeseen circumstances. Ratepayers are also taxpayers to the state and federal governments so come on governments….let’s see some Christmas amendments to asset eligibility for local Councils, and start investing in mitigation instead of “passing the buck” for recovery costs.
After all..…. ‘Tis the season to be jolly!!
Happy New Year to all!
ID
Ian Dinham | FMA President
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By now, I imagine you have read a number of 2020 ‘Year in Review’ articles which have been discussing the very real catastrophes that we all have faced this year. Bushfires, floods, difficult politics, terrorism and of course, coronavirus, feature very strongly. These key events have dominated the past 12 months, and
will no doubt have taken a great toll on our personal and professional lives as well as our emotional wellbeing.
The circumstances that we have survived will vary from person to person and cannot be comparable, but do equally impact how we now view the world and how we choose to continue to live on in it.
FMA will not be recapping the disasters of the year in detail here, but we will be talking about what we were still able to achieve. We have found that in the darkness and fear of this year, our Members were able to shine a light on each other and stay connected in a way that no one could have anticipated.
During the rampant bushfires in February, a number of FMA Members were still able to come together in Brisbane and Sydney for our Quarterly Meetings. While some regular attendees (Executive included) couldn’t make it as fires were too close to home, the Meetings carried on with good attendance and allowed us to go inward about our bushfire readiness plans. Great conversations took
place during the networking opportunities about personal past experiences during environmental disasters such as these. The afternoon workshops included a timely Climate Change Flood Risk Provisions in Land Use Planning and the ever-popular What Happens when Cars Drive into Moving Flood Water.
Seven weeks before the 2020 FMA National Conference was scheduled to take place in Toowoomba, Queensland, in May FMA had to make the difficult decision to transition the event to an entirely online platform. This was only possible to due to the support and enthusiasm of our presenters who wrangled technology and family lockdown challenges to keep the event alive. The Online
format of the Conference attracted the interest of over 800 professionals from all around the country and overseas. During a time of uncertainty (and just plain disbelief) we were able to see familiar faces on our screens, hear of innovative professional advancements and feel close to each other even though were remained so far apart.
This FMA Conference will forever be celebrated as FMA’s most unforgettable due to the strength and resilience of our Membership and the ingenuity and flexibility of our Program Advisory, Steering and Executive Committees, Conference Organisers and Audio Visual professionals.
This online format was adopted for the remainder of our Meetings (August and November), and allowed us to maintain this connection with not only urban Members, but also regional and overseas professionals who were not able to attend in person even during pre-COVID times. FMA was truly accessible in a global sense.
In August, to assist with the reality of limited professional development opportunities during this locked-down year, FMA launched its Webinar Series, which saw popular Conference Presentations made available for streaming during a two-week window. This Series has proved to be one of FMA’s most successful initiatives in recent years, with inquiries and viewing numbers exceeding
expectations.
Throughout this year, our Young Floodplain Managers network was met with the great challenge in their inaugural year of being unable to network in person with their colleagues. They did, however, get creative with their events and hold very successful (and entertaining) online trivia events, networking socials and webinars. With their Membership growing (an established YFM
Chapter now exists in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) the network promises to be bigger and better in 2021 and by December they were able to hold COVID-Safe satellite events to wrap up their year in several different locations.
If this year has taught FMA anything (beyond the understanding that our circumstances may change in a moment), it is that our Members are the greatest in the world. The appreciation that we have for each of you has grown with the challenges we have faced together. We very much look forward to coming together when we can in 2021 and celebrating what we have all been able to achieve.
And with that – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Dominique Jovanovic
Project and Services Manager and FMA Flyer Editor
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2021 CONFERENCE KEYNOTE SPEAKER ANNOUNCED
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With the FMA National Conference just 22 weeks away we are delighted to be able to announce our first International Keynote Speaker!
Wendy Brooks is the National Strategy Transformation Manager at the UK Environment Agency, and she has played a key role in development of the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy for England, which was launched in September 2020.
One of the strategic objectives of the Strategy includes that “between now and 2030 the nation will be recognised as world leader in researching and managing flooding and coastal change”.
Wendy sees the FMA Conference as “a really great opportunity to share learning from both our countries”.
And while many of us are enjoying a festive break the Conference Abstract Review Panel is working through the 117 abstracts which have been received. That is a great result, and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to submit a proposal. We are certainly assured of a comprehensive and informative Conference
Program.
With changing government health restrictions continuing to complicate development of a safe and enjoyable on-site conference for 2021, the opening of registrations has been delayed while we work through the options available. Please bear with us and keep 25 to 28 May 2021 locked
in.
Details of speakers, the presentation and workshop program, and registration will be released over the next month as we finalise arrangements.
For further information on the Conference visit floodplainconference.com.
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FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA IS IMPROVING BUT...
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A recently released report by the international Geneva Association says that flood risk management (FRM) in Australia is improving overall, but better community-level planning is needed. The Geneva Association is an international think tank whose members are 80+ group CEOs of the insurance
industry.
The report, Flood Risk Management in Australia, was developed in partnership with IAG, and highlights strong
engagement from the insurance industry and many government actors and communities to tackle flood risks in Australia, as well as opportunities for improvement.
The writers were Andrew Dyer from IAG, Neil Dufty from Molino Stewart and Maryam Golnaraghi from the Geneva Association.
Ms Golnaraghi, the Geneva Association’s Director Climate Change and Emerging Environmental Topics, said: “Australia is admirably advanced in several respects, such as including high-quality national and state guidelines, climate change adaptation efforts, a commitment to building back better and high levels of
insurance penetration. However, countries need to take a forward-looking, ‘all-of-society’ approach and prioritise close stakeholder coordination.
“For Australia this means allocating more resources to prevention and mitigation measures and furthering collaborative efforts among all levels of government, insurers and flood-affected communities to reduce flood risk.”
The report concludes that opportunities for improvement to FRM in Australia may include:
• Further collaborative efforts (flood risk managers, emergency managers and land-use planning) to minimise the growth of flood risk in the future development of floodplains, particularly those at high risk.
• Increases in FRM funding in Australia, with a rebalancing from response and recovery to mitigation, and an improved share of overall hazard related funds to flood.
• Proactive strategies and resourcing to improve FRM and flood resilience in the highest priority flood risk areas of Australia.
• Increased resourcing and effort to improve community participation in FRM and raise community flood preparedness levels across Australia.
• Broader consideration of the full spectrum of possible flood events (rather than a single design flood event) in FRM, emergency management and land-use planning.
The report is part of the Geneva Association’s major study on "Building Flood Resilience in a Changing Climate" in the United States, England, Germany, Canada and Australia.
The reports on the other four countries, along with an Overview Report, can be accessed at: https://www.genevaassociation.org/building-flood-resilience
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ACCC RECOMMENDS GREATER CONSIDERATION OF MITIGATION
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On 28 December the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published its final report on the Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry.
In 2017, the Australian Government directed the ACCC to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the supply of residential building, contents and strata insurance in northern Australia. FMA provided input to the inquiry on three occasions. This final report brings together the significant analysis and recommendations
made throughout the three-year inquiry.
In relation to reducing risk, the report states: “Improving the resilience of properties and communities to natural hazards will have significant benefits now and into the future, including through lower insurance claims costs. Greater consideration of the likely benefits (and costs) of mitigation and other
resilience measures is required.”
Included among the report’s 38 recommendations are several new recommendations since the Second Interim Report was published in December 2019.
Key recommendations of interest to our membership are:
Recommendation 13.1 Expand the remit of the Australian Building Codes Board to include property protection (New)
The Australian Government, and state and territory governments, should expand the remit of the Australian Building Codes Board to explicitly include property protection as an objective to pursue through the National Construction Code and referenced Australian Standards.
Recommendation 13.2 Developing voluntary standards for more resilient buildings (New)
The insurance industry should work with Standards Australia to develop voluntary standards for:
- the development of new homes for resilience to natural hazards
- retrofitting/mitigation measures to improve the resilience level of existing homes.
Recommendation 14.2 Better communication between insurers and planners (New)
State and territory governments and the insurance industry should work together to identify:
- How natural hazard risk is determined, including how decisions are made on what is an acceptable level of risk. This may give planners a better understanding of how insurers assess and determine natural hazard risk and may influence planning policy and decisions for
a particular identified risk.
Recommendation 21.3 Public mitigation works and expected premium reductions
The insurance industry should work with governments to identify specific public mitigation works (e.g. flood levees) that could be undertaken and insurers should provide estimates of the premium reductions they anticipate if the works proceed.
See: Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry - final report
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FMA - AIDR WORKSHOP RECORDING AVAILABLE
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As mentioned in last month's Flyer, FMA's November Workshop was facilitated by the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience and focussed on launching and showcasing the recently finalised Flood Emergency Planning for Disaster Resilience Handbook.
The afternoon included presentations from many names familiar to FMA Members including FMA President Ian Dinham, Andrew Gissing (Risk Frontiers), Mike Lollback (LGAQ), Duncan McLuckie (DPIE), Angela Toniato (DPIE) and Tamsin Achilles (VIC SES).
The webinar recording has now been made available by AIDR, and can be viewed at https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/handbook-flood-planning/#handbookshowcase
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Due to the end-of-year break, the FMA Webinar series will extend the availability of it's current FMA Webinar - Andrew Gissing's (Risk Frontiers) Compound Flood Disasters until the 14th January 2021.
From the 14th, this webinar will be replaced with Tasmanian Statewide Strategic Flood Mapping: Challenges and Uncertainties presented by Audrey Lau of the Tasmania SES.
About the Webinar Series:
Every two weeks, FMA will be releasing a popular presentation from the National Conference exclusively for FMA Members. You will need to register for access to the Members' Section, if you have not already. You can do this easily by contacting Dominique Jovanovic at projectservices@floods.org.au, who will create an account for you.
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Grey skies, looming storms and ever-evolving Covid restrictions didn’t stop the Young Floodplain Managers from having a ball at our end of year event, Bowls around Australia.
With 55 participants across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, the YFM hosted a series of successful Covid safe & socially distanced events on the 16th December 2020 on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne.
For many of us, the concurrent events were one of the first opportunities to catch up and network in-person since Covid began, and it was great to see some new faces at each event!
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Thanks to everyone who participated not just at this event but at our FMA Digital Conference Trivia Night, Monte Carlo Mixer and ‘From Ideas to Abstracts’ online zoom event. We look forward to building on these events and connections in 2021!
Special thanks also to the FMA for sponsoring Bowls around Australia at short notice, and for your continued support of the YFM throughout the year.
Follow us on LinkedIn and sign up to our mailing list at www.floods.org.au/yfm (open to all ages!).
For more information on the Young Floodplain Managers network, visit floods.org.au/yfm.
UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
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Public Works Advisory & Regional Development, Department of Regional NSW
Roles located Coffs Harbour
Engineer (Rivers and Stormwater Team)
Project Engineer (Dams and Dam Safety Team)
Structural Engineer (Dams and Dam Safety Team)
Senior Environmental Planner/Scientist
Job descriptions online at
https://lnkd.in/gQUfZ2v
If you are interested in promoting a vacant position with us, please contact us.
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TRAVELLING CAPS AND BEANIES
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Do you have an FMA Cap or Beanie photo you'd like to share with Flyer readers?
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