Emergency Management in Australia
Australian Emergency Management Institute
The Australian Emergency Management Institute (AEMI) is a centre of excellence for knowledge and skills development in the national emergency management sector. AEMI provides a range of education, training, professional development, information, research and community awareness services to the nation and our region. To find out more, visit the AEMI page.
Schools Education and Disaster Resilience
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The schools education program supports the learning and teaching of disaster preparedness and risk reduction to enhance community resilience to the effects of disasters. The program provides a range of publications, videos and interactive learning games for students, teachers and the general public.
On 19 July 2010 the Government went into Caretaker mode with an election to be held on 21 August 2010. During this period, information on this website will be published in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions circulated by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
This website provides the key online access point for emergency management information from the Australian Government. The Australian Government Minister responsible for Commonwealth Emergency Management is the Attorney-General. The site provides information about Australian and regional emergency management, in a national security context, including content on policy formulation, national emergency operations and development of national and international capability. For more information visit Our Organisation.
Triple Zero (000)
Knowing how to call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency can be the difference between life and death. The Triple Zero (000) service is the quickest way to get the right emergency service to help you. It should be used to contact Police, Fire or Ambulance services in life threatening or emergency situations. Calls to Triple Zero (000) are free and can be made from mobile, home and work telephones, and payphones. For more information, visit the Triple Zero (000) page.
All-hazards approach to disaster funding
Attorney-General, Robert McClelland has announced that the Australian Government will extend the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) to include terrorist events as well as natural disasters. For more, read the media release.
Preparing kids for disasters and emergencies
The Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and Federal Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, have launched new education materials to help school students better understand and prepare for natural disasters and emergencies. For more, read the media release.
$3.6 Million for emergency management projects
The Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, has announced the Government will invest $3.6 million to assist Australian communities respond to and recover from natural disasters and emergencies. For more information about these national projects, visit the media release and the National Emergency Management Projects page.
2010 National Bushfire Arson Forum
Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor, have announced new initiatives to combat deliberately lit fires as part of the second annual ‘National Forum for the Prevention of Bushfire Arson’. For more, read the 2010 National Bushfire Arson Forum media release.
New Board for the Australian Emergency Management Institute
Recently, the inaugural meeting of the Australian Emergency Management Institute (AEMI) Board was held at Mount Macedon in Victoria. The AEMI Board, which is chaired by Deputy Secretary Miles Jordana, will set the strategic direction of AEMI to ensure the Institute supports national capability development and community resilience, consistent with the broader national security policies of the Government.
The inaugural meeting comprised nominees from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Attorney-General’s Department’s National Security Capability Development Division, the National Security Resilience Policy Division.
The Board’s discussions focused on implementing the vision statement announced by the Secretary in December 2009, which will see AEMI become a centre of excellence for knowledge and skills development in the national Emergency Management sector. For more details on AEMI and the programs offered, visit the AEMI page.
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The Attorney-General’s Department presents the winning entries from the Volunteers National Emergency Management Photographic Competition 2010 on the Photo competition page.
Council of Australian Governments Communiqué
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) met in Brisbane on 7 December 2009 and agreed to a range of measures to improve Australia’s natural disaster arrangements. Given the expected increase to the regularity and severity of natural disasters, COAG agreed to a new whole-of-nation ‘resilience’ based approach to natural disaster policy and programs. This program recognises that a disaster resilient community is one that works together to understand and manage the risks that it confronts. To find out more, visit the COAG website and see pp. 13-14 and Attachment C pp. 22-23 of the Communiqué.
National Broadcast of Emergency Warnings
The objective of the National Broadcast of Emergency Warnings project is to improve the effectiveness, clarity and consistency of arrangements between all broadcast media, and all emergency management organisations, for the request and broadcast of emergency public warnings. As part of the project, the 'Emergency Warnings - Choosing Your Words' guide was produced as a resource for use by emergency management agencies and broadcasters. For more information and to read this guide, visit the National Broadcast of Emergency Warnings website.
Natural Disaster Resilience Program
From 2009-2010, Commonwealth funding for disaster mitigation works and support for emergency management will be approximately $110 million over four years. The new Natural Disaster Resilience Program (NDRP) will consolidate a number of current funding programs.
Learn more about the Natural Disaster Resilience Program.
Upcoming events
For details of national and international emergency management related conferences and workshops, visit the Conference List page.