Disaster Resilience

The Hunter is predicted to experience increased extreme weather events and natural hazards, with the impacts already being felt across the region. Many communities continue to recover from the cumulative effects of increasingly frequent and severe disasters.

Local government in particular has a critical role to play in strengthening disaster resilience. Councils have the local presence, knowledge, skills and systems required to deliver place-based adaptation and resilience that no other level of government can provide.

Investment to strengthen disaster resilience, upgrade vulnerable infrastructure and sustain community preparedness is becoming increasingly urgent. Yet councils, particularly in regional and rural areas, remain under-resourced and heavily reliant on grant funding for both disaster recovery and long-term risk reduction. This grant-dependent approach creates ongoing challenges, making it more difficult to plan and deliver long-term resilience initiatives.

The May 2025 NSW East Coast severe weather events again demonstrated both the essential role of councils in disaster response and recovery, and the critical need for strong, consistent and collaborative leadership from State and Federal Governments.

We welcome the opportunity to continue working with the NSW Reconstruction Authority to develop regional-scale Disaster Adaptation Plans (DAPs) for the Hunter, strengthening preparedness, recovery and long-term adaptation.

Our Advocacy

We recently welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the NSW Parliament’s Joint Select Committee Inquiry into the NSW Reconstruction Authority. Through our submission, we advocated for stronger regional coordination, long-term investment and policy settings that better support local government to build resilient communities before, during and after disasters The Inquiry also provides an important opportunity to strengthen disaster governance and improve collaboration across all levels of government.

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