Assurance and Continuous Improvement Priorities 2025-29

Assurance and Continuous Improvement Priorities

2025–2029

Assurance and Continuous Improvement Priorities 2025–2029 Contents Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners IGEM acknowledges and respects Victorian Traditional Owners as the original custodians of Victoria’s land and waters, their unique ability to care for Country and deep spiritual connection to it.

We honour Elders past and present whose knowledge and wisdom has ensured the continuation of culture and traditional practice.

Publication information Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne.

December 2024 ISBN 978-1-921699-14-6 (pdf/online) ©State of Victoria 2024 You are free to re-use this work under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, provided you credit the State of Victoria (Inspector-General for Emergency Management) as author, indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including government logos.

Foreword

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Key trends in emergency management

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Priorities

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Training and exercising

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Community preparedness

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Recovery

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Managing consequences

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Assurance methods

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Contact us

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If you would like to receive this publication in an alternative format telephone (03) 8684 7900 or email igem@igem.vic.gov.au Inspector-General for Emergency Management GPO Box 4356, Melbourne, Victoria 3001 Telephone: (03) 8684 7900 Email: igem@igem.vic.gov.au This publication is available in PDF format on igem.vic.gov.au.

Images Cover Blair Dellemijn, Uniform Photography Page 3 IGEM Page 4 (1) Janice Newnham (2) IGEM (3) Victoria State Emergency Service (4) Country Fire Authority Page 5 Victorian Council of Churches Emergencies Ministry Page 10 Victoria State Emergency Service Icons by Freepik

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Foreword IGEM is committed to providing modern, streamlined assurance that assists the emergency management sector to address current and emerging risks.

We are focused on supporting the continuous improvement of the sector by providing advice, analysis and insights that draw on a broad range of evidence.

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management (IGEM) plays a critical role in providing assurance to government and the Victorian community of the state’s emergency management arrangements and fostering their continuous improvement.

2024 marked 10 years since the establishment of the IGEM. Over that time the emergency management sector has changed significantly. So too have the risks that all Victorians face from increasingly frequent and severe emergencies.

As an organisation, it is important that we adapt to these changing circumstances and consider the ways in which we perform our role. It is equally important that we support the sector to meet its responsibilities within the Assurance Framework for Emergency Management.

This document outlines the priorities that will guide our assurance work over the next 5 years. Our Assurance and Continuous Improvement Priorities reflect enduring, system-wide challenges which continue to impact Victorians before, during and after emergencies.

We will investigate these priorities over multi-year programs of work, looking at each priority through a range of methods and approaches.

Our Annual Forward Plan of Reviews will operationalise these priorities and form the basis of our annual work programs, setting a clear agenda for our system-wide reviews while providing the flexibility to respond to emerging issues and opportunities.

Over the coming years our reviews will include a greater focus on providing guidance, case studies and new research, targeting issues which are the highest priorities for the sector and providing support and guidance for implementing new approaches.

We will be looking closely at the effectiveness of key activities over the last 10 years and identify examples of positive change which can be applied to other areas of the sector.

Dr Emily Phillips Inspector-General for Emergency Management

We are very focused on ensuring the accountability and transparency of the emergency management sector while making sure our assurance processes are streamlined, meaningful, and sustainable.

This means helping to reduce the reporting burden for the sector while making sure government is transparent in how it is addressing persistent challenges and formal recommendations.

Through our monitoring of the Victorian Emergency Management Strategic Action Plan, we will continue to assure government and the Victorian community that key commitments are being delivered. We will also work with the sector to update the Assurance Framework for Emergency Management, ensuring the sector continues to learn and improve.

Our emergency management sector has a critical role in preparing Victorians for the more frequent and complex challenges they will face in the future.

In this changing context, the role of the IGEM in providing assurance of our emergency management arrangements has never been more important.

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Key trends in emergency management

Increasing severity and frequency of emergencies There is clear evidence that climate change will continue to increase the severity and frequency of emergencies.

We are experiencing more volatile weather, more often. Hotter summers, floods, storms, hail, high winds and coastal surges present a growing risk.

Climate change is also changing our risk profile. Communicable diseases previously only present in warmer climates are now emerging in Victoria.

This exposes humans, wildlife and livestock to new risks.

The growing level of risk challenges our resources and means that more people are actively responding to or recovering from emergencies at any given time.

Changing community expectations

More complex consequences

Challenging financial environment

As risks change, communities rightly seek help to understand their risk and access to support before, during and after emergencies.

Our systems, services and infrastructure are now more connected than they have ever been.

The cost of emergencies is forecast to increase exponentially in coming years.

It is a cost that will be borne by government, our emergency service organisations, and the community.

In our modern world where information is readily available, and technology is rapidly changing, communities have increasing expectations of the timeliness, quality and specificity of the information and support they receive.

When these expectations are not met, the trust between community, government and the emergency management sector is impacted.

Balancing local and tailored approaches with fair and equitable support is a constant challenge. It is important that communities understand their own roles and responsibilities in emergencies and are supported to perform these roles.

Victorians, and the agencies that support them, are reliant on our critical services, and the statewide, national and international systems that underpin them.

Our individual and collective resilience is built upon stakeholders from both inside and outside our traditional emergency management structures, posing challenges for how we coordinate and prioritise our efforts.

Recognising our dependence on these connected services, systems and infrastructure and the consequences of their failure is a responsibility shared by individuals, communities, industry, the not-for-profit sector and all levels of government.

The increasing costs of response and recovery will require the sector to be more efficient in the delivery of its critical functions. It will also place a greater emphasis on how we effectively mitigate our risks and prepare for future emergencies.

This comes at a time when Victorians are experiencing significant cost-ofliving challenges that will affect their ability to prepare for and recover from emergencies. Insurance is becoming unaffordable for many, creating further vulnerabilities for individuals, communities and government.

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Priorities IGEM’s assurance and continuous improvement priorities for 2025–29 are:

Training and exercising Community preparedness Recovery

Managing consequences

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Training and exercising

Victorians are supported by a large and diverse emergency management workforce which requires the skills and knowledge necessary to plan for, respond to and recover from a wide range of emergencies.

Effective training and exercising is critical to maintaining an agile and sustainable workforce that is able to respond to future emergencies.

It enables the sector to test and improve its capability and arrangements, practise roles, and increase familiarity with the challenges it will be required to manage.

Over the next 5 years, IGEM will deliver a program of work to assess the sector’s approach to training and exercising, and to identify opportunities to improve training and exercising across the sector.

We will look at a broad range of approaches, from activities at a local government and community level, to how the sector is training and exercising its strategic leaders and forums.

We will focus on how training and exercising is helping the sector to meet the increasing demands of more severe and frequent emergencies. We will investigate how well the sector is positioned to meet the increased need for operational leaders and incident management teams who will be called upon more often and asked to handle a greater range of impacts and consequences.

Increasingly, the sector will be required to work together, share skills and resources, and adapt to new partners and surge workforces. Across this program of work, we will investigate how the sector is adopting leading practice in learning and development.

How is local government supported to train and exercise their emergency management roles?

How do we most efficiently train and exercise emergency management leaders?

Are we training and exercising in a way that will help us meet increased demands and complexity?

We will look at examples from Victoria, other jurisdictions, and different sectors to provide advice on how skills and capabilities can be most effectively developed and maintained in a dynamic and changing environment 6

Community preparedness

Across Victoria, there are many examples of communities, local governments, agencies and government departments that are preparing for the risks they face in a collaborative and innovative way.

Our communities have a vital role in preparing for and responding to emergencies. It is critical they understand their role and are prepared to take the appropriate action at the right time to keep themselves safe.

Community preparedness requires sustained effort to ensure we are reducing risks and preparing for the next emergency.

We will investigate the activities that are supporting individuals, households and communities to prepare, including statewide preparedness initiatives.

We will examine how the emergency management sector is supporting positive behavioural change at a population level. We will analyse opportunities to improve Victoria’s approach to community preparedness by comparing our efforts with leading examples from other jurisdictions and overseas.

Recognising the role education plays in community preparedness activities, we will investigate how the sector is supporting the accessibility of information to all parts of the Victorian community, and the extent to which those most at risk are supported by current arrangements.

We will look at current approaches across the sector to address localised risks and investigate the critical role of community-based preparedness.

We will evaluate the extent to which these initiatives are building capability, trust and transferable lessons. We will provide advice on how successful local initiatives can be identified to guide future activities and investment.

How can statewide initiatives be used to increase preparedness across Victoria’s diverse communities?

How can the sector drive positive behaviour change that will increase community preparedness?

How are we building on community-led preparedness initiatives to guide future practice?

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Recovery

As Victorians experience more frequent and severe emergencies, delivering timely, effective and sustainable recovery support is becoming more challenging.

Victoria has undertaken significant reform of its recovery arrangements. This work continues to progress, supported at all levels of government by an extensive program of work focused on addressing enduring challenges identified during past events.

Recovery reform takes time and ongoing commitment. While many positive outcomes can already be observed, some issues will take longer to address. It is important that the sector is given the time and support it needs to continue to progress this work.

We will examine the extent to which the sector is delivering effective, fair and timely recovery support for individuals and communities, and how current processes are supporting effective restoration of essential infrastructure and services.

We will investigate how Victoria is planning to support recovery from catastrophic emergencies, and the planning, policies and arrangements that will support largescale recovery and reconstruction.

We will examine how existing community and societal trends can impact on recovery needs, and examine how recovery planning is adapting to these emerging challenges.

Increasingly, we are seeing communities already going through the recovery process impacted by new and compounding emergencies. We will evaluate how the sector is responding to this challenge and preparing these communities for the next emergency.

How are we providing fair and consistent support to individuals and communities after an emergency?

Do the recovery arrangements enable the delivery of timely and effective support to communities?

How is the sector responding to the needs of communities experiencing consecutive emergencies?

Across this broad program of work, we will evaluate the impact of recent reforms to Victoria’s recovery arrangements and provide advice on how we can measure the progress of community recovery.

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Managing consequences

The compounding consequences of a major emergency can be just as disruptive as the immediate impacts. Understanding and addressing the wider repercussions of an emergency requires government to work closely with communities, the private sector and non-government partners.

In the face of more consecutive and concurrent emergencies, managing consequences is a vital part of an effective response.

Increasingly, the emergencies we face are creating broader disruptions that threaten the health and safety of the community. Identifying these consequences and taking steps to mitigate or minimise their effects requires the emergency management sector to work closely with private sector, non-government and community partners.

We will examine how risk assessments and data are used to quantify and communicate the impacts and consequences of an emergency. We will examine how this information is used to drive decision-making and action to keep people and communities safe.

We will evaluate how government manages consequences and investigate whether there are clear and appropriate mechanisms in place to support significant and prolonged consequences.

Our lives are supported by essential services that are inherently interconnected. A single incident can create disruptions across multiple services. We will assess the policies and approaches government has in place to work with private sector partners to mitigate and address these risks.

How does the sector ensure communities are safe and able to access essential services following a major emergency?

How does government organise itself and work with critical partners to identify, address and communicate complex consequences?

How does risk and data inform decisionmaking to manage consequences?

We will use our learnings to provide advice on how the sector can most effectively organise itself to understand, forecast and manage major consequences and minimise further impacts for Victorians.

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We will use rigorous assurance methods to deliver our priorities

Broad, thematic reviews

Post-incident reviews

We evaluate issues and risks that continue to challenge the safety and resilience of Victorians.

When requested, we review recent incidents to assess how arrangements are applied in practice. We use these opportunities to assess the impact of recent reforms.

Inter-jurisdictional comparisons

Policy and program evaluation

We compare Victorian arrangements to other Australian jurisdictions and countries to generate new ideas and benchmark our performance.

We assess the effectiveness of system-wide policies and programs that support Victorians before, during and after emergencies.

Case studies

Research translation

We use case studies to compare experiences and performance, identify good practice and capture transferable learnings.

Using our knowledge of the Victorian arrangements, risks and priorities, we collate research to prepare relevant summaries and advice.

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Contact us 03 8684 7900 igem@igem.vic.gov.au igem.vic.gov.au @IGEMVictoria /company/inspector-general-for –emergency-management @IGEM_Vic 11

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