IGEM Report 1: 2017-18 - THE CYCLONE DEBBIE REVIEW

Inspector-General Emergency Management

Business continuity, communities and local critical infrastructure This focus on communities and their business continuity is important. All communities have critical infrastructure identified by local governments as essential to the wellbeing of their communities. The restoration of this local critical infrastructure can be a key enabler of recovery. Some are well-known and planned for. The program that the Department of Housing and Public Works adopts to inspect, rectify and open schools is longstanding and effective. The Debbie experience showed that other types of infrastructure are less well-identified, and that plans could be improved. Good intentions to do so already exist. The Townsville local group proposes to undertake an audit of local critical infrastructure, such as shops and fuel stations, seeking to identify those with generators. Much infrastructure – and therefore business continuity – relies on the utilities of power, telecommunications and water. After Debbie, Queensland’s critical utility providers performed remarkably. The restoration of power and telecommunications after Debbie has been widely praised. This infrastructure will always be affected by extreme weather. requirements of utilities during restoration should be considered in the continuity plans of councils, businesses and residents. Knowing about restoration times will help recovering communities. Our community survey found, for example, that respondents did not expect restoration to happen any faster; but they did wish to have a better idea of when they could expect these important utilities to be returned. Public communication of timetables for restoration of services may be easily improved in future similar events, for example by word-of-mouth through existing community networks, or signs at council offices, recovery hubs and community meeting places. To mitigate the loss of power, communications and water, the

We heard from Energy Queensland that some councils have insufficient knowledge of the power requirements of facilities critical to their community, and insufficient understanding of the hazards that might follow a breakdown of these facilities. They suggest the loss of power to some disaster coordination centres and local sewerage treatment works, and the continuing roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) with its total reliance on electricity, needs a more comprehensive response. Providers of power, water and telecommunications were part of the SDCG during Debbie. The information provided gave the SDC clarity and understanding of what was occurring with the state’s critical infrastructure. It is clearly good practice to have these providers further integrated into the state’s disaster management arrangements. Currently, local groups cannot always get local critical infrastructure representatives to their meetings. Some critical infrastructure owners will not share their risks or contingency plans on the basis of commercial confidentiality. A longer-term approach to critical infrastructure business continuity planning at the local level would help build trust between agencies. Greater understanding about the nature and priority of Queensland’s local critical infrastructure – for example, through the injection of local priorities into utilities’ existing prioritisation plans – would assist with event planning and transition to recovery. Broader understanding of the role of utilities would be enhanced by their greater integration into collaborative planning. 93 Integration of plans and planning The importance of collaborative planning was demonstrated in diverting traffic through Rockhampton following the opening of the Bypass at Yeppen. TMR staff were not present when the local coordination centre stood up to deal with the flood. The traffic management plan, developed by TMR, had not been discussed by the local group in advance. As a result, curb and guttering changes had to be made quickly by council field staff the evening prior to the opening to permit heavy vehicle access to residential areas. The arrival of heavy traffic also created questions and complaints from the public that needed to be fielded by the LDCC.

Themes

Recommendation Local disaster management groups should focus on the business continuity of local critical infrastructure and its integration with other plans. Recommendation Business continuity planning should feature permanently in disaster management doctrine. Communities will benefit when such plans of businesses and local critical infrastructure are integrated with the plans of others on which they rely. Finding Enhanced business continuity planning within state agencies, businesses and communities will help all to be more resilient to the impact of events.

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The Cyclone Debbie Review

Lessons for delivering value and confidence through trust and empowerment