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olunteerism Strategy
Discussion Paper : 2017
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
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One QFES: Many partners. Many services. Many capabilities.
The evolution and establishment of One QFES in 2016 presented a
unique opportunity accompanied by a significant challenge — the need
to evolve and undertake change to become a department not only
ready for the future, but one firmly focused on meeting our legislative
expectations as well as changing community needs and expectations.
The embedding of emergency management in all of our services, across the four
phases of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, is key to our process of
change as it underpins all of the work QFES does. The department acknowledges our
leadership role in striving to safeguard people, property and the environment from
disaster impacts and to empower and support local communities to manage disaster
risks, respond to events and to be more resilient.
We acknowledge our volunteer workforce is a crucial component in our ability to do
this and that our volunteers play an integral role in working with our many partners
and the community to help keep the people of Queensland safe.
As identified earlier, QFES faces the challenge of how to continue to prevent, prepare
for, respond to and recover from the increasing demands caused by natural and
man-made disasters and events coupled with the challenges traditional models of
volunteerism present us. Together, these have highlighted a critical need to develop
more flexible strategies to support the broader community and to ensure we have the
systems in place to attract, retain and support our volunteers both now and in the
future.
Changing world