The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, also known as the Bushfire Royal Commission, has concluded and released its final report.

The final report acknowledges that natural disasters will be more frequent and more severe, and warns that consecutive and compounding natural disasters will place increasing stress on existing emergency management arrangements.

The report focuses on what can be done to improve national natural disaster coordination arrangements. Recommendations to note include:

• Recommendation 3.2 Establishment of an authoritative disaster advisory body: Australian, state and territory governments should establish an authoritative advisory body to consolidate advice on strategic policy and relevant operational considerations for ministers in relation to natural disasters.
• Recommendation 3.5 Establishing a standing resilience and recovery entity: The Australian Government should establish a standing entity that will enhance national natural disaster resilience and recovery, focused on long-term disaster risk reduction.
• Recommendation 4.1 National disaster risk information: Australian, state and territory governments should prioritise the implementation of harmonised data governance and national data standards.
• Recommendation 4.2 Common information platforms and shared technologies: Australian, state and territory governments should create common information platforms and share technologies to enable collaboration in the production, analysis, access, and exchange of information, data and knowledge about climate and disaster risks.
• Recommendation 4.5 National climate projections: Australian, state and territory governments should produce downscaled climate projections: (1) to inform the assessment of future natural disaster risk by relevant decision makers, including state and territory government agencies with planning and emergency management responsibilities (2) underpinned by an agreed common core set of climate trajectories and timelines, and (3) subject to regular review.
• Recommendation 19.4 National Construction Code: The Australian Building Codes Board, working with other bodies as appropriate, should: (1) assess the extent to which AS 3959:2018 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas, and other relevant building standards, are effective in reducing risk from natural hazards to lives and property, and (2) conduct an evaluation as to whether the National Construction Code should be amended to specifically include, as an objective of the code, making buildings more resilient to natural hazards.

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