RACQ’s General Manager Advocacy Josh Cooney said it was important to have up-to-date, targeted plans in place to improve resilience across the nation’s most natural disaster-prone state. 

“The latest version of the Queensland Strategy for Disaster Resilience builds on progress made since 2014 when the strategy was first published and guides activities for how government and associated agencies prepare and respond to natural disasters,” Mr Cooney said.

“We welcome the Government’s commitment to embed natural disaster resilience into planning and decision-making.

“The State needs a broad cultural change in how we think about and act on risk and resilience. However, the most urgent action for the Queensland Government is actual expenditure on disaster mitigation.

“Prevention is better than a cure, yet for years we’ve seen underinvestment which continues to leave many regions unprotected from the growing risk of disasters.”

Mr Cooney said money needs to be focused on the right projects in the right places.

“The new Federal Government has pledged $200 million a year for mitigation works as part of its Disaster Ready Fund and we’d like to see states and territories, including Queensland, match that funding,” he said.

“A pipeline of annual mitigation funding to build community resilience year-on-year will give Queensland the best chance of withstanding and bouncing back from ongoing and worsening weather events.”