The Albanese and Malinauskas Governments are investing nearly $2 million to help South Australians reduce their disaster risk in the future.

South Australia has piloted a funding round for projects and initiatives aimed at increasing understanding of disaster risk, enabling communities to withstand, adapt and continue to thrive in a changing environment.

This includes seven projects supporting enhanced disaster preparedness, response and recovery for First Nations peoples, communities or businesses.

• $110,000 - Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation. Ceduna Aboriginal Homelands Fire & Risk Mitigation Strategy - aims to minimise fire risks and hazards on all Ceduna Aboriginal homeland properties.
• $134,388 - Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation. Supporting Healthy Country - First Nations Roadside Management - will facilitate the coming together of processes and assessments used by various agencies to develop a Limestone Coast Roadside Management Strategy, with a focus on the integration of First Nations knowledges and practices.
• $121,529 - Aboriginal Affairs & Reconciliation; Attorney- General's Department. Protection and Preparedness: Mapping Aboriginal Heritage for disaster risk reduction – will seek to address the competing tensions of heritage protection and confidentiality requirements by developing a mapping tool that balances these needs. It will develop a method to share a form of digital location to inform emergency service personnel that Aboriginal heritage exists in the vicinity of the incident and may be under threat by mitigation actions, while protecting the precise location and nature of the site(s).
• $120,000 - South Australian Native Title Services - Nukunu Fire Stewardship. Trained Nukunu fire practitioners will lead a workshop in consultation with Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation to develop knowledge and skills of cultural burning. The workshop will provide participants with the tools, knowledge, and resources to understand the role of fire in the landscape and to engage in cultural burning practices.
• $100,000 - Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation. Reigniting Kaurna Cultural Practices Through Fire - will revitalise and preserve the traditional Indigenous practices of the Kaurna people, the Aboriginal people of the Adelaide Plains in South Australia.
• $150,000 - APY Land Management. 2 way disaster risk reduction saving people, culture and assets – will employ a dedicated Anangu fire officer in the APY Lands to improve community engagement and integrate traditional knowledge and practices into disaster management planning.
• $299,620 - Fire to Flourish, Monash Sustainable Development Institute. Enhancing relationships between Aboriginal communities and emergency services in South Australia - will support Australia’s federal, state governments and Emergency Management agencies to connect with, and develop, culturally safe and inclusive ways of working with Indigenous peoples during, before and after disasters.

Another nine projects have been funded to strengthen the state’s strategic disaster risk management:

• $140,000 - South Australia Police. Landslide/ Landslip risk in South Australia - a comprehensive geotechnical examination to provide data to determine the size and scale of potential landslides or landslips.
• $168,500 - South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS). Developing a People at Risk in Emergencies Framework for South Australia 2025-2029 - SACOSS and the Australian Red Cross will undertake a review of the People at Risk in Emergencies Framework for South Australia. The review process will include consultation with a broad range of stakeholders from across South Australia, including emergency management and health and community services agencies and people with lived experience of risk and or emergencies.
• $64,745 - Artlab Australia. Strengthening disaster resilience in public library heritage collections - will provide skills and practical training to library staff and support them to develop tailored disaster plans to safeguard their local history collections during disasters.
• $113,000 - SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission. SA Disaster Resilience Ecosystem Project – will guide the state's future disaster resilience strategy and shape South Australia’s approach to disaster resilience post-2024. The project will explore, map, and visualise South Australia's disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and resilience solution ecosystem.
• $150,300 - Resilient Ready. Developing a South Australian Social Capital + Social Infrastructure Snapshot Report - this project will look at investment in social capital and social infrastructure in order to build a safer and more resilient state. It will be delivered by social enterprise Resilient Ready in collaboration with global social capital expert Professor Daniel P. Aldrich.
• $12,702 - Campbelltown City Council. Cool Spaces for Summer 2024 Project - will trial the implementation of cool refuges in up to 3 facilities in the Campbelltown area in February/March 2024. At these sites Council will provide programmed activities, resources and catering, options for transport to and from venues, trained staff, and access to education resources such as 'Healthy in the Heat' information.
• $45,540 - Adelaide Hills Council. Fire access track audit - a detailed audit of all fire tracks in the Adelaide Hills Council region, and the development of a stringent set of criteria to establish track condition, classification and priority for treatment.
• $93,000 - Southern & Hills LGA. Renewing the Resilient Hills & Coasts Regional Climate Plan -the project aims to update the current Plan, to focus on where the regional partnership can make the most impact in reducing climate risks.
• $65,556 - Flinders University. Understanding the Difficulty of Disaster Preparation Tasks: A Pilot Activity - a large-scale survey to map South Australians’ ability to undertake tasks found on disaster preparedness checklists for a range of different disasters. This project aims to inform allocation of resources and attention to areas of most need in a multi-disaster future.

These 16 projects will be funded by the Albanese and Malinauskas Governments through Disaster Risk Reduction Grants, which, combined with co-contributions from recipients, will see a total of $2.5 million invested into disaster risk reduction for the state.

Federal Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt said First Nations communities hold tens of thousands of years of vital local land management knowledge, which is critical to how we inform our disaster and hazard risk management practices.

“The Albanese and Malinauskas Governments are supporting a range of important projects that integrate of this knowledge, to help reduce disaster risk to culturally significant places,” Minister Watt said.

“Through this program, we are helping to empower First Nations peoples and local communities to lead decision-making that draws upon local and traditional knowledge and lived experience, through genuine partnerships with government and emergency service organisations.

“We are also investing in a range of other meaningful programs that will better prepare South Australian communities for the conditions they are likely to face in the future.”

SA Minister for Emergency Services, the Hon Joe Szakacs MP acknowledged that disasters disproportionally impact First Nations peoples.

“In reviewing the applications the assessment panel was cognisant to balance recognising the vulnerabilities in these communities with honouring the existing strength and leadership these communities contain,” Minister Szakacs said.

“It’s pleasing to see South Australia take the lead in offering a dedicated funding round to support Aboriginal disaster risk reduction initiatives. The successful projects broach an important bridge in integrating traditional knowledge and practices into modern disaster management planning.

“The project from the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission will build on SA's inaugural disaster resilience strategy, to gather vital insights to guide the state's future disaster resilience strategy and shape SA's approach to disaster resilience post-2024.”

Further information

The Disaster Risk Reduction Grants program forms part of the National Partnership Agreement on Disaster Risk Reduction – an agreement between the Commonwealth and all states and territories to reduce the risk and impact of natural disasters in line with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework.

Through previous rounds of the Disaster Risk Reduction Grants program, more than $6 million has been provided to not-for-profit organisations, local governments, and state agencies to undertake activities that reduce current and future disaster risk, and equip decision-makers with the capabilities and information they need across South Australia.

For more detail on the South Australian Disaster Risk Reduction Grant recipients, and previous round recipients, visit Disaster Risk Reduction Grants - SAFECOM.

ENDS