2015 Resilient Australia Awards

Disaster resilience can be defined in many ways, but ultimately it is about making communities safer, stronger and better prepared to manage natural disasters

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Key to a more resilient Australia is recognising that resilience is not just the domain of the emergency services, but also business, community organisations and individuals.

By celebrating innovation and best practice, the Resilient Australia Awards showcase work that is often unrecognised, inspiring others to think about how they can be more disaster resilient.

Since its inception in 2000, the Awards program has recognised excellence and innovation in emergency management and has received over 1100 entries, including 106 in 2015.

Emergency Management Australia Director General, Mark Crosweller, who was part of the judging panel for the 2015 national awards, said the awards served an important role in fostering resilience.

‘The quality of entries is very impressive, as is the amount of work going on in the space of resilience more broadly.

‘The thing I love about the Resilient Australia Awards, and resilience more generally in Australia, is how diverse the project scope is, how innovative people’s thinking is in relation to what resilience means to them, and how they can work with their communities to put it into effect,’ Mr Crosweller said.

The Resilient Australia Awards celebrate the many achievements of those who are actively working to make Australia more resilient to natural disasters. The Awards, which are sponsored by the Attorney-General’s Department in conjunction with the states and territories, are coordinated by the Department’s Emergency Management Policy Branch and a team of very enthusiastic state and territory convenors. 

The Minister for Justice, the Hon Michael Keenan MP, announced the national award winners at a ceremony at Parliament House in November.

Sarah Henderson MP, Minister for Justice Hon Michael Keenan MP, and the Hon Theresa Gambaro MP, announce the 2015 National Resilient Australia Awards in the Mural Hall at Parliament House. Image: Attorney-General’s Department.

The 2015 National Australia Award winner was GIVIT, a Brisbane-based company that was established in 2009 to coordinate donated goods going to members of the community most in need. GIVIT’s sophisticated online platform provides a simple, proven, coordinated response to quickly match donations and ensure offers of assistance get to where they are most needed.

Minister Keenan and the Hon Teresa Gambaro with the 2015 Resilient Australia Award winners, Juliette Wright and Sarah Tennant from GIVIT. Image: Attorney-General’s Department.

Minister Keenan said that GIVIT could not be more deserving of this title.

‘I’m proud to say Australians are renowned for being very generous at donating both goods and cash following an event that causes hardship to others. GIVIT’s award for making a significant improvement to the handling of donated goods demonstrates how important this is to the recovery process.

‘I’d like to congratulate GIVIT on their ongoing commitment to their local community, Queensland, and the nation as a whole,’ Mr Keenan said.

The Award was accepted by GIVIT’s CEO, Juliette Wright, who is also the National Australia Day Council’s 2015 Local Hero, and the General Manager Disaster Recovery, Sarah Tennant.

The Hon Teresa Gambaro, Federal Member for Brisbane, presented the award to GIVIT.

‘The Queensland floods were absolutely devastating and I’m honoured to be here today to present to you this award because you and your team at GIVIT have done so much,’ Ms Gambaro said at the presentation.

‘Not only at the time of those floods — when there is a house fire, or a family in need — you match those donations and get it to the people who need it the most. You do it with no fuss at all. You just get in there and do it,’ Ms Gambaro said.

Mark Crosweller, who often experienced the challenge of dealing with a deluge of donations in his early career in the NSW Rural Fire Service, said GIVIT was a worthy winner.

‘They understood how to define need, they understood how to assist the giver, and they understood how not to waste anything,’ he said.

This year’s entries covered all aspects of disaster management including risk assessment, mitigation, education and training, community awareness, response and recovery. State and territory winners were acknowledged at ceremonies in their jurisdictions throughout October and November.

These entries were considered for the National Award by a panel of judges that comprised Andrew Coghlan, Australian Red Cross, Stuart Ellis, Australasian Fire Authorities Council, Troy Pickard, Australian Local Government Association, Dr Richard Thornton, Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, and Mark Crosweller, Director General Emergency Management Australia.

Due to the quality of the entries the judges also awarded four national ‘Highly Commended’ citations that were announced by Minister Keenan.