NSW boosts emergency services and severe weather event response
The NSW government will boost its commitment in the state budget to tackling the impact of severe weather events and other natural disasters.
The NSW government will boost its commitment in the state budget to tackling the impact of severe weather events and other natural disasters with an additional $132m for the NSW State Emergency Service over the next four years.
In the wake of widespread devastation from flooding, especially in the state’s north, Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Sunday that more than $50m would be used to upgrade 18 SES “critical priority” unit facilities.
Mr Perrottet said that as part of an SES revamp, his government would construct new control centres. The SES’s existing Northern and Western zones would each be split in two, widening the organisation’s focus and response capability.
After severe Northern Rivers flooding, a new incident control centre is to be built for the Lismore area.
The $132m SES funding package is the latest in a stream of big-spending announcements ahead of the June 21 budget and comes nine months before the NSW election in March.
Mr Perrottet said his government was committed to investing in communities to strengthen frontline services. “The recent flooding has caused widespread devastation ... which is why it’s so important we ensure the SES has the resources it needs to respond to natural disasters of this significant scale,” he said.
Mr Perrottet acknowledged in April that rebuilding the Northern Rivers area was his “greatest challenge” after the state had endured “bushfires and drought, floods, floods again, a pandemic”.
He admitted aspects of the government’s flood response were “unacceptable” and communities should not need to rely on civilian rescuers to save lives and homes.
NSW government sources said further SES resource spending was likely, subject to the findings of the independent flood inquiry, established in March and headed by former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller, and former NSW chief scientist and now chairwoman of the NSW Independent Planning Commission, Professor Mary O’Kane.
Their inquiry brief includes not only to make recommendations on the NSW flood response and quality of state emergency services, but on future land use planning and possible relocation of some towns or communities.
As well as spending $58.7m to upgrade 18 SES critical priority unit facilities, the government will outlay $43m to split the existing Northern and Western zones in two, effectively creating two more.
The new north and western zone divisions will each receive new headquarters at a cost of $11.7m, including “Level 3” incident control centres. A further $18m will be spent on upgrading existing zone headquarters.
Construction of new SES headquarters will be priority projects, while the 18 unit upgrades will be spread over the four-year budget period.
The government will allocate $1.3m to develop an SES facility strategy and complete “detailed business cases” to address outstanding recommendations from an earlier flood review.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the funding would ensure a more targeted and rapid response for future emergency events attended by the SES across NSW.
Treasurer Matt Kean said investing in emergency services was a budget a priority for the government. “Our SES volunteers are there for our families and communities at their times of need,” he said. “This record investment is about investing in them and building community resilience to natural disasters.”
Emergency Services and Resilience Minister and Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke said the funding would support the more than 10,000 SES volunteers who served their communities.
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