The Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference continues to support the Disaster and Emergency Management community with a strong focus on natural disasters and 2015 marks the 4th year of the event. The ANZDM Conference will be held 4-5 May 2015 at Jupiters Gold Coast with the theme of EARTH; FIRE AND RAIN.

Presentation Title: Building Disaster Resilience in Australia and Worldwide

This presentation will highlight recent developments in disaster resilience and emergency management, in particular through initiatives under the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction. Australia is seen as a world leader on disaster resilience and emergency management, with a number of Australian projects considered best practice globally. Innovative work continues in many areas, including early warning systems, community engagement, risk assessment and mitigation, and disaster response and recovery.

The presentation will also provide the opportunity to share key themes from the Third World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction and outline the work of the Productivity Commission on Natural Disaster Financing.

Keynote Highlight – Sam Chard, Assistant Secretary of the Emergency Management Policy Branch, Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. The Branch provides policy advice to the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General on emergency management issues and is responsible for coordination of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience implementation; and Secretariat function for the Australia-New Zealand Emergency Management Committee.

Samantha has held a number of policy and senior management positions across the Commonwealth, in national security, policing, and social services. Prior to joining the Department, Samantha was with the Australian Crime Commission, as the National Manager, Strategic Policy and Stakeholder Engagement, dealing with a range of criminal intelligence and organised crime issues.