The 2018 Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference is almost here again, this year the Conference will be held over the 21-22 May at The Star Gold Coast.

Mrs Ronnie Faggotter, Director, Department Of Communities And Social Inclusion – State Recovery Office joins us to discuss ‘What’s So Different About Recovery Planning?’

Standalone Recovery Plans at the local government level are a relatively new development across jurisdictions, particularly in South Australia where, until recently, the role of councils in recovery has been less formalised when compared with the eastern states.

During 2016 and 2017, the South Australian Local Government Association, four local councils and the State Recovery Office worked together to produce a set of resources to help guide councils to develop recovery plans. It was during the process of working with one of the councils to use the guide and develop their recovery plan, that it became clear how different recovery planning is to emergency management planning.

Although it’s true that recovery is included in many emergency management plans, this project showed that having a specialised focus on recovery planning and preparedness produces greater community resiliency and capability. There are three key reasons for this:

• the Disaster Recovery Principals influence the way the plan is developed
• the community is empowered as they are involved in the planning process
• it enables councils to broaden their focus from infrastructure repair to the other domains of recovery- social, economic and the environment.
This presentation tells the story of how this understanding developed as well as demonstrating how councils can benefit from having a focus on planning for recovery rather than seeing it as an addendum to emergency management planning. It will show how the greatest value of recovery planning lies in the process rather than the end product.

Ronnie Faggotter is the Director of the State Recovery Office within the SA Department for Communities and Social Inclusion. Ronnie worked within Public Housing for over twenty years in a broad range of roles before being seconded to manage the State Recovery Centre which was established following the Wangary Bushfire on the Eyre Peninsula in January 2005. The State Recovery Office was established shortly thereafter to support long term recovery efforts on Eyre Peninsula as well as to establish State plans, policies and procedures relating to recovery. Her key focus at the State Recovery Office is increasing the State’s disaster recovery capacity and the resilience of communities. Ronnie is involved in State and National Emergency Management Committees. Since January 2005 she has been involved in numerous events, mostly fires and floods. In 2011 Ronnie was included in the South Australian Women’s Honour Roll for her work in emergency management. In 2017, Ronnie received the Local Government Association – Jim Hullick Award for outstanding collaboration with local government in the area of recovery.

For more information on the 2018 Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference and to secure your spot, visit the conference website.