Foreword

From the Minister for Emergency Services

The Victorian Emergency Management Strategic Roadmap 2022–28 provides the forward path to help us achieve our shared vision of Safer and More Resilient Communities.

The Roadmap will be critical as we continue to reform Victoria’s emergency management sector to meet the challenges of the future. It builds on the progress achieved through the sector in the past 10 years and outlines some of the challenges we must continue to address. It provides for a stronger understanding of the priorities and the actions that will be essential to improving community safety and resilience. It also identifies improved and sustainable outcomes to guide the sector into the future.

To achieve our shared vision, I recognise the importance of the sector, community and businesses continuing to work collaboratively to develop adaptive and agile strategies for emergency management. Our expertise, efforts and resources need to converge to lead the required reform to deliver the best outcomes for the community. Working as one to achieve our vision will also require strong, united leadership, underpinned by shared values and positive behaviours.

By working together to drive sector reform, we can strive to do more to keep our communities safe and achieve our shared vision of Safer and More Resilient Communities.

The Hon. Jaclyn Symes
Minister for Emergency Services

From the Emergency Management Commissioner

Since 2019, Victoria has endured some of the most significant emergencies in living memory, from devastating bushfires and storms to the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, Victorians and our emergency management personnel have worked to meet these challenges with dedication, resilience and a strong commitment to community.

As we move into a more volatile future for emergencies, now is the time to collectively set our strategic direction. The Strategic Roadmap for Emergency Management in Victoria (the Roadmap) provides a reflection on emergency management experiences in Victoria over the last decade. It charts a path forward to ensure our sector and the Victorian community is well equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.

The Strategic Roadmap will be key to the success of preparing for, responding to, and recovering from major emergencies in Victoria. It will steer the vision, priorities, investment and actions for the Victorian Government and the emergency management sector. It is an overarching strategy to guide emergency reform and give the community confidence that progress is being made.

The next decade will pose significant challenges and opportunities for emergency management in Victoria, including from the effects of climate change. The Strategic Roadmap empowers the sector to tackle these challenges and drive initiatives to strengthen our collective capacity, capability, governance, leadership and systems to support these efforts.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in developing, collaborating, and delivering the Roadmap. It represents a superb collective effort across the sector. By continuing to work as one, we can facilitate sustainable change to achieve our shared vision of Safer and More Resilient Communities.

Andrew Crisp OAM
Emergency Management Commissioner