The Government welcomes the Inspector-General for Emergency Management’s (IGEM) ‘Review of impact assessment and consequence management’ (the review).
The observations and findings within the IGEM’s review are generally consistent with EMV’s own assurance observations, and are aligned with the current identified improvements to the functions of impact assessment and consequence management.
The IGEM has acknowledged there is significant work being undertaken in the areas of impact assessment and consequence management by agencies and departments to resolve the identified challenges highlighted in the review. The IGEM does however, observe there is a need for continued work across components of the ‘EM-Impact’ impact assessment program, led by Emergency Management Victoria (EMV). This includes data collection, timing, collation, and the coordination and communication of this complex function. These factors have also been identified by the program leads and working groups. Addressing these identified factors will be considered as part of the ongoing work for EM-Impact program.
EM-Impact is establishing, for the first time, the ability to gather and compare consistent impact information against baseline community resilience data to support decision making and recovery planning.
Consequence management is included in the State Emergency Response Plan (SERP) and the SERP sub-plan guidelines to ensure consequence management is included during preparedness and response to support the management and reduce the potential impact of major emergencies.
Since 2012, the Victorian emergency management sector has participated in the Executive Consequence Management course. Since the introduction of the course, over 790 participants from more than 80 organisations have participated to enhance consequence management awareness, understanding and capability, with the additional benefit of improved relationships and cross agency networks.
The IGEM’s review found that the sector values the new and evolving consequence management approach and that it is spreading and being understood more broadly through the emergency management sector, however there are aspects that still require refinement. Ongoing improvement, including those identified in the IGEM’s review will be made as part of the ongoing work related to consequence management.
The review identified common themes across both programs including, purpose clarification, process, systems and capability. Further clarification and understanding of these requirements across the sector will emerge as the capability assessments for both Impact Assessment and Consequence Management are undertaken. These assessments form part of the work being undertaken through the Victorian Preparedness Framework (External link) implementation. The design of these assessments are utilising the findings from the sectors assurance functions, including this review.
Read the IGEM review of impact assessment and consequence management. (External link)
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The department acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.