Dean Barton-Smith
Board Member - AFDO

AFDO was invited by Emergency Management Australia (EMA) – a department within the Attorney General Department - to present at their National Forum on Emergency Warning to the Community (NFEWC) on the 26-27 February 2009 in Canberra.

With the exception of a few people from Victoria/Queensland who were unable to attend due to the crises within their states, the Forum was relatively well attended with representatives from Government (federal, state and local), emergency agencies, Bureau of Meteorology, mainstream media and the disability sector. Several AFDO representatives were also present.

There were a number of presentations that were thought provoking and provide some insight as to the challenges from an emergency service perspective including the attitude and behavioural issues within the community. In addition there were a couple of presentations from the media and their perspective of how to best communicate warnings to the community.

The following day each state emergency department was given the opportunity to outline what disability access plans that they have in place.

AFDO took the opportunity to present on matters pertaining to emergency management including growing numbers of people with disability, the UNCRPD, various communication issues. These issues were based on feedback collated from members to date.

Due to our collaborative effort, disability access issues were put to the top of the agenda for the rest of this day. Amongst the discussion there were some genuine concerns about what constitutes the minimum ‘standard’ that emergency services need to deliver in order to address the communication needs of Australians with disabilities in event of a disaster. There were issues about potential inconsistencies between different states.

Towards the end of the Forum it was agreed that national guidelines for emergency managers should be established. The guidelines will aim to meet the requirements set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which was recently ratified by the Australian Government.

A working group, comprising disability sector representatives (including myself as AFDO representative) and emergency management experts will be set up to develop the guidelines to inform emergency managers of the communication needs of people with disability or in other circumstances where receipt of emergency warning messages may be compromised.