Ministerial Statement

Review of the Emergency Management Act

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (16:08): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The Emergency Management Act 2004 is South Australia's principal legislation for emergency management arrangements. It is a critical piece of legislation in times of emergency to support the South Australian government's prevention, preparedness, response and recovery efforts. It is rightly used as a last resort once the powers of all other acts that specify emergency management activities have been exhausted.

As members of this house would be aware, the scale, impacts and consequences of recent events, such as the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022-23 River Murray flooding event, have far exceeded all other emergency events in our state's history. The increasing complexity of existing and emerging disaster risks, such as climate change and cybersecurity, will also present new challenges for the emergency management sector and the state more broadly. My government recognises these challenges and has prioritised reviewing the act to ensure that the state's legislative framework is optimised to keep South Australians safe.

Today, I lay on the table the final report for the independent review of the act. The review was conducted by the managing partners of Peg Consulting, Tahnya Donaghy and Ingrid Haythorpe, over the last 12 months. Their thorough and well considered review of our state's existing emergency management arrangements will help ensure our state is adequately equipped to respond to evolving emergency management challenges into the future.

The review undertook a comprehensive stakeholder consultation process throughout the course of the review to ensure that all levels of government and non-government organisations and the general public were able to have their say on our state's emergency management arrangements. My government has considered the recommendations and observations contained within the final report which we have either accepted or accepted in principle in our accompanying government response.

In consideration of recent emergency events, some of the key areas of reform coming from the review will include greater powers for recovery activities, as well as the introduction of a new category of emergency declaration under division 3 of the act. The new declaration category will enable a more flexible approach to the current emergency management arrangements and improve public messaging. The recommendations made in the final report will shape an amendment bill we intend to bring to the house later this year.

The review has also made several observations that relate to the broader emergency management framework that will be incorporated into my department's future work. I encourage all members to familiarise themselves with the content of the final report.