The joint National Resilience project by GAP, the Institute for Integrated Economic Research Australia (IIER-A) and Gravity iLabs brings together public and private sector thought leaders to develop an integrated national resilience framework for Australia.
After a summer of bushfires, growing geopolitical tensions and the incipient pandemic highlighted Australia’s vulnerability and general lack of preparation for a range of disasters, in February 2020 Global Access Partners, IIER-A and Gravity iLabs formed a National Resilience Taskforce. Over the following 18 months, the Taskforce has worked to examine different aspects of resilience and the need for Australia to embrace an all-hazards approach to national security. IIER-A also established 10 working groups to address specific issues, including health, sovereign industry, education and research, and energy security.
This unprecedented, politically independent philanthropic effort now involves more than 250 eminent participants from all sectors, including Federal and State politicians and the heads of major peak bodies.
NATIONAL RESILIENCE PROJECT FINAL REPORT
The final report of the GAP/IIER-A National Resilience Project, co-authored by Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn AO (Retd) and Anne Borzycki, was released on 1 October 2021. It incorporates, and integrates, the findings of the Project’s nine component reports – Economy, Industry, Health, Education/Research, Energy, Environment, First Respondents, Political System, and Culture.
The report makes recommendations to develop a resilience strategy and resilience actions that will underpin a future, broader Australian national resilience framework. It also calls for the establishment of a National Resilience Institute to continue a thorough and ongoing examination of Australia’s resilience and ensure it remains on the political agenda beyond the current pandemic.
ENERGY SYSTEMS RESILIENCE
This report explores the need for an energy strategy and plan for Australia; one that should be coordinated / correlated with strategies for national security and resilience, economy, environment, industry, and research.
FIRST RESPONDENTS AND DEFENCE IN AUSTRALIA: RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
The first responders and defence report analyses the increasing risks posed to Australia by climate change and calls for a nationally coordinated and, where appropriate, standardised and interoperable disaster preparedness and mobilisation system.
A NATIONAL RESILIENCE FRAMEWORK FOR AUSTRALIA
The national resilience framework report emphasises preparedness as one of the three pillars of a future national resilience strategy and suggests expanding the 2019 Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (NDRRF) to encompass other types of risk.
AUSTRALIA’S SOVEREIGN INDUSTRY CAPABILITY
The industry report calls for a broad investigation of Australia’s manufacturing base to highlight areas of sovereign importance which could be strengthened and expanded through a range of government measures.
TRUST, SOCIAL COHESION AND RESILIENCE: A CONVERSATION-STARTER FOR AUSTRALIA
The trust and social cohesion report examines its headline issues as vital foundations for Australia’s national resilience.
ENHANCING PUBLIC SECTOR POLICY CAPABILITY FOR A COVID WORLD
The public sector capability report calls for concrete steps to increase policy capability of the Australian public sector, in order to harnesses inside knowledge more effectively and bring the best possible advice to government on future challenges.
THE AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: ‘JUST IN TIME’ OR ‘JUST IN CASE’?
The healthcare report provides a high-level overview of the resilience issues in Australia’s health system that have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
PROTECTING AUSTRALIA’S SOVEREIGN RESEARCH CAPABILITY IN A COVID WORLD
The report on Australia’s research sovereignty calls for a more targeted and tightly curated system for allocating research funding, along with an overarching and long-term national research and innovation strategy.
Some of the ideas and recommendations of the GAP Taskforce and IIER-A workshops were discussed at A Vision for Australia 2020: GAP Annual Summit on National Resilience held online on 6 November 2020.
The Summit endoursed one of the Taskforce’s key recommendations – the establishment of a permanent independent body, a National Resilience Institute, jointly funded by philanthropy, federal and state governments, and industry.
