Queensland a big winner at national resilience awards

A number of Queensland initiatives have been awarded for their outstanding contribution to building community resilience to disasters at the 2019 Resilient Australia Awards in Adelaide today.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council took first prize for the National Local Government Award for its Get Ready Schools program which delivers interactive presentations to local schools. The program aims to empower students to help build their community’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. 

In the National School Awards category, Swayneville State School were Highly Commended for its Connecting the Divide mural. The seven-metre mural was created to symbolise community recovery and resilience after Severe Tropical Cyclone Debbie destroyed the main access road into the small rural community of Sarina Range in 2017.

Redland City Council were also Highly Commended for its Community Champions Program in the National Local Government Awards category. As a first-of-its-kind in Queensland, the Community Champions Program is a network of people nominated by residents who work with Council to help local communities prepare for severe weather and disasters.

The annual Resilient Australia Awards celebrate innovative and collaborative initiatives that build whole-of-community resilience to disasters and emergencies around the country.  

The awards recognise outstanding contributions in each state and territory in six categories including community, business, local government, State/Federal government, school and photography.

The awards are administered by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. 

For more information about the Resilient Australia Awards and the Queensland winning projects, visit the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience website.