2020 Shared Inquiry
In a year of devastating bushfires, unprecedented floods and a worldwide pandemic, we devoted our attention to developing tools to help regional communities and businesses recover from disaster and strengthening their resilience.
Natural disasters are a recurring feature of life in regional
Australia. Drought is currently a major concern for governments in Queensland and New South Wales, while fires and floods occur periodically in all jurisdictions. Alongside these natural disasters, economic shocks driven by domestic market changes and global market forces are also causing both slow and rapid adjustments in many regions. While the causes may be different, there are some overlapping elements to the way these kinds of shocks are managed and recovered from in regional Australia.
Much work has been done on this topic in recent years. The gap filled by the RAI Shared Inquiry Program centred on business experiences of disaster and recovery, and identifying the most effective local, state and commonwealth support to build resilience, reduce exposure and aid recovery.
Three main themes were covered in the research:
- The impacts of natural disasters on main-street retail and services in regional Australia
- Identifying the most effective ways of building business resilience in regional communities
- Recovery pathways for businesses in affected rural and regional communities, two South Australian case studies
2020 The impacts of natural disasters on main-street retail and services in regional Australia , UniSA
2020 What are the most effective ways of building business resilience in regional communities? , UniSA
2020 Recovery pathways for businesses in affected rural and regional communities, two South Australian case studies , UniSA
2020 Recovery pathways for businesses in affected rural and regional communities, case studies from Qld, NSW and Victoria , RMIT
2020 Governance and decision-making in disaster recovery , RMIT
2020 Regional business supply chains and disaster recovery , RMIT
2020 Rebuilding Regional Housing markets , RAI
2020 Review of indices of resilience and adaptability , RAI
2020 Devolving decision-making to build resilience , CDU