Friday’s Limestone Coast Disaster Resilience Summit put disaster preparedness and risk mitigation, response and recovery at the centre of attention amongst key heavy weights from State and Local Governments, corporate entities, local authorities and primary producers.
“This new pilot program funded by SAFECOM and delivered by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) and Primary Producers South Australia (PPSA), provided the South Australian Forest Products Association an opportunity to host a Disaster Resilience Summit bringing together all the agricultural commodity groups with community groups and key decision markers in an effort to focus on how to mitigate the impacts of compounding and complex disasters”, said Mr Nathan Paine, Chief Executive Officer of the South Australian Forest Products Association (SAFPA).
“One thing that Covid taught us all, is that disasters can come at anytime and we can never be too prepared. These disasters include bushfires, floods, heatwaves and extreme winters, pandemics, animal and plant diseases, and we need to ensure that we are all integrated with our approach when it comes to disaster management”, continued Mr Paine.
“SAFPA’s Disaster Resilience Summit attracted significant guest speakers to address the 80 plus crowd who attended from across the State and Victoria, to understand how authorities and community members can minimize the disruptions to supply chains, ensure production maintenance continues in the event of a disaster and most important, how we can support the community to recover after a disaster”, said Mr Paine.
“SAFPA acknowledge the ongoing support of the State Government, particularly the Minister for Forest Industries, The Honourable Clare Scriven, and the Minister for Emergency Services, The Honourable Joe Szakacs, who both attended and spoke at the Summit. Their attendance highlights how important the State Government values our regional economies and how committed they are to safeguarding lives, property and infrastructure in the region”, said Mr Paine.
Along with the Ministers, the Summit attracted the following speakers (in no particular order):
- Jonathon Pollock, Bureau of Meteorology
- Jason Taylor, Limestone Coast Landscape Board
- Cameron MacDonald, OneFortyOne
- Caroline Rhodes, Primary Producers South Australia
- Alex Zimmerman, Community recovery Coordinator, SA Government
- Brett Loughlin, Chief, SA Country Fire Service
- Anthony Walsh, Green Triangle Fire Alliance
- Andrew Prolov, PANO AI
- Jason Wallace, ac.care
- Andrew Excel, Department of Infrastructure and Transport
- Georgina Goodrich, Department of Premier and Cabinet
“Industry and Government have a strong partnership and are working together to reduce the impacts of disaster. Currently, SA’s forest industries invest $13 million every year into fire detection, prevention and response, including fire fighters, specialist firefighting tankers, and associated equipment”, said Mr Paine.
“With industry’s investment along the State Government’s additional investments into upgrading fire tower network with new technology and increasing the Country Fire Services aerial firefighting fleet with a Blackhawk helicopter, the Limestone Coast is well prepared to combat any compounding and complex disasters”, said Mr Paine. “Thank you to our partners, SAFECOM with Department of Primary Industries and Regions and Primary Producers South Australia, OneFortyOne and Limestone Coast Landscape Board, for their support for this ever-important Summit. SAFPA are working in step with industry and government authorities to ensure the Limestone Coast are well prepared in crisis management, mitigation and recovery”, concluded Mr Paine.