Joint media release: Investment to enhance warnings for severe weather

The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water
The Hon Murray Watt, Minister for Emergency Management

A new nationally significant initiative to enhance the Bureau of Meteorology’s severe weather and flood warning products is being launched to help communities better prepare and respond to hazardous weather events.

The $1.29 million project, funded in part through the Australian Government's Disaster Risk Reduction Package (DRRP), will see the development of enhanced Bureau of Meteorology products that support the ongoing implementation of the Australian Warning System (AWS).

The enhanced warning products will be co-designed with the emergency management sector and the community to enable the Bureau, state emergency management agencies and local governments to issue warning products that provide the right information, at the right time, to the right channels, and prompt the right action from the community.

Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt said the project will contribute to the improvement of Australia’s national warning capabilities to deal with increasingly severe and intense weather events as a result of climate change.

“We know that early, accurate, and consistent warnings save lives, which is why our Government has supported and encouraged the roll out of the AWS, enabling Australia’s diverse communities to better understand what action they need to take during an emergency,” Minister Watt said.

“Australia has already experienced 16 natural disasters this year, and it’s clear that reliance of the community on official warning advice is increasing.”

Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek said that strengthening the relationship between the Bureau of Meteorology and AWS is vital for the safety of all Australians.

“This investment will mean the Bureau and AWS will work closely together to develop a new product to better help Australians prepare and respond to severe weather events," Minister Plibersek said.

The DRRP provides direct investment for nationally significant initiatives that reduce systemic disaster risk at the national level in line with the priorities, outcomes and goals of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework.

Further information about projects funded under all four rounds of the DRRP can be found at: Disaster Risk Reduction Package | National Emergency Management Agency (nema.gov.au)