Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements

Proposed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 12 January 2020 and appointed by Letters Patent issued by Governor-General David Hurley on 20 February 2020, after consultation with the states and territories, which were asked to issue their own instruments. The commissioners were Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin AC (Retd) (chair), Dr Annabelle Bennett AC SC and Professor Andrew Macintosh. The terms of reference covered the coordination, preparedness, response and recovery of governments for major natural disasters, resilience and adaptation to changing climatic conditions, the legal framework for Commonwealth involvement including a possible national declaration of emergency, and the thresholds for requests for Commonwealth help. The report was due by 31 August 2020.

Legislation: Royal Commissions Act 1902

1. 31 August 2020Interim observations released.

Interim observations were released on 31 August 2020 and the final report, with 80 recommendations, was presented on 28 October 2020 and tabled on 30 October 2020. The government responded by legislating a national emergency declaration power (National Emergency Declaration Act 2020), setting up a National Emergency Management Ministers Meeting and a national resilience and recovery agency, but did not support a sovereign aerial firefighting fleet.

• Inquiry into national coordination of natural disaster preparedness, response and recovery
• Inquiry into resilience and adaptation to changing climatic conditions
• Inquiry into the legal framework for Commonwealth involvement in natural disasters

Last in the portfolio of Attorney-General's Department.

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