Flood risk in Australia: whose responsibility is it anyway?

The research identifies a significant lack of mutual understanding regarding roles and responsibilities among flood risk stakeholders in Australia. Findings indicate that insurance providers felt ignored until the 2010–2011 floods, councils felt limited in their risk-reduction options, and the SES felt over-relied upon for response. The paper argues that achieving the shared responsibility vision of the 2009 National Strategy for Disaster Resilience requires better inter-stakeholder understanding and increased personal responsibility from residents.

• There is a significant disparity in how different stakeholders understand the roles and responsibilities of themselves and others in flood risk management.
• Specific stakeholder pressures include insurance representatives feeling their warnings on flood risk costs were ignored until the 2010–2011 floods, councils feeling they had few options to reduce risk, and the SES facing demand for event response that exceeds their capacity.
• Many residents lack clarity on flood preparation and rely on local councils and emergency agencies for protection, highlighting a need for residents to take more personal responsibility to align with the 2009 National Strategy for Disaster Resilience.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Flood risk in Australia: whose responsibility is it anyway? https://www.sei.org/publications/flood-risk-in-australia-whose-responsibility-is-it-anyway/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Flood risk in Australia: whose responsibility is it anyway? 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/flood-risk-in-australia-whose-responsibility-is-it-anyway/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Flood risk in Australia: whose responsibility is it anyway? |date=25 October 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/flood-risk-in-australia-whose-responsibility-is-it-anyway/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013flood, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Flood risk in Australia: whose responsibility is it anyway?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/flood-risk-in-australia-whose-responsibility-is-it-anyway/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }