Flood risk in Australia: whose responsibility is it anyway?

This research paper examines the perceptions of roles and responsibilities among four key stakeholders in Australian flood risk management: local councils, the insurance industry, the State Emergency Service (SES), and local residents.

• Research participants showed considerable variation in their understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders involved in flood risk management.
• Stakeholders expressed specific frustrations regarding their roles: insurance representatives felt their warnings about rising flood risk costs were ignored until the 2010–2011 floods; local councils felt they had few options to reduce risk; and the State Emergency Service (SES) felt over-relied upon for event response beyond their capacity.
• Many residents were unsure how to prepare for floods and relied on local councils and emergency agencies for protection. The authors conclude there is an urgent need for stakeholders to better understand each other's roles and for residents to take more personal responsibility to meet the goals of 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} }