The Albanese government made the decision to create a new federal disaster agency after the Home Affairs boss warned of "critical vulnerabilities" in the existing set up.
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The Canberra Times can reveal Mike Pezzullo made the case for a single Commonwealth agency to lead a "whole-of-nation" approach to handling disasters after the pandemic and floods crisis exposed weaknesses in the apparatus.
Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt agreed with Mr Pezzullo's proposal, initiating a shake-up which abolished a disaster agency established just a year earlier under former Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The rationale for creating the National Emergency Management Agency is laid out in documents which The Canberra Times has obtained under freedom of information.
Senator Watt was among the loudest critics of the former Coalition government's handling of natural disasters while in opposition, accusing Mr Morrison of being too slow to act during the 2019-20 Black Summer fires and as floods ravaged northern NSW and south-east Queensland earlier this year.
Just a month after being appointed emergency management minister following Labor's election win, the Queenslander put an immediate stamp on the portfolio.
He announced the National Recovery and Resilience Agency (NRRA) and Emergency Management Australia would be merged to form a single agency inside the Home Affairs portfolio, which would be responsible for disaster planning, response and recovery.
Labor had earlier announced the recovery agency would be brought into the Home Affairs portfolio as part of its post-election machinery of government changes.
"Combining all these disaster related functions into one agency ... is a significant step forward and strengthens Australia's ability to prepare for, manage and recover from an increasing number and severity of disasters," Senator Watt said at the time the new agency was announced.
The decision resulted in the abolition of the NRRA, an agency which the former Coalition government created following a recommendation from the bushfire royal commission.
It also meant the end for the agency's first and only coordinator general, the former Liberal party president and ex-NT chief minister Shane Stone.
Mr Stone's future was in doubt as soon as Labor won the election, as Senator Watt had called on him to resign over controversial comments at the height of the Lismore flood crisis.
Senator Watt later dismissed suggestions the restructure was being used to force out Mr Morrison's hand-picked disaster boss, insisting the change was designed to better prepare the nation to fight disasters.
The newly released documents support Senator's Watt public statements, as well as reveal other factors motivating the move.
'An enduring challenge'
The states and territories, with crews of emergency services volunteers, lead the response to natural disasters in Australia.
The Commonwealth is there to support jurisdictions if their resources become stretched and overwhelmed.
In a proposal to Senator Watt outlining the case to create the new agency, Home Affairs officials said the existing arrangements were geared towards emergency response.
What was lacking were national mechanisms to coordinate the approach to reducing the risk of, and preparing for, future natural disasters, which are estimated to be costing the economy an average of $38 billion per year.
"While local response and recovery efforts have been coordinated effectively with goodwill between all accountable organisations, national resilience ... has proven to be an enduring challenge," the document, dated June 22, said.
A Home Affairs department spokesman told The Canberra Times that the proposal for the new agency was developed after the machinery of government changes.
The proposal said the COVID-19 pandemic and flood crisis had exposed "vulnerabilities" in the nation's capacity to respond to "concurrent and competing challenges".
It said a "whole-of-nation" approach - which would see the Commonwealth play a more prominent role - was required as traditional and emerging threats increasingly tested the nation's resilience in the coming years.
The document also pointed out that volunteer numbers had been thinning since 2016 and just 38 per cent had returned to service since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Senator Watt agreed to his department's proposal, writing to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on June 23 to seek his approval to abolish the NRRA and establish the new federal agency.
In the letter, Senator Watt noted Mr Pezzullo's advice about the "critical vulnerabilities" in the emergency management set up.
"He has proposed to me, and I have agreed with his assessment, the need to establish a single Commonwealth agency to manage the complex environment we face," the letter said.
Asked if the department had ever warned the Coalition about the "critical vulnerabilities" in the emergency management set up during its time in power, the spokesman told The Canberra Times it would not be appropriate to comment on advice to the former government.
The new agency started on September 1 and is led by Brendan Moon, the former head of Queensland's disaster agency.
One of the Albanese government's signature policies on emergency management, a new $200 million per year fund to invest in disaster mitigation projects, was last week passed into law.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
