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Summary

The Centre of Excellence: Young People & Disasters (the Centre), a partnership between YACVic and Victoria University’s Youth and Community Research group, have made a submission to the Australian Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee inquiry into the formation of a national volunteer incentive scheme (Climate Army) to respond to the immediate aftermath of natural disasters in Australia. 

Our submission draws on the extensive range of previous work that we have undertaken over the past 5 years in the disaster space, including:

  • Sector consultations
  • Previous project report findings
  • Academic publications we have commissioned and contributed to all focused on young peoples’ participation and citizenship in disasters.

We highlight recent changes in volunteering structures and ways to better engage young people in emergency management and disasters, as well as the need for systemic changes across a range of areas. We advocate for greater contributions for and by young people in the space as their voices and are missing and excluded from current disaster resilience, recovery and preparation. We emphasise previous calls we have made for long term funding to enable change and champion sustainability.

Our recommendations

Our submission makes a range of recommendations, and highlights existing gaps across all 8 key themes of the inquiry, including: 

  • Further development and funding is needed for engagement strategies that are long term, sustainable, place-based, safe, youth friendly and led by young people.
  • A rights-based framework should be developed for young people to be involved in disaster response and recovery. 
  • Include young people in the decision and advisory functions of the scheme
  • Support better qualification pathways as part of the scheme for career development in emergency management
  • Expand Funding and opportunities that target youth-led initiatives related to disasters cycles. Ensuring that the Scheme creates youth-led opportunities will be of high importance.  
  • Bridging the gap in literature between climate and disasters should be considered as part of the Scheme.  
  • Research is needed on the cumulative impacts of bushfires and COVID-19 on families.  
  • Lack of understanding of intersectionality – sectors still tend to group people into their groups and cohorts, there is work to be done around true intersectionality and linking other identities.   
  • Data should be collected on how long young people stay with emergency management organisations. 
  • Research should be done into disasters and their connection to class and poverty.  

Read our Submission (PDF)

Key recommendations

 

1. Educational reforms

We recommend educational reforms that seek to provide more extensive programs with a place-based focus that are linked to communities and the specific disasters that that community experiences.

2. Child Safe Standards

We recommend Child Safe Standards be prioritised as a requirement of any Volunteer Scheme being established.

3. Zero-tolerance approach to child abuse and neglect

We recommend a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse and neglect, and these safeguards extend to volunteers.

4. Additional resources and supports

We recommend additional resources and supports for organisations/initiatives reliant on volunteers as they are meeting increasing compliance obligations.

5. Establish National Youth Disaster Advisory Group

We recommend the establishment of a National Youth Disaster Advisory Group.