Sunshine Coast Local Disaster Management Group

Sunshine Coast Local Disaster Management Group

SCLDMG Meeting Minutes

26 September 2012

Large Committee Room, Level 1, EDV Building, Nambour

Business

1. Opening 09:05 by Chairman, Mayor Mark Jamieson.

1.1 Welcome to new members

As this was the first meeting chaired by Mayor Mark Jamieson, introductions were conducted around the room. Mayor Jamieson also took time to recognise Cr. Tim Dwyer for his excellent work and contribution as previous and retiring Chair of the SCLDMG.

1.2 Apologies

·  Andrew Ryan, ED Infrastructure Services, SCC

·  Eric Moes, Community Development, SCC

·  Andrew Wyatt, Area Director, EMQ

·  Chris White, QFRS

·  Bruce Duck, QPS

·  Anthony Wooton, Unitywater

·  Noel Killip, Unitywater

·  Rick Liddy, QPS

·  Martin Browne, Spatial Information, SCC

·  Peter Pallot, Sunshine Coast Airport

·  Melissa Patterson, Australian Red Cross

·  John Tibaldi, SEQWater

·  Terry Malone, SEQWater

·  Steve Cooper, Sunshine Coast Destination Limited

·  Dave McLean, Surf Life Saving Queensland

·  Ian Carpenter, Sunshine Coast TAFE

2. Minutes of Previous Meeting

2.1 Adoption of previous minutes from full group meeting held on Thursday 31 May 2012

Moved: Fox ROGERS (SCC)

Seconded: Kevin DEVITT (QFRS)

Vote: Carried – unanimously

2.2 Business arising from previous minutes

2.2.1 Action item register will become a regular attachment to the minutes and a standing item on each agenda from this point forward.

2.2.2 Item 5.4 - Discussion on Recovery and the resolution to establish two new groups – Impact Assessment & Recovery sub-group and Recovery Committee sub-group (also in with the SCLDMP). Also discussed at this point was the fire levy issue. Fox taking this off line and will report back to the full meeting in due course.

2.2.3 Item 6.3.3 – MOU with Red Cross. Documentation is currently with Red Cross for changes and amendments to be made.

2.2.4 Item 6.3.4 – EAP’s for Dams. Noted that EAP’s have now been provided to Council and two SEQWater representatives have agreed to become advisors to the SCLDMG.

3. Inward and outward correspondence

Inward:

·  Minister for Emergency Management, re BoM role in flash flooding warnings & attachment from BoM

·  Ongoing issue re flash flooding and BoM warnings discussed. An update, if available, will be provided to the next meeting.

·  QRA re NDRRA grant assistance from January 2012 flood events

·  EMQ re Natural Disaster Resilience Program – SC Natural hazard risk assessment study

·  LGAQ Qld Flood Commission of Inquiry – task-force support

·  Following assistance given to Council from the LGAQ in the form of legal advice and representation through King & Co, responding to requests from the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry, it was resolved to write thanking the LGA for this service.

Action: Secretariat to prepare appropriate correspondence

·  EMQ – Natural Disaster Resilience Program – Noosa north shore priority fire trails

·  Premier Newman re QFCOI final report

·  QRA re trial reimbursement of local council labour costs on disaster reconstruction under NDRRA

·  Marine Safety Queensland re Pacific Adventurer settlement

·  Minister for Police & Community Safety re successful SES non recurrent subsidy program

·  EMQ – non success of balance of subsidy applications

·  Email: Metro South Health and attachments

Outward

·  Council to EMQ re MOA schedule “A” – Work is ongoing with EMQ to finalise and agree on inclusions for Schedule “A”.

3.1 Adoption of inward and outward correspondence

Moved: Peter TWOMEY

Seconded: Steve LINNANE

Vote: Carried - unanimously

4: Presentation by Department of Communities

(Allan Stevenson & Joanne Burgess)

This presentation is attached to the minutes for information.

Discussion around an apparent issue between occurrence of an emergency event versus the activation of DoCs. The point was made that DoCs is focused on recovery, not as a first responder. The Liaison Officer in the LDCC will be suitably senior to make decisions and activate to bridge the gap. Peter Twomey made the point that NDRRA can be activated even though a disaster is not yet officially “declared”. RDA’s were useful in the January/February 2012 events and assisted the outreach teams.

10:20 - Chairman Mark Jamieson left the meeting due to another commitment and Deputy Chairman Cr. Chris Thompson assumed the Chair.

5: Discussion regarding establishment of a human services sub-group

Discussion on draft terms of reference, with an initial focus on people who have difficulty in helping themselves. Future updates will become part of the standing items for this meeting.

5.1 Proposed Motion

That the LDMG endorse the establishment of a Human Services sub-group to be chaired by the Community Liaison Officer to assist in planning for and recovering from disaster events

Moved: Kerri CONTINI (SCC)

Seconded: John GALLINA (SCC)

Vote: Carried – unanimously

6. Standing items

6.1 Action register [appendix 1]

6.2 Sunshine Coast Local Disaster Management Plan (SCLDMP)

Fox advised the SCLDMP has now been published on council’s website. The appendices will be published progressively as they are completed, with an expectation that the entire plan will be published by the next LDMG meeting.

6.3 Local Group priorities and projects for 2012.

6.3.1 Report on launch of flood information maps and the roll out Get Ready Sunshine Coast campaign September 14, 2012

·  Fox advised there has been a slow uptake of public viewing of maps. Information has been released when the community is reasonably calm and the community do have an increased awareness. SCC is the first Council to release flood mapping and also mapping of the Mary River (which had not been done previously).

6.3.2 Update on Evacuation Planning

·  Legals have posed some questions in regard to the publication of evacuation mapping and these have not yet been published. Peter Twomey commented that it was better to publicise evacuation routes which are event specific.

6.3.3 Review of impact assessment methodology for verifying reports of damage / loss of life / isolated areas in the LDCC and sharing of information across emergency services agencies

·  Fox advised a productive meeting has been held between EMQ and QFRS on data sharing, particularly on SES RFA’s (Requests for Assistance) and council data. The ideal outcome is to be in a position to provide this information to the LDC in a disaster situation ie: RDA’s (rapid damage assessments). Possibility of a further MOU to enable these arrangements, however there are still IT / firewall related issues to discuss and resolve before data can be freely exchanged easily.

6.3.4 Update on the review of the health / medical services section of the Plan

·  A new sub-group has been formed by Queensland Health. They will be revising and providing a more comprehensive sub-plan.

6.3.5 Update on the aged care / community section of the Plan

·  Peter Mann, Community Development provided an update on the aged care and frail care community support plan over the next 6 – 12 months. There are currently 46 nursing homes on the Sunshine Coast and council simply does not have the capacity to individually assist them, however risk assessments are being conducted to identify the highest risk and categorise the facilities. Further updates will be provided as this work continues.

6.3.6 Update on progress in development of local sub plans and committees for isolated areas

·  Meetings are regularly being held with community groups at Cooran, Conondale-Kenilworth (including Crystal Waters, and Kin Kin and community disaster management sub plans are being developed. Work has commenced in the Eudlo Mooloolah area.

6.4 Actions taken to implement the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Recommendations

A formal report is being prepared to present to Council. A spreadsheet which details the recommendations and actions / progress will be made available after the presentation to Council.

Action: Secretariat to provide the spreadsheet to members.

7. Reports from local group sub-groups

7.1 Community awareness and preparedness sub-group

Charter and report is attached. [appendix 2]

7.2 Impact assessment recovery sub-group

Refer to update provided at 6.2.3 of these minutes. A formal sub-group has not yet been set up.

8. Reports from members

8.1 Reports from members, presented by exception

8.1.1 QFRS: Gary Seaman (Rural) and Kevin Devitt (Urban) gave a briefing on the spring fire season – August to November. In summary, the largest threat is west (Gayndah etc) and not on the coastal strip. The “Prepare/Act/Survive” campaign is about to be commenced for this year.

8.1.2 Red Cross: Have spent the earlier part of 2012 building capacity, with training and recruitment activities.

8.1.3 Maritime Safety Queensland: Regional capability has been significantly reduced and Peter Kleinig anticipates this will probably have an impact on MSQ operations. Major focus remains pollution response. MSQ will keep the LDMG informed of developments.

8.1.4 Energex: Steve Fairless advises that pre-storm patrols are approximately 50% complete, and aiming for mid October for completion of this activitiy.

8.1.4 ABC Radio: John Caruso expressed his thanks to the group for accessibility and availability of personnel and the quality and timeliness of information.

8.1.5 Queensland Health: Fox thanked Beverley for the Pandemic sub-plan, which has been incorporated into the LDMP

.

8.1.6 Sunshine Coast Destination Limited: Advised new website has been released, and can be found at the following location: http://www.scdl.com.au/

8.1.7 QPS: Peter Grace advises 4 Senior Sergeants will be attending the upcoming Council operations preparedness workshops on 2/3 October, and continuing to strengthen the working relationship between this group and the DDC. Also advised of a counter-terrorism exercise planned for November.

8.1.8 Telstra: Phil Gibbs advised that Council is currently looking into utilising WHISPIR as a communication tool. It is hoped to test this new facility in the November exercise.

8.1.9 SCC: Steve Linnane (Deputy LDC) advised Emergency Operations Team (EOT in Council continuing to meet and develop Council’s response capability. The FCC has now been established at the Wises Road Depot and will be tested during the November exercise. GPS tracking is now in all Council vehicles.

8.1.10 SCC: Brian Beswick (IT Services) advised new versions of Guardian currently being tested, with a view to testing this platform in the November exercise.

8.2 Report / general update from Emergency Management Queensland

Peter Twomey advised that some capacity to deliver disaster management training has been lost due to recent state government announcements and staff reductions. However, the majority of the training packages are now available electronically through the disaster management portal at the following link: http://www.disaster.qld.gov.au/.

Also provided an update to the group on a sandbagging project to be jointly carried out between EMQ and Council.

Peter Twomey will be leaving EMQ in November. Fox took this opportunity to thank Peter for his assistance and expressed best wishes on behalf of the group.

Motion:

That the LDMG formally acknowledge work done by Peter Twomey in his capacity as Regional Director, EMQ.

Moved: Fox ROGERS (SCC)

Seconded: John GALLINA (SCC)

Vote: Carried – unanimously

Action: Secretariat to prepare appropriate correspondence

9. Exercise

John Gallina briefed the group on upcoming Exercise: Operation Rainbow Storm, which is the LDMG’s major exercise for this year, and is planned for Tuesday November 13th. The exercise will lead into a DDMG exercise on Wednesday November 14th.

10. Operations preparedness workshop

A 2 day operations preparedness workshop has been planned for October 2 and 3 to provide refresher training (particularly in Guardian); awareness and a heightened level of preparedness for response and recovery operations which may occur throughout 2012/13 summer fire and storm seasons.

11. General business

11.1 Impact of state government budget cuts

As this issue had already been covered at item 8 – Reports from members, there was no further discussion on this issue.

12. Future meetings

12.1 The last meeting for 2012 is scheduled as follows:

Date & Time: Tuesday December 4th, 2012 at 09:00am

Venue: Beerwah Room, Level 3, Council’s Caloundra Office

12.2 Proposed meeting schedule for 2013 is as follows:

2013_01

Date & Time: Wednesday March 13th, 2013 at 09:00am

Venue: Level 3 Committee Room, Council’s Tewantin Office

2013_02

Date & Time: Wednesday May 29th, 2013 at 09:00am

Venue: Police HQ, Carnaby Street, Maroochydore

2013_03

Date & Time: Wednesday September 18th, 2013 at 09:00am

Venue: Large Committee Room, Level 1, EDV Building, Nambour

2013_04

Date & Time: Wednesday December 4th, 2013 at 09:00am

Venue: Beerwah Room, Level 3, Council’s Caloundra Office

There being no further business, Deputy Chairman Cr. Chris Thompson thanked everyone for their attendance and input and closed the meeting at 11:25am.

Appendices:

Appendix 1: Action Register

Appendix 2: Charter and report from community awareness and preparedness sub-group