Building Resilient Australian Communities: Policy Insights Paper

The last five years have tested the service and support mechanisms that seek to mitigate the impact of community-wide crises across New South Wales (NSW). Although these community crises have been diverse, from military-enforced lockdowns to devastating fires and floods, there is an opportunity to reflect on what supports make the most difference to community recovery and growth in such circumstances. This paper explores the perspectives of two communities in NSW, drawing on their lived experiences of community-wide crises to establish what community resilience means and how it is best supported. The insights from these communities reveal policy opportunities for the NSW Government that could boost community resilience in future. To date, policy approaches to build community resilience have largely focused on the provision of infrastructure, services, funding packages, and crisis management protocols that can be activated quickly when a disaster strikes. This paper provides an evidence base for expanding this approach to include support for social processes and networks.