The Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, commonly abbreviated to Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, was a research institute that from 2013 to 2021 drew together all of Australia and New Zealand's fire and emergency service authorities, land management agencies, as well as non-government organisations and leading experts across a range of scientific fields to explore the causes, consequences and mitigation of natural disasters.
The CRC had special focus on the human, infrastructure, and governance aspects of natural hazards including: earthquake, tsunami, flood, cyclone, and bushfire.
History
The
CRC was launched at Parliament House Canberra by the Minister for Justice, the Hon Michael Keenan, MP, on 10 December 2013. The Minister said the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC acknowledged the ongoing impacts of
natural hazard
A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides - including submarin ...
s upon communities, emergency service providers, governments, agriculture and other industries.
In announcing the
Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...
commitment to the CRC in February 2013, then
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Julia Gillard said the new centre would build on the work of the
Bushfire CRC and expand the
research
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
into natural hazards.
The
Bush fire and Natural Hazards CRC, which built on the prior work of the
Bushfire CRC that ran from 2003 to 2014, transitioned into Natural Hazards Research Australia on 1 July 2021.
Governance
The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC was an incorporated not-for-profit public company limited by guarantee. It was managed through a small central office co-located with the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council in East Melbourne, with staff also based in Adelaide, Darwin and Canberra. It had a skills-based Board of Directors elected by its Members. The Board was chaired by an independent Director.
The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC was funded for eight years with $47 million from the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre, CRC program.
[ CRC program] The remainder funds—cash and in-kind—came from partner agencies, government organisations and research institutions from all states and territories and New Zealand.
References
External links
Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRCBushfire CRCAustralasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities CouncilCooperative Research Centres Program (Australian Government)
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2013 establishments in Australia
2021 disestablishments in Australia
Research institutes in Melbourne
Research institutes established in 2013
Research institutes disestablished in 2021
Bushfires in Australia