The Emergency Management Act 2004 Review

Share your view on the effectiveness of the Emergency Management Act 2004.

What's being decided?

We are reviewing the Emergency Management Act 2004 (the Act) to:

• identify opportunities to improve the current legislation, ensuring it remains fit-for-purpose and meets evolving challenges and,
• ensure our state is best equipped to appropriately prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant emergencies.

The Emergency Management Act 2004 Review: Discussion Paper provides a comprehensive overview of issues that have been raised in early conversations that we are seeking further input on.

We have also prepared the Emergency Management Act 2004 Review: General Information Sheet which provides information and poses questions on several issues of relevance to the broader community.

The Electricity Supply Emergency Discussion Paper has been prepared separately, and relates specifically to Division 6 of the Act. This paper also addresses section 11 of Emergency Management (Electricity Supply Emergencies) Amendment Act 2017. An A3 version of Annexure 1: Interjurisdictional Comparison can be found here.

Your feedback on these documents, will help draft a written report with recommendations to the Premier.

Background

The Emergency Management Act 2004:

• establishes the principles for coordinating activities before, during and after emergencies;
• assigns key accountabilities and powers; and,
• enables authorities to effect response and recovery operations.

It is now timely to review this legislation as the scale, impacts and consequences of recent emergencies such as the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic and the River Murray Flooding Event have far exceeded all other events since the commencement of the Act.

Get involved

There are a number of ways you can engage in the review:

1. By emailing your feedback on any aspect of the Emergency Management Act 2004 Review: Discussion Paper to: EmergencyManagementActReview@sa.gov.au.
   
   
2. By completing a short community-focused survey: The Emergency Management Act 2004 Review: Key Community Issues which captures the top seven questions from the full discussion paper. Not all questions need to be responded to. This survey may be most suitable for individuals and community members who wish to comment on matters that impact directly on them.
   
   
3. By emailing your feedback on any other matter not covered in the main Discussion Paper, that you consider relevant to the Act, to: EmergencyManagementActReview@sa.gov.au.
   
   
4. By emailing your feedback on any aspect of the Electricity Supply Emergency Discussion Paper to: ElectricitySupplyEmergencies@sa.gov.au.

Please be aware that, unless a request for confidentiality is made, information contained in any submission may be referred to publicly or published.

Any material identified as ‘confidential’ is still subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1991 and, while efforts will be made to keep the material confidential, in some circumstances it may be disclosed under that Act. Where disclosure of information may identify you attempts will be made to consult with you under the Freedom of Information Act 1991 before the documents are disclosed.

What are the next steps?

We will prepare a report summarising the findings of the Review as well as making recommendations for amendments to the Emergency Management Act 2004. We will present this report to the Premier in June 2024.