The keys to providing assurance: Sharing responsibility and accepting accountability.

The keys to providing assurance: Sharing responsibility and accepting accountability.

The keys to providing assurance: Sharing responsibility and accepting accountability. (#49)

Iain S Mackenzie ¹

Office of Inspector-General Emergency Management, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

The 2013 Queensland Police and Community Safety Review prompted significant reform in relation to disaster management. A significant observation was that “the current cooperative arrangements …are not sustainable as the sole means of ensuring continuous improvement and offering the government assurance of the systems capability to protect Queenslanders.” The Review recommended the creation of an Inspector General Emergency Management, charged with the responsibility of providing the Premier, Government and people of Queensland an assurance of public safety”. This is to be achieved, in part, by establishing and implementing a performance standards and assurance framework. The framework will direct, guide and focus work of all agencies across all tiers of Government on the desired outcomes of the Queensland disaster management arrangements. Defining and designing this assurance framework has been a major focus of the office of IGEM since being established. The framework must drive continuous improvement, it will consist of a range of assurance and assessment methodologies that help agencies deliver high level disaster and emergency management outcomes. It will not create red tape. The test will be that the value created by implementing and assessing standards should outweigh any implementation costs. Standards within the framework will be specific, and outcome focussed. They will meet the expectations of communities, agencies and the Queensland Government and be applicable across all agencies and levels of Government. Assessment activities will include self-assessment tools, reviews, training and exercises, and post-event analysis, they should recognise the validity of differing levels of capability and maturity for disaster management, rather than a simple pass/fail approach. The challenge is to ensure the framework can deliver the assurance sought by government. This paper examines how this will be achieved through collaboration with our partners, who must share in this collective responsibility and accept individual accountability.

Authors contributing to this presentation.

Mackenzie, I.S

Iain MacKenzie AFSM. MLshipMgt(Policing) Iain Served with the Fire Service in Queensland for more than 32 years and held the position of Deputy Commissioner more than seven years. Prior to that Iain spent one year with Counter Disaster and Rescue Services in Executive and Deputy Executive Director roles. Iain holds a Masters Degree in Leadership and Management, is a graduate of the Institute of Fire Engineers and has attended the United States National Fire Academy, Executive Fire Officer Program. Iain was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal in 2006. Iain’s experience in Emergency Management in Queensland is extensive, having played pivotal leadership roles in the responses to most major disaster events in Queensland between 2001 and 2012. Through 2013 Iain served on the Queensland Police and Community Safety Review and in October 2013 was the inaugural appointment to the position of Inspector-General Emergency Management.

The keys to providing assurance: Sharing responsibility and accepting accountability. (#49)

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