Where will the next generation of emergency management practitioners in Australia and New Zealand come from? As our communities face increasingly complex and intense disaster impacts, the demands on our emergency management workforce are growing exponentially. The skills needed to tackle current and future hazards will require a steady pipeline of trained professionals—from frontline firefighters, police and health workers to volunteers. Yet, these roles only represent a fraction of the essential roles needed to address the full spectrum of prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience efforts.

In reality, the emergency and disaster management workforce is a multidisciplinary web of skills encompassing specialist skills across a variety of industries such as engineering, communications, law, information technology, architecture and social work, just to name a few.

Yet, in Queensland there is no considered strategy for attracting non-frontline skills into the EM workforce. The career pathways are not clear, or don’t exist. Anecdotal evidence suggests many find themselves as a part of the DM workforce by happenstance or through existing networks. Plus, the sector’s frameworks and doctrine are vague or focus on frontline operations.

To effectively prepare for tomorrow’s disasters, a thoughtful approach is essential in how Queensland, Australia, and New Zealand design, build, and sustain their non-frontline disaster management workforce. Kate Lavrencic, The Yellow Company, and Kate Retzki, Office of the Inspector-General of Emergency Management, will present examples from other countries tackling similar challenges, share valuable insights from conversations that have uncovered these issues, discuss the risks of neglecting this crucial matter, and offer attendees the opportunity to contribute their voices toward meaningful change.

Applying futures and systems thinking, the two Kates will evoke discussion in advancing the EM workforce, so we are ready for whatever comes now and in the future.