AWE Newsletter - October 2021

Promoting, supporting and recognising the contributions of women in emergency management and disaster resilience across Australasia.

AWE Newsletter – October 2021

Welcome to the October 2021 AWE Newsletter

Last month’s National Summit on Women’s Safety was an important opportunity to bring together advocates, experts and survivors to help shape the next national plan to reduce violence against women and their children. However the Summit’s opening statement, provided by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was criticized as insensitive and offensive. In addition, the delegate-only format provided limited opportunities for survivors of family and sexual violence, and others, to contribute.

Despite these shortcomings the Summit was the start of a national conversation about violence against women – we all hope the conversation and work to address all forms of violence against women continues with meaningful change, action and funding.

If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence or sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

Friday 8 October is Australasian Women in Emergencies Day – we can’t wait to celebrate all our AWEsome members and all women who play a role in emergency management and disaster resilience. Read more about how you can get involved below.

AWE News

This Friday is Australasian Women in Emergencies Day!

Friday October 8 is Australasian Women in Emergencies Day, a day to recognise and celebrate the contributions of women to emergency management and disaster resilience. Book now to attend our Australasian Women in Emergencies Day Lunchtime Forum on Friday from 12.30-1.30pm.

We want you to support Australasian Women in Emergencies Day by recording a short video of yourself highlighting the value of women’s contribution to emergency management and disaster resilience.

Camflare allows you to easily record a short video of about 20 seconds which will feature at our Lunch Forum on AWE Day and also on the AWE Network website. You may choose to film a video using the Camflare recorder or you may upload a pre-recorded video. When recording your video, we invite you to consider the following topics:

I choose to support the AWE Network because…
It is important to recognise and honour the contribution of women in emergency management and disaster resilience because…

Please click here to access the Camflare recording studio.

These videos will only be used to promote the aims of the AWE Network and will not be further distributed without consent. Please send your recording before 5/10/2021. Should you have any queries about Australasian Women in Emergencies Day, or the recordings, please contact Kath Cooney.

You can also:

Wear your AWE badge or a touch of yellow
Decorate your workplace/desk with yellow – streamers, bunting, flags, food or flowers
Print out this AWE poster to pin to a noticeboard
Do a shout out on social media about a women in emergencies who inspires you – tag them and let them know you think they are AWEsome
Highlight your AWE membership on social media (tiles coming soon!)
Join with other AWE members near you for a coffee (virtual or in person) – watch out for invitations from your Chapter Leads

AWE Committee update
AWE Committee member Margaret Moreton recently resigned from the Committee in order to focus on an exciting new full-time role. AWE would like to thank Margaret for the significant contribution to AWE she made since she joined in 2019, which included managing the AWE Mentoring Program, managing the AWE Events program during 2021, and providing a wealth of ideas and insight. Thank you Margaret for your AWEsome contribution – we will sorely miss your enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment to AWE!

AWE Volunteers wanted
We are looking for volunteers to support the AWE network. If you have skills in events, business development, communications, IT/CRM or any other areas, send us an email. We would love to hear from you! As we grow there are many new and exciting things we would love your help with.

AWE Inspiring

Wendy Graham

Wendy Graham, Director of Resilience and Planning, NSW Ministry for Police and Emergency Services and proud AWE member.

Wendy’s background is in out of home care services, child protection policy and program management and IT design. Throughout her emergency management career, Wendy has had extensive experience in response and recovery including state level planning, support and coordination of welfare and recovery assistance in NSW.

This included the 2007 Hunter/Central Coast Storms and 2010 Far Western NSW Flooding. Wendy was also deployed to Victoria during the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires to provide strategic advice and support on welfare and recovery issues.

Wendy has also assisted in emergency management planning for significant events held in NSW such as the 2007 APEC Leaders Week and 2008 World Youth Day. She is also a member of the national Emergency Management Assistance Team which provides strategic and operational support in significant and protracted disasters. Wendy has undertaken a Churchill Fellowship to research how national resilience strategies were being implemented in other countries and how they were influencing government and community thinking and actions in relation to planning for, responding to and recovering from disasters.

Today Wendy provides strategic leadership and policy development on a wide range of preparedness issues, including community engagement and risk management at the Ministry for Police and Emergency Services.

Wendy, we think you are AWE Inspiring!

AWE Events

September was a busy month, with more than 10 AWE events in less than 30 days! AWE members from across each Australia state and territory, and New Zealand took the opportunity to meet, connect, learn and share in a range of events from the NZ AWE hosted Conversation to a trivia night to online coffee catch ups! Keep an eye on our events calendar for more AWEsome events coming up.

Australasian Women in Emergencies Day

Friday October 8 is Australasian Women in Emergencies Day, a day to recognise and celebrate the contributions of women to emergency management and disaster resilience.

Australasian Women in Emergencies Day lunchtime forum

To help celebrate, we’re hosting an Australasian Women in Emergencies Day lunchtime forum.
Come along to help celebrate the AWEsome contributions of women in emergency management and disaster resilience across Australasia with other AWE members.

Friday 8 October 12.30 -1.30pm AEST

Book now

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Back by popular demand, AWE Trivia will also once again be held on Friday 8th October online at 6pm AEDT, so bring your family and friends, wear something yellow, stock yourselves with something to drink and snack on, and come and have some fun. (This will be a repeat of the last trivia so if you attended that you won’t be eligible to win). Members will receive an email with log in details.

AWE Day events are also being organised in the different chapters, so keep your eye out for news about these in your emails, and in the events page on the AWE website.

AWE October Conversation

Join Snez Pezzin as she chats with AWE Committee Member Lisa Jackson about Survive and Thrive, a program developed to provide a support mechanism and resources for survivors of house fires during the recovery phase, starting from the first 24 hours after the fire, through to the following days, weeks, months, and years.

Thursday 21 October 12pm (AEDT)

Book now

AWE events are a great way to learn about and get to know other women in the emergency management and disaster resilience sectors. Keep an eye on our calendar of events for forthcoming events.If you’ve got a great idea for an event, know someone who would be a great speaker, or just want to get involved, email us!

Don’t forget you can watch all our past Conversations. Check our webpage for more details.

AWE Chapter Updates

AWE ACT

It’s not just you: Burnout and stress and the practitioner
Being involved in the emergency sector means that you are likely to be thinking about how to take care of others, rather than of yourself. This blog piece by Annie Schmidt has some messages from community wildfire practitioners that you might need to hear. Includes some suggested readings.

After wildfires: Solastalgia – loss of solace in the landscape
This is a study published in 2015, that investigates how Arizona’s 2011 Wallow Fire affected the psychological health of local communities. The researchers were particularly interested in the higher levels of “solastalgia”, the loss of solace from the landscape, that residents reported one year after the wildfire. You can also read an interview about the study with researcher Sarah McCaffrey.

Canberra AWE Day lockdown drinks
On Friday 8 October, from 5-6pm, join us virtually for a quiet drink or two to celebrate AWE Day. And tell us where you’d rather be with your favourite holiday snap/s in your Zoom background! Contact Zoe D’Arcy [email protected] for the Zoom meeting details.

AWE NSW

A small but enthusiastic group attended the NSW AWE virtual morning cuppa on Tuesday 14 September. We welcomed some new members and discussed the coordination of emergency management functions across geographic and organisational boundaries.

The AFAC21 Conference, due to be held in Sydney, will now be held virtually with some AWEsome NSW women presenting. Conference presentations will be available on demand (to delegates) until 31 January 2022.

AWE TAS

AWE TAS Chapter Lead Sue Gordon has stepped down from her role to focus on a new project she is undertaking. Thanks to Sue for her time and contribution to AWE. and we look forward to seeing you at the next AWE Tasmania event!

Look out in your emails for information about an AWE Day breakfast in Hobart on Friday 8 October.

AWE NZ

Kia ora AWE Aotearoa. We hope you’ve had a good month. In the last few weeks we’ve had a group of AWE NZ members gather to connect over a virtual breakfast, and hosted an absolutely stunning Conversation with Anjum Rahman. As a leader in the Muslim community and a leading voice on inclusion and belonging in Aotearoa, Anjum had so much wisdom to share. Anjum generously shared her leadership learning and tips for women operating in a male-dominated field, and for those experiencing additional challenges as women of colour. For those who missed out on the Conversation with Anjum Rahman, never fear – you can watch it here. A must-watch for sure.

This month coming we hope you’ll join us and our Australian counterparts to celebrate AWE Day at the AWE Day event – Friday 8 October 2.30-3.30pm NZ time. Wear a little yellow if you can and let’s celebrate women in emergencies.

And lastly, a quick note of support and a thank you to all our Auckland members. We know this last month has been particularly rough and we appreciate you. On that note, we’d encourage everyone outside of Auckland to send someone a message of support or thanks.

News, events and resources

Emergency services and diversity: This Scanlon Foundation Research Institute publication tells the stories of a range of emergency services volunteers from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, including women, who are making an impact out in the field, and paving the way for broader institutional change.

Gender and disaster bulletin and conversation: VCOSS’ Disaster Recovery Bulletin: Gender and disaster recovery, and the Gender and disaster recovery Conversation with Gender and Disaster Australia and other speakers are both now available online.

Strong Female Lead: Using only archival footage from Julia Gillard’s three-year term in office, this film is an honest portrait of the nation’s response to its first and only female prime minister. Exploring the themes of sexism, power and misogyny, Strong Female Lead examines the issue of prejudice against women in leadership and its ongoing impact on female participation in parliament and society more broadly. Streaming now on SBS.

Better Together Podcast: Listen now to ESF’s Women’s Health Week Interviews with Margie Lewis, Victoria Police and Rebecca Pierce, Ambulance Victoria, as they discuss maintaining mental fitness as an emergency service worker.

Research participants wanted: A new Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research project led by UNSW, Collective action and collaborative governance in crisis situations: The case of the Australian 2019-2020 “Black Summer” bushfires, seeks to understand collaborative governance and collective decision making in crisis. UNSW is seeking research participants. Email Jaco Fourie for more information.

Psychological Preparedness for Challenging Times: How do we prepare emergency service personnel in advance to deal with challenging times that may or may not be just around the corner? This interactive event, hosted by the Emergency Services Foundation on 19 October, will give you access to expert insight and the opportunity to discuss the question of psychological preparedness in small groups with colleagues from across the sector. You must register for this event. The panel will include:

Dr Jennifer Wild, consultant clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Oxford.
Andrew Crisp, Victoria’s Emergency Services Commissioner
Associate Professor Monique Crane, Macquarie University
Dr. Denise Meuldijk, Research Fellow from Black Dog Institute
Elizabeth Grainger, Openground

Women in Leadership Development (WILD): This innovative training program looks at leadership work as identity work and in this context explore how systemic gender bias impacts women taking up senior leadership roles. WILD women are encouraged to explore the question ‘what does leadership look like when it looks like you?’ Find out more here.

Women’s Climate Conversation: Join the Women’s Climate Congress as they discuss After the pandemic. What happens next? And why women’s leadership is vital with Dr Emma Dawson and Professor Susan Harris Rimmer. Tuesday 12 October. Book now.

Job Opportunities

ACT
Senior Policy Officers, Climate Change Division – Dept Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Deputy Director Security and Emergency Management – University of Canberra

NSW
Regional Emergency Management Officer – NSW Police Force
Senior Emergency Management Coordinator, – Dept of Families, Fairness and Housing

QLD
Senior Emergency Management Advisor – Seqwater
Senior Program Officer – Queensland Fire and Emergency Services

SA
Disaster Resilience Coordinator – Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network
Deputy Chief Officer – South Australian Country Fire Service

TAS
Incident Controller – Department of Health
Senior Programs Coordinator – Security and Emergency Management – Department of Education

VIC
Emergency Management Officer – Central Goldfields Shire Council
Operations Officer – Operational Communications Projects – SES

WA
Program Coordinator – Disaster Preparedness – WA Primary Health Alliance
Bushfire Risk Planning Coordinator – Shire of Brookton

NZ
Senior Advisor Emergency Management – Ministry of Social Development
Senior Advisor, Tsunami Readiness – Bay of Plenty Regional Council

Other Events

Oct 4-5 Emergency Management Conference 2021 – ESF

Oct 5-8 AFAC21 powered by INTERSCHUTZ – AFAC

Oct 6-7 Australian Disaster Resilience Conference 2021 – AIDR

Oct 10 Australasian Women in Emergencies Day – AWE

Oct 13 2021 WA Emergency Management Conference – Shire of Dardanup

Oct 13 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction – UNDRR

Newsletter contributions

The AWE Newsletter is published monthly and is distributed to more than 1500 AWE members across Australasia. For contributions, queries or to let us know what you would like to see in the newsletter, please email us at [email protected].

About AWE

The Australasian Women in Emergencies Network (AWE) promotes, supports and recognises the contributions of women in emergency management and disaster resilience across Australasia.

www.awenetwork.org.au
[email protected]

To become an AWE member, please click here.
AWE badges are available from our shop.

AWE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, and pays our respect to Elders, past, present and emerging.