Revised National Principles for Disaster Recovery

The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) has released the revised National Principles for Disaster Recovery have been released, providing updated guidance for governments, organisations and practitioners involved in disaster recovery across Australia.

Developed with government agencies, recovery organisations and disaster-affected communities, the Principles incorporate lessons from recent disasters and recognise that recovery is long-term, non-linear and increasingly shaped by compounding and concurrent events.

What Has Changed?

The revised Principles strengthen the focus on several areas with direct relevance to engagement professionals, including:

• community-centred recovery and shared responsibility
• equity, inclusion, accessibility and trauma-informed approaches
• First Nations self-determination, governance and connection to Country
• trust, transparency and two-way communication
• people and groups disproportionately affected by disasters
• workforce capability and wellbeing
• monitoring, evaluation and continuous improvement.

Why This Matters for Engagement

Recovery isn’t simply about rebuilding physical infrastructure. Communities may be navigating loss, uncertainty and significant change over extended periods.

The revised Principles reinforce the importance of working with communities throughout that process, rather than treating engagement as a discrete activity at one point in recovery.

For engagement professionals, the stronger emphasis on trust, transparency, inclusion and two-way communication provides a useful framework for considering how engagement approaches need to adapt as community needs and circumstances change.

The Principles also recognise First Nations self-determination and the importance of place, cultural values and connection to Country — reinforcing that effective recovery needs to respond to the communities and places affected.

Whether you work directly in disaster recovery or support communities through periods of disruption and change, the revised Principles are a useful resource to have on your radar.

READ THE REVISED NATIONAL PRINCIPLES