I am a permanent member of the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee which sat for estimates hearings on Friday, 24 July 2026.
I asked the Inspector-General of Emergency Management questions about Queensland's preparedness for the worsening impacts of climate change; including how the continued expansion of fossil fuel projects will exacerbate those impacts.
You can read our exchange below or in the official Parliamentary transcript of proceedings here.
Mr BERKMAN: I was going to put a question to the Inspector-General of Emergency Management, so I am glad you are here. The report that you put out recently on Tropical Cyclone Alfred notes quite explicitly the findings of the National Climate Risk Assessment, specifically that we are seeing ‘more intense and extreme’ disasters in Queensland as a consequence of climate change. Is it your understanding that this trend is likely to be exacerbated by the ongoing expansion of coal and gas projects and the use of fossil fuels including the expansion of projects like we are seeing in Queensland?
Mr HUNT: Point of order, Mr Speaker.
Dr ROWAN: Point of order.
Mr HUNT: I defer to the Leader of the House. I think I know what he is going to say.
Dr ROWAN: My point of order is in relation to the question under standing order 115. It seems to be seeking an opinion. I ask you to consider that.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you for your point of order. Member for Maiwar, could you please for my benefit repeat the last part of the question?
Mr BERKMAN: The question was: is it your understanding that this trend is likely to be exacerbated and continue due to the ongoing expansion of coal and gas projects like we are seeing in Queensland?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Moggill, I take your point of order. I am not sure that is actually asking for an opinion but rather inviting the inspector-general to talk about the report and the particular elements that the member for Maiwar has mentioned. I will put the question to the inspector-general to talk about the particular elements.
Mr Dawson: I would suggest that our report did not go as far as to include the particular piece that you are asking about—about the gases. What I do know and what I am referring to is material that has been published through NEMA which talks about the complexity versus complicated aspects of emergency management or disaster management.
The complicated piece is that we used to be able to use one or two interventions to resolve a particular challenge. What they have now written, and what I do not disagree with, is that it is now far more complex, so it requires multiple interventions in these complex spaces. If we look at the trend since 2010, there have been 149 events in the state that have attracted disaster relief funding arrangements. This is a matter that has been published by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.
Mr BERKMAN: Inspector-General, again, in reference to the National Climate Risk Assessment, I point specifically to one part of your report, which states—
It also warns that the country is likely to experience more intense and extreme climate hazards, including in regions where such events have not been experienced before.
My question goes to the note in your report on Tropical Cyclone Alfred that it is 51 years since SEQ experienced a cyclone. In the context of worsening climate impacts, is the work of your office predicated on an understanding that we will see another tropical cyclone hit SEQ, so essentially it is a matter of when, not if?
Mr Dawson: I think it is difficult for me to actually answer the question of how many and when they might occur. What we do know about disasters is that what we are reporting on are the experiences that we gain from talking to the community. You will see that we talk about community engagement with people who will provide us with summations such as ‘I’ve never seen the water this high,’ or ‘I’ve never seen the water come from this direction before.’ What we have experienced in our reviews are matters of braided rivers, for example, where rivers may flood from one direction into another but equally in the same event may reverse and flood in the opposite way.
We do a lot of research and we do run research forums every year. We do engage with our universities in Queensland, and we have another one coming up in November. Part of this is really around trying to research for the future issues that are coming and what are the challenges. One of the things in disaster management, because it is such a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment, is that it is very hard to actually put our finger on one particular thing. Part of that is are we prepared and are the Queensland disaster management arrangements ready for what can be unexpected events? I think that is probably the way I would sum that up.
Mr BERKMAN: Inspector-General, I hope this is not controversial, but I want to establish whether it is your understanding and the basis of your office’s work that climate change has and will continue to put greater strain on Queensland’s emergency services?
Mr Dawson: I can sort of answer it but I sort of cannot.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member, could you restate the question, please?
Mr BERKMAN: Is it your understanding in your role that the increasing impacts of climate change have and will continue to put greater strain on Queensland’s emergency services?
Mr HUNT: Mr Speaker, point of order: it is a bit hypothetical. It is difficult enough to tell the weather tomorrow let alone in a year’s time.
Mr BERKMAN: Did you just say that?
Mr HUNT: He is asking the inspector-general to predict future events.
Mr POWER: It is kind of his job to prepare for future events.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Maiwar, I will allow the question. Inspector-General, as it relates to your work as the inspector-general planning for future disaster events, if you could inform the committee.
Mr Dawson: The questions are well put. There are three things I will refer to. The first is that we should always prepare for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around. Our research is an informed approach as to what we see and why we make commentary in our reports. The history of the last 10 years shows an increase of events by cascading one into the other, compounding one over the top, and the additional complexity of communities being impacted multiple times by a number of events within the one year.