Public submissions to the Independent Review of Commonwealth Disaster Funding (the Colvin Review) opened 15 May 2023 and closed 4 August 2023. The Colvin Review received a total of 194 submissions with 149 providing permission to be published.

Thank you to the individuals and organisations that provided a submission to the Colvin Review, on how disaster funding could better support Australians before, during and after a disaster – your stories have been heard. Your time and effort in making a submission is sincerely appreciated and your insights will help ensure Australia is better prepared for future disasters.

Publication of submissions

Every submission has been read, recorded and provided to the Independent Reviewer for analysis. Only submissions with permission to publish will appear on this website. All eligible submissions are published on the NEMA website in the following way:

• Published with name: if you or your organisation chose to publish your submission with your name, your submission will be published with the publishing name provided at time of submission. 
• Published anonymously: if you or your organisation chose to publish your submission but remain anonymous, your submission will be published but the publishing name will appear as ‘Anonymous’.

If you provided a submission but chose not to have it published, it will not appear anywhere on the NEMA website.

Please note that any submission provided through this process may be subject to a request under the federal Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act). Any request for access to a submission is determined in accordance with the FOI Act. Unless an exemption under the FOI Act applies, the document will be provided.

The submissions may include the views or recommendations of third parties, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Independent Reviewer, Deloitte, NEMA or the Australian Government, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action. Links to other websites are provided for users’ convenience and do not constitute endorsement by the Independent Reviewer, Deloitte, NEMA or the Australian Government, of material on those sites or any associated organisation, product or service. A small number of submissions have been redacted for privacy or other legal reasons. See our Privacy and Disclosures page for more information.

Please be aware that content contained in the submissions may contain the names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are now deceased.

Public submissions

The Independent Reviewer received a range of submissions relating to Commonwealth disaster funding. Submissions are available for viewing: 

Public submission data and analytics

The Colvin Review received a total of 194 submissions. The breakdown below consists of the 149 submissions published:

Submissions by state or territory jurisdiction

Submissions by sector

This table does not include submissions that were not published.

Submissions by privacy preference

* This above table reflects the total number of submissions received including 45 who chose not to publish their submission on the NEMA website. However, every submission has been read, recorded and provided to the Independent Reviewer for analysis.

Support services

Looking after your wellbeing is important. If you have been affected by any of the information contained within the public submissions, help is available from a range of free services available across Australia. Please reach out if you need support.

Lifeline Australia           
Providing 24-hour crisis support line, text line and chat line.            
Phone: 13 11 14           
Nightly text line: 0477 131 144

13YARN           
Providing 24/7 crisis support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.           
Phone: 13 92 76 

Beyond Blue           
Providing 24/7 free, immediate, short-term counselling.            
Phone: 1300 224 636

1800RESPECT           
Providing 24/7 support to people impacted by domestic, family or sexual violence.            
Phone: 1800 737 732