Behavioural responses to multiple crises: Summary report

This paper provides a summary of three separate papers looking at the impact and responses to the 2020 Black Summer Bushfire crisis, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic that followed. In Bushfire resilience and bushfire behaviour the research team provides a detailed literature review of the behavioural and social science literature related to bushfire prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, with detailed analysis of how community functioning and community resilience relate to bushfire preparedness. In Wellbeing and the environment – the impact of the bushfires and the pandemic, the project team analyses how a climactic event like that experienced in Australia can have large effects on public opinion and wellbeing, and whether that effect is maintained during another external shock (the COVID-19 pandemic). The final paper, Bushfire recovery and response, uses data from January 2021 to analyse how Australians feel about progress in recovery from the 2019/20 Black Summery bushfires, and what they see as the most effective policy responses for preparing for future fires. A key finding from the literature and the analysis summarised in this paper is the importance of community functioning or resilience prior to a fire event and during the recovery stage.