Safety protocols at mass evacuation centres will be investigated after researchers found women had been subjected to violence and sexual assaults in the immediate aftermath of the devastating northern rivers floods of 2022.
The review by the Department of Communities and Justice and the New South Wales police is slated to begin later this year and will consider the role of police officers and triaging, as recommended by University of Newcastle researchers.
The state premier, Chris Minns, also promised his government would look at the research and consider changes to procedures to ensure such horrors would not be repeated.
“It’s a very disturbing report – it will be fully examined by the NSW government,” he said.
“We’re taking it seriously at the highest levels of government. If there’s a criminal justice response [needed] of course that will be launched. We want to make sure that we learn lessons.”
A DCJ spokesperson said the department was “very concerned about the findings of the University of Newcastle’s research”.
“Women and children deserve to feel safe at all times, but especially in the aftermath of emergencies,” the spokesperson said.
“DCJ takes all allegations of gender-based violence and sexual assault seriously and works closely with the police and other services during emergencies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people at evacuation centres.”
The spokesperson said the government would be reviewing the recommendations and “ensuring the safety of women and children is embedded in emergency responses, from rescue to recovery”.
It has been almost two years since the floods that devastated Lismore and the surrounding region. The department explained the largest evacuation centre in town, located at Southern Cross University, was “extremely challenging” to manage.
“[It] involved large numbers of people staying at the facility for an extended time,” the spokesperson said.
University of Newcastle researchers found women had been unsafe in emergency shelters in early 2022. Seven of the 24 study participants reported knowing of sexual assaults that occurred in the shelters.
“The support provided through the establishment of evacuation centres was critical to establishing shelter, however, participants described unmanaged risks,” the report stated.
“An absence of triaging to create discrete sections resulted in women and children sharing spaces with domestic violence perpetrators, sex offenders and those withdrawing from addictions.
“Participants reported gender-based violence and sexual assaults resulting in pregnancies. The lack of access to pharmacies or contraception and inaccessible abortion services were noted as a problem.”
Since taking over responsibility for standard evacuation centres from Resilience NSW last year, the DCJ has “for the first time” created an evacuation centre manual for the smaller evacuation centres.
The guide includes details on how to triage people and how to create “safer spaces for vulnerable groups”, a department spokesperson said.
“It is standard doctrine that security or police be present at evacuation centres,” the spokesperson said.
The review later this year will look at large-volume evacuation centres like that in Lismore. These are managed by the police, with a number of services provided by the department.
The department has also been undertaking “significant scenario-based” training programs to prepare people for working in an evacuation centre. The spokesperson also said the department had been hiring extensively to expand the number of departmental staff that can be sent to disasters.
According to the university researchers, several people in professional positions said their clients had been unsafe in the large evacuation centre where assaults occurred. They claimed police were called every night.
NSW police said they had a “24-hour presence at the evacuation centre from the start of March 2022”. The Lismore floods peaked in late February.
The force was unable to confirm “anecdotal reports” of assaults and would not confirm if they had repeatedly been called to the centre before setting up the around-the-clock coverage.
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
