Western Australians shine at Resilient Australia Awards

• Resilient Australia State Awards recognise initiatives that strengthen disaster resilience
• Three Western Australian Award winners and two nominations highly commended
• Cook Government and Department of Fire and Emergency Services helping to deliver vital services to all Western Australians

Western Australia's leadership in disaster recovery and preparedness has been recognised at the 2025 Resilient Australia State Awards, with five initiatives honoured including three taking out top category prizes.

WA's recovery from the devastating 2023 Kimberley floods and a groundbreaking new framework to build financial resilience after disasters were among the standouts.

The Resilient Australia Awards (RAA) recognise collaboration and initiatives across a broad range of sectors that strengthen disaster resilience and award images capturing resilience in action.

The program is sponsored by the Australian Government in partnership with the states and territories, and is managed by the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience.

The WA Award winners are:

• Nicole Woods for the photograph 'Everyday Heroes';
• Department of Fire and Emergency Services for 'Kimberley Floods State Recovery and Resilience Plan 2023-2024'; and
• Financial Counsellors' Association of WA and Centre for Social Impact at The University of Western Australia for 'Building Financial Resilience to Disasters: The Financial Counselling Disaster Framework'.

Highly commended are:

• DFES for 'From Little (Local) Things, Big Things Grow: A Whole-of-Town Approach to Bushfire and Emergency Preparedness'; and
• DFES for 'Next Generation Warnings Project Empowers Community Readiness and Resilience'.

Nicole Woods won the People's Choice award again. Her photograph 'Everyday Heroes' showed emergency services personnel and the RAC Rescue Helicopter working in unison under pressure to respond to an incident near Gingin, which resulted in a life-saving outcome.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services won the Government Award for its recovery and resilience plan following unprecedented flooding across the Fitzroy Valley in early 2023.

The plan united agencies to rebuild communities, create jobs, strengthen infrastructure, and restore cultural and natural assets.

The Community Award went to the Financial Counsellors' Association of WA and Centre for Social Impact at The University of Western Australia for 'Building Financial Resilience to Disasters: The Financial Counselling Disaster Framework - designed to help individuals and small businesses under economic stress.

A local initiative in Denmark, 'Whole-of-Town Approach to Bushfire and Emergency Preparedness', was highly commended for its work to spark behaviour change in the community when it comes to understanding risk and empowering the next generation of emergency services volunteers to step forward.

DFES' Next Generation Warnings Project was also highly commended for its nation-leading emergency information platform capable of delivering faster, more personalised, and targeted warnings during emergencies.

Recipients will be presented with their awards by a representative from their local region. The three State winners are automatically included in national awards with winners to be announced in Melbourne on 24 November.

Comments attributed to Emergency Services Minister Paul Papalia:

"Emergency Services demands the very best of people and the resilience of Western Australians always shines through.

"We're a vast State with unique challenges, and these awards recognise the exceptional work being done to meet them head-on.

"I congratulate the 2025 Resilient Australia State Awards recipients and thank them for their outstanding contribution to the WA community."