AVA advocacy on National Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements

The AVA are making several representations at the national level advocating for veterinary care to disaster impacted owned animals to be an eligible measure for funding assistance in the national Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

Whilst it is the responsibility of owners to care for their animals in times of disasters, often assistance is needed to ensure animal welfare needs are met, regardless of an owner’s financial capacity. Owned animals are often caught up in disasters along with people, and veterinarians have an important role in disaster response and recovery activities.

It’s essential to urgently address animal welfare needs following a disaster such as bushfires and floods to prevent prolonged suffering. Veterinarians play an important role by assessing the requirements of animals needing veterinary care, including euthanasia of those severely injured, to ensure animal welfare needs are met. Veterinary hospitals are also important in reuniting companion animals with their owners, a well-accepted expectation of society.

Often the financial burden of a disaster response to treat impacted animals is imposed onto veterinarians, through community and government expectations. However, funding of these expectations is currently inadequate, such that veterinary care is often provided by veterinarians out of their own pocket or at reduced cost. To ensure veterinary services provided to disaster impacted animals is adequately funded, the AVA strongly believes that funding arrangements need to be recognised at a national level through the DRFA to assist state and territory arrangements and establish assistance measures for animal welfare.

Furthermore, the AVA are advocating for all disaster impact reporting include data on animal injuries and deaths. Current disaster reporting frequently fails to account for the wide-ranging and devastating effects on animals, including livestock, companion animals, and wildlife, by omitting comprehensive statistics on animal injuries and fatalities. This oversight in disaster reporting contributes to a systemic underestimation of the impacts on animals, leading to a lack of government and public awareness, and consequently, insufficient support. Such animal welfare information would provide a more accurate reflection of the disaster's impacts, thereby prompting a more suitable response from government, veterinarians and the public.
AVA representations include:

• August 2023 – Independent Review into Commonwealth Disaster Funding (The Review). The AVA has provided responses to the set of questions the Review is seeking input on. A copy of the AVA responses is available via the link to the right. 
• November 2022 – National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reviewing sections of the DRFA. AVA wrote to NEMA and the Minister for Emergency Management.
A copy of the AVA letter to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in available here.

The Minister for Emergency Management has provided a response to the AVA advocacy advising he; asked the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to explore the development of a specific animal welfare assistance package that could include veterinary care activities, supports the AVA request for inclusion of animal loss and injury statistics in major incident reports and asked NEMA to raise this with the states, and commends the work of the AVA and its members in caring for impacted animals during times of disaster. A copy of the Minister’s letter is available here.

Please contact AVA Senior Advocacy Officer Liz Gemes at liz.gemes@ava.com.au if you would further information or discuss your experiences in providing veterinary care during natural disasters.