Cook Shire Council disaster management team’s Community Powered Resilience initiative won the Excellence in Resourcefulness title at the 2026 Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) Queensland Awards for Excellence. Photo: Supplied.
A Cook Shire Council team’s on-the-ground approach to disaster preparedness and recovery has been recognised with an award at the 2026 Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) Queensland Awards for Excellence.
The Disaster Management Team’s Community Powered Resilience initiative won the Excellence in Resourcefulness title at the awards late last month, highlighting the team’s collaborative response to ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper.
Led by disaster management officer Sarah Frew, the team implemented resilience hubs and local area community response officers (LACROs) across Cook Shire communities, ensuring there were first-hand eyes on the situation, and residents in need had somewhere to evacuate to.
“I’m very excited. We’ve put a lot of hard work into it over the last two and a half years, so it’s nice to see the success out of it, and be recognised at a higher level outside our communities for it,” Ms Frew said.
“It basically gave council the ability to know what’s going on in the communities, because as we know, they all get isolated every wet season, and we can’t access the communities, so we have to take information from a direct source in the town.
“It’s really improved our disaster response, our on-ground knowledge, and just being able to coordinate resources.”
During ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle in March, the Community Powered Resilience was put to the test and produced positive results across the shire.
“Cyclone Narelle was proof that it was successful. We had our dedicated LACROs, we stood up the resilience hubs where we needed to, and if people left communities if they didn’t feel safe, we had the LACROs checking on them,” Ms Frew said.
“People knew all the current information for the event, and there was a lot more preparedness across the towns.
“We started putting in a lot of process improvements after Cyclone Jasper, and it’s great to see that we have a team now, because in the beginning, it was just me. We are a council covering a huge area with a very tight budget, and we’ve tried to involve our community volunteers to the best of our abilities.”
Cook Shire Council Mayor Robyn Holmes commended Ms Frew and the team for their achievement, adding that the collaboration between council and the disaster management team had brought a sense of comfort and readiness to community members.
“Congratulations to our disaster management officer and her team for all of their work on the ground in making the resilience hubs a reality for the Cook Shire community,” she said.
“Council commissioned a review post-Tropical Cyclone Jasper and associated flooding. We always want to know what went well and areas where improvement is needed, and this is where the concept for the resilience hubs was born. Council subsequently prioritised the initiative and enabled the resilience hubs to be established and staffed by locals.
“The establishment of these hubs was really positive, and leading into tropical low 29U and Cyclone Narelle, allowed us to test the hubs, and actually see the benefits. The first wet season after Tropical Cyclone Jasper was an emotional time, with the trauma still very raw. The hubs have added an element of comfort to communities, knowing there is a space that people could go.”
Led by disaster management officer Sarah Frew (pictured), the disaster management team brought comfort and preparedness to Cook Shire communities after ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper. Photo: Supplied.
