Access to good quality data is the foundation of a national system of shared responsibility for infrastructure risks. Robust decisions need to be based on critical and trusted data about the frequency and severity of shocks and stresses, the exposure of people and assets, and disasters, hazards and climate change. Currently, hazard and risk data is mostly fragmented, uncoordinated and unstandardised across states and territories. It is held by many organisations across multiple formats and applications. This limits the effective coordination of response, recovery and place-based and network-level planning. It also constrains systemic resilience.
" Access to good quality data is the foundation of a national system of shared responsibility for infrastructure risks. "
It is imperative to create a national hazards information system to develop, hold and share credible, trusted hazard and risk information that supports evidence-based risk assessments. It will take time to standardise data. A harmonised approach should initially be implemented to gather comparable and compatible types, sources and levels of data.40
A national hazards information system should provide:
• data on hazards and the community, including exposure, inequality, vulnerability and other factors contributing to shocks and stresses
• climate projections that underpin climate risk data
• data that is user-focused, accessible and can be used for a range of applications
• data that is high-quality, timely, trustworthy, consistently available and at the right level of granularity41
• functionality that allows users to interpret data without being a technical specialist or climate change expert
• data collection and reporting systems that are standardised across sectors and jurisdictions for consistency and interoperability
• appropriate protections around confidentiality, privacy and security.42
A shared understanding of what risk and hazard information is required, rather than the data itself, can help to establish ownership. This is particularly true where there is personal or privately held data, which cannot be accessed or shared by governments.
In situations of systemic risk, complexity and uncertainty, a complete dataset to inform a decision will often not be available. If data is absent or ambiguous, decision-makers need robust tools to enable them to act, such as national scenarios and common policy priorities. The necessary reforms to support resilience decision-making are described in detail in A Pathway to Infrastructure Resilience: Opportunities for systemic change.43