National resilience

Resilience, to withstand or recover quickly

‘Resilience’, derived from the Latin verb “resilire,” meaning “to recoil,” refers to the ability of a system to recover from misfortune or change. In the national context, resilience is the ability of our nation to withstand, respond to, and recover from shocks; be they economic, cyber, natural disasters, social cohesion, physical attacks, or threats to the democratic process. This ability is dependent on an intertwined relationship of systems, like healthcare, transport, government, communications, defence, space, infrastructure …. a system of systems. The function and behaviour of each of these systems – which are often referred to as industries – is not constrained or independent. Sometimes, this relationship is symbiotic, whereby a change in one industry positively affects another. And sometimes, the impact is just the opposite.

The concept of national resilience recognises these ‘interrelationships’, with an approach that creates a framework to understand them and provide the structure for planning and decision making.

Australia and a plan for national resilience

Many countries have a national resilience plan or a framework, built into their national security planning. Think Sweden, Finland, the Baltic States, Singapore and the UK. Shoal Group’s report – The importance and development of national resilience – examines Australia’s national resilience, providing a foundation for developing a framework.  Australia must challenge itself to be more resilient across all aspects of society, not just natural disasters. Developing a National Resilience Framework that accepts that resilience emerges from adopting a systems view of the individual societal factors is crucial for making impartial and consistent decisions, balancing investments, and enhancing national resilience. By capturing the relationships between various societal components, a National Resilience Framework will enable the most effective decisions and ensure robust, contestable outcomes – guiding government and industry in identifying, prioritising, and allocating resources for investment and preparedness to effectively respond to and recover from crises.

Download the report.

 

This report has been researched and written by Dr Graeme Dunk, Head of Strategy at Shoal Group. The development of this report has led to advising Federal Government and industry, as well as consulting with independent think tanks, universities and research institutions.