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Infrastructure for resilience is rapidly climbing the national agenda in Australia. As climate impact events rise in length and regularity, there is a sharpening of focus on resilience of modern infrastructure across every sector.
At its core, resilience isn’t a single component, but instead the functionality of a whole ecosystem. The productivity and prosperity unlocked when whole systems are shaped to adapt opens the door to riding the severity of disruption ahead.
When the first National Climate Change Risk Assessment underscored the systemic risks Australia is facing as the climate continues to change, resilience was always going to be central to the story. Industries and governments are acutely aware of how resilient infrastructure underpins our economic prosperity, supply chains and communities.
Australia has experienced 21 nationally determined disasters since 1970, with two-thirds occurring since 2009[1]. The Federal Government has budgeted almost $25 billion for disaster relief for 2024 to 2026, which is more than the country spent in the 17 years from 2005 to 2022.
Planning infrastructure for resilience is about being prepared, ready to respond, and adaptable to uncertainty.
While focus has increased, investment is trailing. There is a resilience paradox – awareness without equally matched investment. With budgets having to increase for disaster relief, it’s a sharp reminder why it’s important to invest in proactive works so that regions and infrastructure can be better prepared, and recover more effectively.
The Australian Government recently published information that for every dollar spent on disaster risk reduction, there’s nearly a $10 return on investment[2]. Addressing this paradox and realising this opportunity requires changing the way we think about resilience.
Resilience is more than reacting after a disruption, it’s about building ecosystems that continue to serve when shocks and stresses hit.
This approach was applied with the Port of Brisbane using the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Resilient Infrastructure Scorecard to understand each dimension of disaster risk: hazards, exposures, vulnerabilities, capacities. It fortified the importance of interconnected infrastructure systems and identified a pathway for strengthening the port’s resilience in response to a multitude of possible disruptions.
For some time, the conversation around resilience has centred on understanding the challenge; risk assessments, vulnerability mapping, planning. That work remains essential.
The steps to take resilient infrastructure towards infrastructure that strengthens resilience include:
Aurecon supported the Queensland Government with the Darling Downs District Flood Study. The study found specific locations on key highways to concentrate planning efforts so future upgrades could enhance flood resilience across the road network.
Having engineers and designers in the mix brings system-thinking and problem-solving skills well suited to shaping more resilient outcomes.
How can we achieve long-term resilience? It’s about being prepared, ready to respond to plausible future conditions and having the flexibility to manage uncertainty together with adjusting approaches.
Pleasingly, there are more instances of shifts to new ways of working and a focus on risk and resilience. Aurecon together with the CSIRO is working on enhancing telecommunications resilience[3]. By analysing the value generated by resilient telecommunications infrastructure in communities, the project is clarifying the benefits of resilient investment and how government and infrastructure owners might improve investment in resilience.
The project deploys the CSIRO's enabling resilience investment approach, which aims to support Australia for large-scale future-ready investments, equitable recovery from recent disasters, and proactive reduction of disaster risk and adaptation to climate change.
As the severity and duration of extreme events continues to change, infrastructure investors will increasingly focus on where their capital can deliver the best long-term returns, creating a clear mandate for the resilience of infrastructure to attract and retain investment.
Companies that lean into planning, designing and delivering infrastructure for resilience are no longer solely identifying risks. Whether it’s rethinking supply chains, considering the interconnectedness of their ecosystem, or preparing assets for disruption, it’s about planning for strong and adaptive futures.
[1] Jemina Nuredini, 13 September 2022, 'The Rise of Australia’s Billion Dollar Natural Disasters', The City Journal.
[2] Ministers for Home Affairs, 28 May 2024, 'Federal disaster recovery support to states reaches $11.4 billion', Australian Government.
[3] Enabling Resilience Investment, 'Resilience in Telecommunications', CSIRO, accessed 8 December 2025.
This article was first published by the Committee of Economic Development for Australia and is republished here with permission.
Contributing author & reviewer: Katie Vines
Risk & Resilience Practice Leader – Australia
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