Fiona Gaske is Palladium’s APAC Director of Logistics and Facilities. She explores what Australia’s new Humanitarian Policy means for disaster relief efforts in the region and explains why strong partnerships must be front and centre.

In October 2024, the Australian Government released a new landmark Humanitarian Policy, laying out a clear blueprint for how Australia’s humanitarian action will save lives, alleviate human suffering, and build resilient communities.

The ‘why’ behind this new era of humanitarian action is clear: the climate is changing faster than the world’s efforts to stop it, natural disasters devastate communities with increasing frequency and ferocity, more and more people are being displaced from their communities, and conflict is widespread and complex.

All Eyes on the Pacific

In 2023 alone, nearly 400 natural disasters were recorded globally, 180 of which occurred in Asia and the Pacific. A recent report tallied the total economic loss to the region at US$65 billion. Communities in the Pacific islands are amongst the most prone to disaster and climate risks, such as tsunami, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, floods, and even droughts. As natural events have increasingly devastating impacts on livelihoods – especially for the region’s most vulnerable – the need for effective, locally relevant and principled humanitarian response has never been more important.

As the Pacific’s closest neighbour, Australia is well positioned to take the lead.

Strong Partnerships are the Bedrock of Effective and Inclusive Disaster Readiness

The new policy’s top priorities – including readiness and preparedness and working in partnership – are principles that define the lived working experience of Palladium’s teams across the globe as they deliver humanitarian solutions for clients.

Each disaster is unique, and strong local partnerships must be front and centre.

Whether through the response efforts of our UK aid-funded Humanitarian and Stabilisation Support (HSOT) program, the work of our Australia-Indonesia Partnership on Disaster Risk Management (SIAP SIAGA) team, or the specialised capabilities of our Humanitarian Logistics Capability (HLC), collaboration and preparedness are crucial for creating sustainable and peaceful societies.

In the Pacific, our HLC program supports the Australian Government to respond to a variety of humanitarian challenges, upon the request of a country affected by a disaster or crisis. HLC has responded to over 50 disasters since 2018, and in the past year alone, we supported 26 requests for assistance across 8 countries – many of these in the South Pacific region. In a rapidly evolving and increasingly challenging humanitarian landscape, our ability to collaborate and work effectively with different partners is critical to the success of relief efforts.

So, what does partnership look like for humanitarian action?

Relief efforts are more effective when local stakeholders are fully engaged and involved. In Brisbane, HLC provides a shared warehousing arrangement with Australian NGOs, the Red Cross Movement and the United Nations as part of Australia’s commitment to humanitarian action. This year, as part of responding to disaster, we dispatched 3,946kg of partner humanitarian supplies including reproductive kits and tarpaulins.

Once supplies leave the warehouse, collaboration and partnership continues to be a top priority for our team, including with commercial and military logistics providers, local disaster management agencies in the Pacific, whole-of-DFAT collaboration in Australia and in the field, humanitarian experts, and our NGO and UN partners.

Our local partnerships are essential to achieving a coordinated response, making sure we maximise shared resources and realise Australia’s humanitarian objectives. Coordinating across multiple partners is not always easy – particularly in a time of crisis – but we’ve learned that open communication and adaptability is key. Strong local partnerships also help ensure that humanitarian action protects the most vulnerable and marginalised people in a crisis – including women, children, and people with disability. Together, we can drive inclusive and contextually appropriate responses.

Collaborative Disaster Readiness Builds Climate Resilience

Strong local partnerships and collaboration are also crucial to building disaster readiness and climate resilience. The two go hand in hand. Take the greening of humanitarian responses for example – this approach is essential to minimising the environmental impact of aid delivery while ensuring sustainability in crisis-affected regions. Prioritising renewable energy solutions and sourcing sustainable packaging materials are some of the things that go a long way to reducing carbon emissions during relief efforts. It also takes the pressure off local partners, if we get this right at the supply end.

What does this look like in practice?

In recent years we’ve embarked on a journey to transform our approach to environment sustainability and greening during a disaster response. To reduce waste and carbon emissions – a key part of Palladium’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050 – HLC has introduced a greening initiative to inspect and remove any unnecessary plastic and packaging before consolidating items into humanitarian kits. In addition, any nearly expired humanitarian items are now donated to local organisations who are committed to distributing the items to those in need.

Also known as ‘reverse logistics’, these measures help ensure we reduce the volume of waste and plastic packaging that disaster affected countries need to deal with.

Regional Challenges need Regional Collaboration

Australia’s new Humanitarian Policy might be the blueprint for a new era of humanitarian action, but the work is already well underway.

If the government’s regional humanitarian investments – HLC included – are working effectively together and with local partners in the Pacific, Australia will be well positioned to deliver on its commitment to international humanitarian law and contribute to a more stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region. I’m proud that we can play a supporting role.