Report on Government Services 2023

Main aims of services within the sector

Emergency management services aim to reduce the risk of, and adverse effects from, emergency events on people, communities and the environment. An emergency event is one that endangers or threatens to endanger life, property and/or the environment, and requires a significant and coordinated response, for example, fires, rescues, medical emergencies and natural disasters.

Services included in the sector

There are various emergency services involved in the emergency management sector.

The Emergency management sector in this Report includes detailed information in the 'Emergency services for fire and other events' section (section 9) on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of service provision and the achievement of outcomes for:

• Fire services - prepare for, prevent, respond to and assist recovery from fire and other events.
• State and Territory emergency services - largely volunteer organisations that respond to and provide assistance during and after emergency events.

Ambulance services (for medical emergencies) and police services (for public safety issues) are also involved in the emergency management sector. The Health section of this Report presents further information on the performance of Ambulance services (section 11) and the Justice section presents further information on the performance of Police services (section 6).

Hospital emergency departments also provide services related to emergency events. Further information on public hospital emergency departments is available in section 12.

Marine and lifesaving rescue and coast guard organisations also have some emergency management responsibilities. However, data on these services are not included in this Report.

Government expenditure in the sector

Total government expenditure for the fire and STES services in this Report was $5.7 billion in 2021-22 (table D.1), an increase of 2.0 per cent from the previous year. Fire services (including WA STES) was the largest contributor (93.9 per cent) (STES contributed 6.1 per cent, excluding WA) (table D.1). For the 2020-21 financial year (the most recent financial year for which data are available across all sections) this represented around 1.8 per cent of total government expenditure covered in this Report.

Information on Ambulance services expenditure is reported in the Health sector overview and information on Police services expenditure is reported in the Justice sector overview.