Preparing for the storm: Suncorp reflects on a year of delivering resilience education across the regions

It is a busy period at Suncorp in the Disaster Management Team as spring and the start of storm season fast approaches.

As one of Australia’s largest insurers, we know the importance of being there for our customers when natural disasters strike. And like Suncorp, our SES partners in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria share our vision by being there for communities in those 'moments that matter.' 

Suncorp has also long advocated for governments, communities and the insurance industry to work together to build a more resilient and prepared Australia. Educating customers on how to prepare their home for severe weather, become more resilient and proactively reduce their risk of damage aligns to Suncorp’s purpose: building futures and protecting what matters.  

Suncorp has a proud history of close partnership with the SES. It has been in a Principal Community Partnership with Queensland SES (now part of Queensland Police Service (QPS) since 2020, which was established to increase the social and natural hazard resilience of the Queensland community through community engagement and education. In Victoria, Suncorp’s brand AAMI has provided support to Victoria SES as Co- Principal Community Partner for more than 20 years (since 2003), and last year, AAMI established a major partnership agreement with New South Wales SES.

Suncorp is also proud to support a dedicated cohort of SES volunteers among our employees, who give their time to support their communities during severe weather events, by offering unlimited paid emergency response leave. 

Currently, 12 Suncorp employees are active SES volunteers across the SES network in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Showing up together as partners before natural hazards strike.

One impactful way Suncorp and our SES partners work together to build resilience is to ‘show up’ and meet residents in their local communities, particularly in locations more vulnerable to extreme weather events, and proactively engage in conversations about home maintenance and storm season preparedness.

Over the past year, Suncorp brand teams have collaborated with SES partners on a community engagement roadshow, stopping in at different community events to bring awareness and education about extreme weather preparedness.

The team has been a warmly welcomed presence at regional events, agricultural shows, festivals, celebrations, gatherings and expos throughout New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, collaborating with SES partners in each location.

The teams show up at big and small regional community events to talk to locals and foster a culture of preparedness.

Always turning up in uniform with big smiles and lots of positive energy, Suncorp team members and SES partners welcome community members of all ages to stop by its branded marquees to engage in educational activities that lead to important conversations about their properties and how to stay safe.

Suncorp Disaster Management Customer and Community Manager Jess Capps explained: “We speak to community members around the importance of home maintenance, to ensure their property is resilient in the face of natural disasters.

“We also chat to kids around emergency preparedness, handing out a special activity book and encouraging them and their parents to chat with the SES for further information on responding to an emergency.”

The popular Suncorp and AAMI ‘Stay Safe’ activity book has been designed to educate children on the importance of basic emergency preparedness, but also includes important information and checklists on emergency preparation and home maintenance ‘for the grown-ups.'

The community engagement roadshow locations are typically in communities that are at higher risk of impact from natural hazards.

The regional roadshow locations are deliberately chosen, through liaising with local SES units and leveraging insights from Suncorp’s seasonal outlooks to identify communities with elevated threat levels of experiencing natural hazard impacts. There is also a particular focus on including communities which have previously been impacted by extreme weather events.

Community members in each location get the opportunity to speak 1:1 with members of the Disaster Management Team and Customer Support Team (CST) volunteers across Suncorp brands, as well as their local SES volunteers. At events in New South Wales and Victoria, the community can easily spot the team in their red AAMI shirts, and in the green Suncorp shirts across Queensland events.

And of course, SES volunteers are instantly recognisable in all locations in their bright orange uniforms.

A showcase of FY24 regional community roadshow highlights.

In FY24, the community engagement roadshow had a presence at 17 regional events across Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. The Disaster Management and Customer Support teams set up sites adjacent to SES partners and had many conversations about disaster preparedness and home protection with locals.

Suncorp EM of Disaster Management Lilly Broodbank said: “These roadshows are a great opportunity to speak with many people about how to prepare for storm season in their communities, and on their properties. Our ‘prize wheel’ activity at our marquee has been particularly popular – people of all ages are keen to spin the wheel and test their knowledge about how well they are prepared for big weather events.

“And the ‘Stay Safe’ activity books were a huge hit with children.”

Here are a few location highlights from the roadshow: 

• Tamworth Show with NSW SES, 19-24 January 2024

As part of the NSW SES community engagement roadshow, the team visited the Tamworth Show, held during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. This year 300,000 people attended across the 10-day event, many of whom stopped by the AAMI and SES marquees to talk about home maintenance and storm preparedness. 

• The Gilgandra Show with NSW SES, 19-20 April 2024 

As part of the NSW SES community engagement roadshow, Suncorp’s Disaster Management Customer and Community Team and CST volunteers joined forces with the Gilgandra SES Unit at the local show. In late 2021, Gilgandra and surrounding towns in rural NSW suffered heavy rain and flooding with extensive damage to their road network. During the show, many families stopped by to see the SES equipment, meet the teams and talk about home preparedness. The ‘Stay Safe’ activity book for children was very popular, with more than 200 shared with the community.  

• The Community Place Expo with Qld SES, Kalinga, 18 May 2024 

The Community Place held an Emergency, Disaster Resilience and Preparedness Expo involving Qld SES, Qld Police Service, Brisbane City Council, Qld Fire Department, Red Cross, Suncorp and other providers. There were hundreds of families in attendance and many conversations were held about being ready for all events and ensuring home maintenance is completed. It is estimated the team engaged in 250 interactions with the community during the two-hour event, including handing out about 250 ‘Stay Safe’ activity books.