Amendments to the Emergency Management Act are also expected to be legislated later this year.

Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management Michael Ferguson said new “whole-of-government arrangements” were being developed to support the recovery of communities and to better coordinate government activity in the case of emergencies.

“These arrangements are intended to enable the government to set up support more quickly in affected communities and to make sure that support meets community needs,” he said.

Alongside this, the Tasmanian Flood Project under the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements ensured most communities would have access to high resolution elevation information to support flood mapping.

“This work will develop the Tasmanian Flood Hazard Map to support flood assessment and the development of land use planning and building controls,” Mr Ferguson said.

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“These new arrangements are already supporting the Tasmanian government recovery efforts from the extreme weather event of last week,” he said.

“None of this work happens overnight ... we’re getting on with the job of improving the planning and coordination of our emergency services. 

“We commend our emergency services and volunteers, who demonstrated once again their professionalism and hard work in response to the floods.

“Their efforts, and those of our service providers, play a major role in the ongoing recovery effort.

“Disaster assistance is now available through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, providing a much-needed helping hand to affected families and helping local councils clean up and restore damaged infrastructure.

“We will ensure we continue to support our communities as they recover.”