National Security and Preparedness Survey

(Formally the National Social and Cultural Wellbeing Survey)

Project aims and objectives

The National Survey is a CEPS wide activity, led by the UQ node, and seeks to benchmark public attitudes and perceptions of preparedness, community resilience and vulnerability in a post 9/11 environment of heightened awareness. The survey addresses the following research questions:

• How do global and community-wide security threats or incidents affect Australians’ social and cultural values and perceptions of risk?

• How do citizen perceptions of risk and level of trust in government institutions influence Australians’ actions and preparedness to natural and man-made disasters?

• How resilient are Australian citizens to natural and man-made disasters?

We expect that the survey results will significantly contribute to the literature surrounding the sociology of disasters, resilience and recovery, and preparedness in the Australian context.

Key 2011 project activities and outcomes

Dr Suzanna Ramirez from the University of Washington (US) began working on the development and implementation of the survey in June 2011.

A brief follow up of our pilot study that originally appeared on the Queensland Household “Living in Queensland” survey was completed. This survey included specific questions asked about natural disasters and preparedness in July of 2011 – a post measure of natural disaster preparedness after the Queensland “summer of disasters” in 2010/2011.

The National Security and Preparedness Survey was implemented via Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) recruitment, followed by mail out/online surveys in November 2011. The survey will be in the field until the end of January 2012, with data analysis to begin in February 2012.

Presentations made by members of the research team in 2011 include: a seminar on preliminary findings from the pilot study “Living in Queensland” to the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads in September 2011 (Drs Suzanna Ramirez and Emma Antrobus) that was widely attended by staff from a broad range of public institutions including Queensland Police Service, Australian Federal Police, Australian Red Cross, Queensland Health and Transport Security; and a presentation at CEPS National Conference in October 2011 (Dr Suzanna Ramirez).

Plans for 2012

In 2012, the research team will begin analysis of the data from the National Survey. In addition, the following activities are planned: presentation papers at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meetings 2012 and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) Conference 2012; recruitment of a PhD student to work with the National Survey for the development of a PhD thesis; and two honours students will join the project in 2012.

Featured Research: Living in Queensland - Preparedness for Natural Disaster