This report was confidential feedback I gave to the organisers of a gathering in the Northern Rivers region of NSW that I was paid to contribute to “as an outside provocateur” in September 2021. 

The floods of 2022 that severely impacted the same regions led to stresses on both  bureaucratic and community level responses that had substantial knock on effects. One of those impacts was that the process of these planned convergences to strengthen community level disaster response never eventuated.

I am now publishing my feedback report because key ideas in it have been referenced in Part 12 of the Climate Series of essays. 

Others closer to the action in the Northern Rivers region may choose to comment on whether the framework I describe fits their own experience or not, but in any case, I think this framework may resonate for people further afield dealing with similar issues and dynamics.

David Holmgren
September 2025