15. CARLENE YORK

On 30th October 2019, Carlene was appointed NSW State Emergency Services (SES) Commissioner. Carlene leads the combat agency with legislated responsibility for storms, floods and tsunamis. Literally 3 months later in March 2020, the world, New South Wales and the rest of Australia went into Lockdowns because of Covid 19. That meant that none of the 10,500 volunteers in the SES all over New South Wales could not meet or train together, it all had to be done over Zoom or similar. Then New South Wales has had and continues to have the biggest flood events ever state-wide. How do you prepare for that and deal with that, all the while leading a volunteer organisation of 10,500 talented and diversified people? This interview tells that story.