Goldfields-Midland’s DFES leader recognised as Young Person of the Year

Experiencing first-hand the discrepancies in resourcing, support and action for regional towns during times of emergencies and disasters is what led this year’s WA Fire and Emergency Services Young Person of the Year to pursue a role allowing her to make a positive impact.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services Goldfields-Midland emergency management adviser Shelby Robinson received the inaugural DFES Young Person of the Year award at this year’s WAFES Awards for her passion, dedication, and impact.

The 24-year-old stood out as an emerging young leader in the sector, impressing many with her work strengthening collaboration between agencies in two of WA’s biggest emergency management districts.

Through her role she established a combined monthly district emergency management committee webinar and newsletter program involving more than 30 local governments, reinvigorated the DEMCs for the Goldfields-Esperance and Wheatbelt districts, and delivered structured pre and post-season high-risk weather season forums.

She also led disability inclusive emergency planning forums, bringing together local governments, service providers and community representatives to improve planning for people with disability during emergencies.

The award — which was added to the WAFES awards for the first time this year — caught Ms Robinson by surprise, only finding out she had been nominated when she was being congratulated for winning.

She told the Kalgoorlie Miner it felt overwhelming to be recognised as a staff member by peers and respected leaders in this way, as her sector “rightfully focuses” on the contributions of volunteers.

“It’s an honour to be recognised as an emerging leader in this space and I encourage all young people to take a chance and take up space, you never know how well it might be received,” she said.

Proving how passionate she is about her role and the sector itself, Ms Robinson will speak next month at the Australian Disaster Resilience Conference on engaging young people in disaster resilience and the role of disinformation in communities during disasters, all while being on maternity leave.

She said she was looking forward to returning to her role in 2027 and hoped to keep refining her engagement and leadership skills.

“Growing up in the regions means I’ve experienced first-hand the discrepancies in resourcing, support and action that local communities receive before, during and after different emergencies and disasters,” she said.

“Further to that, I’m deeply passionate about ensuring our most vulnerable in communities have the skills and resources to make decisions to support themselves and their loved ones.

“My role not only allows me to work with community members, but also work with the service providers, local governments and State agencies who provide support to these communities and build capability across a wide range of stakeholders.”

She said one of the most rewarding aspects of her role was being able to take big and likely expensive or seemingly out of reach problems and breaking them down into smaller, more feasible opportunities to influence change.

“Most of the time that is in education or re-education of decision makers, community members or multi agency stakeholders,” she said.

“The emergency management and disaster resilience sector is so wide and impacts so many different facets of community that it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like a very small fish in a very large pond.”

And while her role is based in Northam, Ms Robinson works closely with the Goldfields-Esperance region and said her favourite thing about the patch was its people.

“It might sound cliche but there truly is such a willingness to continually learn and work together to achieve better outcomes for community members,” she said.

“Whether that is in community messaging about high heat risk or building digital literacy skills to understand emergency warnings ahead of time or working together to keep communities accessible and safe during emergencies, there’s something so special about the stakeholders in the Goldfields-Esperance region making it all happen.”

Ms Robinson, alongside winners from other young people award categories including volunteer firefighting, marine rescue and SES, will now be in the running to win the overall WAFES Young Person of the Year award in September.