Covid Reflections

Karen Starr
Emeritus Professor
Deakin University

Karen recounts how her School conducted their annual risk assessment, considering multiple risks including strategic, teaching and learning, market, reputational, operational, financial, asset, technological, security, workforce, regulatory, and governance risk. Their risk register covered everything from terrorism to a financial meltdown.

Then the unthinkable happened. Covid-19 showed that despite best efforts and meticulous risk management plans, most organisations were simultaneously under-prepared and unprepared. This article was written when Australia was deep in the grip of the pandemic, and it is a good macro-view of the impact it had on the country.