Calls to the dedicated bushfire support line are "steadily increasing" and are already at 1700 a week, the natural disaster royal commission has been told.
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The inquiry is at its tail-end and on Thursday heard from Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phil Gaetjens and National Bushfire Recovery Agency co-ordinator Andrew Colvin.
Mr Colvin said communities recovering from the fires had an overwhelming sentiment of fatigue and anxiety, with another high-risk weather season approaching.
"There's still 1700 calls a week to the dedicated lifeline number," he said.
"And that is steadily increasing."
Mr Colvin said 600 people a week were also accessing telehealth or face-to-face medical support for trauma in relation to the bushfires.
Commissioners are looking at a single, scalable body responsible for natural disaster recovery and resilience at a national level.
Mr Colvin praised the idea, noting the absence of resilience in policy.
"I can't point to a single national framework that both incentivises and prioritises resilience in our recovery," he said.
He said a national agency could help achieve this by bringing together government and the charitable sector.
The commission is also looking at a national emergency declaration, which was part of the Commonwealth's submission.
Mr Gaetjens said it would be a "two key" process to ensure the declaration was necessary.
It would ensure there was a readiness and ability to react quickly, he added.
The commission is looking at how any such declaration would interact with state and territory emergency management frameworks.
Mr Gaetjens said the Commonwealth had started talks with states on the idea but would await the royal commission's report before proceeding.
A number of states believe the Commonwealth should keep its supporting role, arguing there is no need for it to get new powers to deal with natural disasters.
A new report has revealed 65,000 Australians were displaced between July 2019 and February 2020.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre report says three-quarters of the displacements took place in early 2020.
Thousands of families had to evacuate and stay in shelters during the devastating bushfire season.
The royal commission will hold its final hearing on Friday ahead of finalising its report, due on October 28.
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Australian Associated Press
