Beyond policy transfer: cultural hybridisation in multicultural disaster communication

This paper examines multicultural disaster communication policies and practices in Australia and Japan through a cross-national roundtable dialogue held in Melbourne in 2023. The study initially assumed that: 1) Australian practices are more advanced and could be transferred to Japan; and 2) policy hybridization would produce a more effective model of multicultural disaster communication policy and practice. However, the roundtable revealed fundamental cultural differences embedded within each nation’s approach. Australia demonstrates a system-focused approach characterized by institutional infrastructure, including NAATI certification, formal policies and ethical codes, and an emphasis on producing multilingual materials through established processes. This approach values standardized quality assurance and systematic service delivery. Conversely, Japan exhibits a human-focused approach emphasizing practice-based community education and interpersonal connections in trust formation for disaster preparedness and response. While Australia’s approach faces challenges including imbalanced responsibilities placed on translators and communities, and the risk of impersonal communication practice, Japan’s model prioritises trust-building through direct personal relationships while lacking systematization. The findings suggest that simple policy transfer between nations has limited utility due to these cultural contexts. Instead, policy hybridization adapted to local contexts offers more promising potential for improving multicultural disaster communication. This research contributes to understanding how cultural contexts fundamentally shape policy design, implementation and practice in multilingual disaster communication.