News

The latest news from Australian Red Cross.

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

How we support people to maintain their wellbeing and manage isolation.

What every Australian business needs to know about international humanitarian law

Australian Red Cross has partnered with RMIT University to produce a practical guide to help businesses navigate their risks, rights and responsibilities under international humanitarian law (IHL).

Australian bushfires: how we’re using funds

Our plan to help people and communities recover well.

A virtual hug and a friendly voice

Susan is an expert in comfort and virtual hugs. She and hundreds of other volunteers phone people who are struggling to let them know there’s a community, right here, they can lean on.

The power of a helping hand

Food in your stomach, a roof over your head, a doctor when you are sick – these are things everyone deserves.

When life throws another curveball

Marianne was four when she learned to swim. Every weekend her grandmother took her and her brothers to the Mitchell River in East Gippsland.

Everybody knows someone affected

When a deadly measles outbreak hit Samoa, Red Cross volunteers were on the frontline supporting the community and helping stop the disease from spreading further.

Even heroes need a hand sometimes

The electricity had been cut and it was dark as Dan sat on a couch - propped on top of his kitchen bench - with his two dogs and cat. He listened as the drains gurgled and watched water seep into his backyard.

The power of good neighbours

When Tropical Cyclone Harold hit Vanuatu, Red Cross volunteers hiked along clifftops and traversed overflowing creeks to help remote and hard-to-reach communities.

A friendly caring voice in challenging times

Every day volunteers across the country are calling people who have been left isolated and vulnerable by the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re letting people know someone cares and they’re not forgotten.

Voluntary Submission to the Natural Disasters Royal Commission

Our contribution to ensuring the nation’s disaster preparedness, response and recovery systems are as strong as they can be.

National Volunteer Week 2020

A celebration of those who make a world of difference

New growth on blackened land

A vegetable garden re-grows hope for a family after fire tears through their home and dreams.

World Red Cross Day: The Power of Connection

On May 8th let’s make our local connections have a global impact.

Australian Bushfires Report

1 January – 15 April 2020

Defusing family tension and conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic

Advice to help you watch for signs of stress among family members and techniques to defuse tensions and conflict during coronavirus isolation.

Too many still aren’t taking COVID-19 seriously

Italian Red Cross chief Francesco Rocca pleads for the world to learn from the mistakes of his country.

We need to be the 90% during the COVID-19 pandemic

Red Cross National Resilience Adviser John Richardson and Health Technical Lead Lisa Natoli urge us to become 90% heroes in the fight against coronavirus.

Silver linings during COVID-19

In our neighbourhoods and around the world, everywhere we look, people are sharing their strength, resilience and compassion in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic.

How to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic

Simple steps you can take to protect yourself and help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Syria Crisis – 9 Years On

Renewed fighting in the country’s North-West is a stark reminder that the conflict is far from over.

International Women’s Day 2020

This International Women’s Day we pay tribute to incredible women the world over for powering change, for helping others, for leading the way.

Six days in Mallacoota

Pamela became a Red Cross volunteer last December. Her first emergency experience was in the communities impacted by the unprecedented bushfires that have burned across the country. This is her story.

Each work tells a story

Household items salvaged from the ashes are being turned into artworks that tell a story of recovery.

Our response to the bushfires: 21 Feb 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires and how your donations are helping.

Helping people pick up the pieces in bushfire-hit Batemans Bay

Red Cross volunteer and Batemans Bay local Lin Barnes knows it will take time for people to recover from the Black Summer bushfires.

First aid ups fire-fighters’ skills

How fire-fighters are using first aid and mental health first aid taught by Red Cross to help during this season’s devastating bushfires.

The best of humanity in the worst of times

When a disaster like the Black Summer bushfires strike some wonderful people step in to help, says long-time Red Cross volunteer Sally Dowse.

The underrated power of tea and comfort

Deb Egan knows the tangible power of a listening ear, a smile and a simple cup of tea to someone caught up in a crisis like this summer’s bushfires.

Our response to the bushfires: 13 Feb 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires and how your donations are helping.

Coping with Australia’s summer of bushfires

Disasters can be distressing and stressful and you don’t have to be directly involved to be affected. Find out how to look after yourself and others in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires.

Our response to the bushfires: 6 Feb 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires and how your donations are helping.

Reaching out to fire-affected communities: our volunteers go home to home

Red Cross volunteer Kacey Lam gives this first-hand account of outreach visits to people recovering after the fires.

Our response to the bushfires: 30 Jan 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by this summer's bushfires and how your donations are helping.

Recovery takes time

Living through the Black Saturday bushfires at Kinglake in 2009 taught Anne Leadbeater what it takes to recover from a disaster. Now she offers some timely advice.

Our response to the bushfires: 24 Jan 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by this summer's bushfires and how your donations are helping.

Statement on Red Cross response to bushfires

Wednesday 22 January 2020

It sounded like a hundred jets

After Matt lost his home to bushfires on New Year’s Eve, Red Cross was there to help.

Our response to the bushfires: 17 Jan 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by this summer's bushfires and how your donations are helping.

These are extraordinary times with extraordinary responses

A message from Red Cross CEO Judy Slatyer.

Young people think a major war is likely in their lifetime

Almost half of all millennials think it’s more likely than not there will be a third world war in their lifetime, a new Red Cross survey finds.

A sweet approach to supporting fire affected communities

“We saw what was happening on the news and just wanted to help in some way,” said 14-year-old Clara.

This is what people go through in disasters

The whole range of human emotion is on show, right now, sometimes all at once. The very nature of emergency or disaster both takes away some of the boundaries, and sharpens the focus.

Our response to the bushfires: 10 Jan 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by this summer's bushfires and how your donations are helping.

Surviving the fires

One family’s story on surviving the catastrophic Mallacoota fires and how Red Cross was there to help.

Leaving Mallacoota

Cut off from the world by fires, the only way out was by ship. Red Cross was there at every step.

Your donations in action

How you're helping the people who've faced devastating fires this summer.

Our response to the bushfires: 3 Jan 2020

Learn what Red Cross is doing to support communities affected by this summer's bushfires and how your donations are helping.

13 quotes that truly moved us in 2019

Words are powerful tools – they can start movements, light up the darkest of days, and they can even change the world. Some of them you will never forget.

How Aussies are rallying to help as a record bushfire season hits

People, your generosity and enthusiasm to help has floored us as Australia copes with one of the worst bushfire seasons on record.

Our 24 favourite photos of 2019

Every small act of kindness matters. Put together they are powerful; they can change our lives. These 24 photos from around the world are fundamentally about humanity, and how kindness makes a difference.

Stop shooting at us

Each year on 17 December we honour our Red Cross and Red Crescent colleagues killed for their humanitarian work.

Refugees with insecure visas experience more trauma and depression: study

People on temporary visas are more likely to have experienced trauma, but a new long-term study shows they’re ready to contribute.

Support us at Bunnings this Christmas

Buy a sausage, eat a slice of cake or wrap a present and you’ll be helping us out.

Courage and resilience bring hope amidst devastation

NSW & ACT Director Poppy Brown recently visited bushfire affected communities in NSW. Here she talks about why that gives her hope.

Top End kids are getting prepared

Kids in communities evacuated when a cyclone crashed into their community, are learning what to do, and pack, if they face emergencies in the future.

Humanity: our bravest and most enduring tech trend

We all have a duty of care to the people we represent and communities we are a part of to ensure the human experience is central to new technologies, products and services.

The Christmas Gift Guide for the trickiest people on your list

It’s that fun time of year again when we hunt for the perfect gift for the great people we share our lives with.

World Re-start a Heart Day 2019

How much do you know about your heart? Test your knowledge. Then check the answers at the bottom of the page and sign up to learn how to re-start a heart.

Red Cross prison wellbeing program launches in Perth

An internationally acclaimed Red Cross program which improves the safety and wellbeing of prisoners has launched in Perth’s Acacia Prison,.

The humanitarian cost of climate change

A new Red Cross report outlines the human toll and financial costs of doing nothing as natural disasters increase as a result of climate change.

Movies to change the way you see the world, part 2

Because you loved our first list of must-watch movies we’ve created part two: 17 movies with messages we think are worth sharing.

Climate change is a humanitarian issue

We need to act now to support communities adapt to a changing climate.

Bringing family together after the horrors of war

Hayfa is on a search to find her husband. She last saw him when they were separated by fighters in their Yazidi village, in northern Iraq.

Walking the tightrope to avoid a forgotten crisis in Cox’s Bazar

Anniversaries matter. Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries of the death of loved ones have a deep resonance for most of us.

The sludge is clearing after two years in Bangladesh camps

Trudging through muddy tracks in the monsoon rains to relief distribution sites, dilapidated bamboo retaining walls hold up precarious slopes of clay.

A message from our new Patron

Statement from His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (retired), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Patron of the Australian Red Cross Society.

The Geneva Conventions, Lego and Road Runner turn 70

In 1949, Australia’s population had just hit 8 million, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was brand new, Joan Sutherland was starting out, and it was the heyday of Betty Grable and Bing Crosby.

Melbourne’s MAS*H nurse on the frontline

The scene is like a real-life version of M*A*S*H. In a makeshift medical facility in South Sudan, Kieren Box and other aid workers are called to fly to a wedding that has turned into a gunfight.

A note to those who say humanity is dead

On 19 August, World Humanitarian Day.

Tackling homelessness: Matt turns his life around

August 4th - 10th is Homelessness Week, raising awareness of people experiencing homelessness. We want you to meet Matt, who’s worked hard to overcome tremendous challenges in life and find somewhere safe to live.

Declutter, donate, and transform lives

Your pre-loved clothing could help provide disaster relief or help others in need.

$11.5 million in donations have helped Aussie farmers

All funds raised for our Help Aussie Farmers Appeal have now been distributed to farmers and their families in drought-affected parts of Australia.

Red Cross NAIDOC Awards 2019

Honouring outstanding First Nations women and men around the country.

The ice cream makers of Mongolia

In a tiny Mongolian town, a local entrepreneur has turned a passion for yak’s milk ice cream into a booming business.

Christie proves dreams can come true

No one in Christie’s family had ever had a driver’s licence and for her, it seemed an unachievable dream.

Meet the Red Cross wonder dogs

Move over Lassie. Red Cross has its own band of tail-wagging heroes, who for decades have been helping us support people in crisis all over the world.

Four special Red Cross nurses honoured for courage, spirit and service

A group of Australian Red Cross nurses have earned the highest international distinction a nurse can ever receive.

Use our tax calculator for your charity donation

See your potential tax break from a donation to Australian Red Cross.

Stories of good

Every day we're privileged to support and work with some of the most amazing humans you will ever met. Here are seven people whose hope, kindness and courage stand out.

Game of Thrones and laws of war: Season 8, Episode 6

The battle for the Iron Throne is over. Now our watch(ing) has ended.

Volunteers give heart and time

People are carrying out acts of kindness every day and we want to encourage more of it!

Game of Thrones and laws of war: GoT analysis week 5

Do you hear the bells? Alas, they won’t stop the spoilers, so turn back now if you haven’t seen this week’s episode.

Listening, the art of design

How an organisation better known for face-to-face service delivery landed on an app through co-designing a solution.

Pop-up Shop at Paddington Town Hall

Calling all op-shoppers and bargain hunters to join Red Cross at Paddington Town Hall on Saturday 1 June and Sunday 2 June for an enormous pop-up shop.

Make a difference: A how-to guide to helping others and changing the world

Here’s our ultimate list of things you can do today to make a difference and help change the world for the better.

Feel-good stories of humanity

Give yourself a lift with these heart-warming tales from around the globe.

Game of Thrones and laws of war: Season 8, Episode 4

Just as one battle ends, another begins. As always, enemies of the spoiler beware. If you don’t want to know how the Last War arrived at the shores of King’s Landing, avert your eyes now.

Be a mate on May 8

Celebrate World Red Cross Day by taking one of our actions.

Game of Thrones and laws of war: Season 8, Episode 3

As always, when you play the Game of Thrones recap, you live or you die with spoilers. There is no middle ground.

New Red Cross My Team mental health app

Designed with users and launched with users.

Game of Thrones and laws of war: Season 8, Episode 2

How do you analyse an episode where no battles took place? Turns out there's still plenty happening in Westeros...

Game of Thrones and laws of war: Season 8, Episode 1

Who committed war crimes in the first episode? We continue our niche (and let’s face it, kind of bizarre) analysis.

Who is Game of Thrones worst war criminal?

Nerd alert: to celebrate the launch of the eighth and final season of Games of Thrones we’ve analysed every episode of the last seven seasons to find the show’s worst war criminal.

Learning basic CPR the key to saving more lives

Get this lifesaving skill free this month with an online course from Australian Red Cross.

Remote communities headed home

Recovery begins after Cyclone Trevor.

Humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Mozambique

Initial reports indicate at least 1,000 people have died and 400,000 made homeless, but the full scale of the suffering and loss Tropical Cyclone Idai has caused in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi is still not yet known.

Standing with Muslim communities

What you can do to ease grief, share kindness and have informed conversations

Why has the world failed Syria?

The Australian aid worker who heads up the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent operations in Syria reflects on a brutal eight-year long war.

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

What every Australian business needs to know about international humanitarian law

Australian bushfires: how we’re using funds

A virtual hug and a friendly voice

The power of a helping hand

When life throws another curveball

Everybody knows someone affected

Even heroes need a hand sometimes

The power of good neighbours

A friendly caring voice in challenging times

Voluntary Submission to the Natural Disasters Royal Commission

National Volunteer Week 2020

New growth on blackened land

World Red Cross Day: The Power of Connection

Australian Bushfires Report

Defusing family tension and conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic

Too many still aren’t taking COVID-19 seriously

We need to be the 90% during the COVID-19 pandemic

Silver linings during COVID-19

How to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic

Syria Crisis – 9 Years On

International Women’s Day 2020

Six days in Mallacoota

Each work tells a story

Our response to the bushfires: 21 Feb 2020

Helping people pick up the pieces in bushfire-hit Batemans Bay

First aid ups fire-fighters’ skills

The best of humanity in the worst of times

The underrated power of tea and comfort

Our response to the bushfires: 13 Feb 2020

Coping with Australia’s summer of bushfires

Our response to the bushfires: 6 Feb 2020

Reaching out to fire-affected communities: our volunteers go home to home

Our response to the bushfires: 30 Jan 2020

Recovery takes time

Our response to the bushfires: 24 Jan 2020

Statement on Red Cross response to bushfires

It sounded like a hundred jets

Our response to the bushfires: 17 Jan 2020

These are extraordinary times with extraordinary responses

Young people think a major war is likely in their lifetime

A sweet approach to supporting fire affected communities

This is what people go through in disasters

Our response to the bushfires: 10 Jan 2020

Surviving the fires

Leaving Mallacoota

Your donations in action

Our response to the bushfires: 3 Jan 2020

13 quotes that truly moved us in 2019

How Aussies are rallying to help as a record bushfire season hits

Our 24 favourite photos of 2019

Stop shooting at us

Refugees with insecure visas experience more trauma and depression: study

Support us at Bunnings this Christmas

Courage and resilience bring hope amidst devastation

Top End kids are getting prepared

Humanity: our bravest and most enduring tech trend

The Christmas Gift Guide for the trickiest people on your list

World Re-start a Heart Day 2019

Red Cross prison wellbeing program launches in Perth

The humanitarian cost of climate change

Movies to change the way you see the world, part 2

Climate change is a humanitarian issue

Bringing family together after the horrors of war

Walking the tightrope to avoid a forgotten crisis in Cox’s Bazar

The sludge is clearing after two years in Bangladesh camps

A message from our new Patron

The Geneva Conventions, Lego and Road Runner turn 70

Melbourne’s M*A*S*H nurse on the frontline

A note to those who say humanity is dead

Tackling homelessness: Matt turns his life around

Declutter, donate, and transform lives

$11.5 million in donations have helped Aussie farmers

Red Cross NAIDOC Awards 2019

The ice cream makers of Mongolia

Christie proves dreams can come true

Meet the Red Cross wonder dogs

Four special Red Cross nurses honoured for courage, spirit and service

Use our tax calculator for your charity donation

Melbourne’s MAS*H nurse on the frontline