In the past two years, Geoscience Australia has made significant progress in improving our understanding of earthquake ground-shaking in Australia. This research has culminated in the development of an Australian-specific ground-motion attenuation model and the first national-scale site classification map of Australia.
Using a scenario based around the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, we demonstrate how these new products can refine our estimates of ground-shaking in Australia compared to what could be achieved in the recent past. In particular comparisons are drawn against the previous practice of employing ground-motion models derived elsewhere (primarily North America) without any consideration of site response.