The severity and frequency of extreme weather events across the globe continues to increase, driven by anthropogenic climate change. Combined with the growing pressures on our freshwater resources from industry, agriculture and population growth, the resilience of our freshwater ecosystems, and in particular threatened species, is greatly compromised. In the last decade, NSW has experienced some of the largest fish kill events in contemporary history through the combined impacts of droughts, floods and fires. With this has come significant public attention and additional resources to manage the immediate threats. However, our capacity to make meaningful impact during extreme events is often limited compared to more regular, sustained efforts to build resilience in ecosystems between stochastic events. There is a pressing need to demonstrate the ecological and cost-benefit advantages of considering extreme event management as part of a continuum of planning and investment to maximise outcomes and reduce the overall risk to freshwater ecosystems.