Page 4640 - Week 14 - Thursday, 24 November 2005
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with standing order 79, Mr Speaker has determined that the matter proposed by Ms Porter be submitted to the Assembly, namely:
The important contribution of volunteers to the Canberra community.
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.47): Today, in order to recognise International Volunteer Day on 5 December, I want to highlight the importance to this community of the volunteer. Much has been said over the past few weeks about the paid work force and the dire effects of Howard’s IR so-called reforms. However, there is another work force out there which is large and significant and which neither receives remuneration nor seeks it. I speak of Canberra’s huge volunteer work force, made up of 42 per cent of the adult population. As we know, there are also many young people who volunteer.
This work force, unseen and hidden on a day-to-day basis, is very important in terms of our daily lives. Some years ago, Volunteering WA did a survey that revealed that, on average, extended families rely on 20 volunteers in any given week. At first, this might seem a bit far-fetched. However, if you start adding up all the places where volunteers work and compare that with services your family might access or activities you may enjoy, you can see that it is not so far-fetched, and that is without some kind of crisis happening in your life.
Just think for a minute how many of your children or grandchildren are at school or in sporting clubs, how many use library services, stroll in the botanic gardens or benefit from the planting after the firestorm, and how many might contact the Citizens Advice Bureau for some community information. Have you or a member of your family been a patient of the Canberra or Calvary hospitals? Have you visited one of the national attractions lately or enjoyed our national park or one of our many heritage places? Perhaps an aged relative needs Meals on Wheels. Maybe you have been touched by cancer in your family, or Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, diabetes, MS or mental illness. The list of voluntary self-help groups is simply enormous. Each group provides much-needed support and understanding when we are faced with life’s challenges.
All of us are aware that Canberra has a fine reputation as a caring community and has a record number of volunteers for a capital city. However, that work force is changing. It is no longer the retired that make up the greatest number of volunteers, though retired people give an extraordinary amount of time. There have been changes to this work force. It is now more likely to be a person who is in his or her early 20s to late 40s who volunteers. It is nearly as likely to be a man as a woman, a person with well-developed skills who is willing to give time on weekends and evenings but is restricted as to the amount of time available because he or she has a paid job.
He or she requires flexible work hours and opportunities to take long breaks or take on time-limited projects such as the one that lasts just a few weeks, or even a weekend. This volunteer would expect to receive professional management such as could be expected in a paid job, with all that that entails. If that management is inadequate or the job is not bringing the satisfaction or going in the direction the volunteer had expected, then the volunteer in all probability will walk.
The baby boomers, approaching what have traditionally been the retirement years, will not bring relief to the organisations that are losing their once reliable and regular
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