Page 62 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 14 February 2006
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Volunteers joining the emergency services are making a significant commitment of time to assist the community. It is too difficult to be precise as to the number of hours being given each week as it may greatly vary. It depends on the number of times a member may be activated or required for training. However, volunteers can be expected to give up to two or three hours each week for training at least; and then of course on top of that there are the emergency callouts themselves.
Volunteers may need to negotiate with their employer for release from work in the event of an operational callout during business hours. However, no volunteer is expected to leave work if this is to the detriment of the employer’s business. It is important that we recognise the contribution made in this way by our business community. It could place considerable stress, for instance, on a small business. Hence the need for volunteers to be cognisant of both their need to be available in the case of an emergency and their employer’s need. There are a growing number of businesses in this town which understand their community responsibilities as corporate citizens and are participating in corporate volunteering programs, to the benefit of the community and the volunteers.
Not everyone who wants to volunteer in the emergency services can volunteer in this area. The person undertaking this work needs to be pretty fit. It can be physically strenuous. However, less demanding tasks for volunteers include radio communication operations and message taking. Volunteers can be called upon to provide welfare services, and that can be very emotionally demanding.
We must not forget of course those volunteers who are members of a support agency such as Red Cross, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army and Lifeline. I mention only a few there. I am sure that you could bring to mind many more. These organisations are called upon to provide vital backup services to those on the frontline in an emergency.
Members of our emergency services need to be applauded by the Canberra community for the commitment they show in protecting life, property and the environment in the ACT. While ever I am in this place I will continue to highlight their efforts I encourage others in this place to do the same.
MR PRATT (Brindabella) (4.15): I wholeheartedly share Ms Porter’s enthusiasm for volunteerism. I share her recognition of its importance in the ACT landscape. I know that Ms Porter’s heart is genuinely with volunteers. I have seen that first hand, and that is fine. However, I cannot share Ms Porter’s enthusiasm for her government’s attitude toward promoting and supporting volunteerism in the ACT.
It is highly ironic that Ms Porter, on behalf of the government, should be here talking about the great figures in the 2006 Productivity Commission’s report in regard to ESA volunteer numbers. When it comes to the Productivity Commission’s figures on police numbers, the government does not agree that they are the true figures. This is entirely hypocritical. When the figures go their own way, the government claims them and brags about them—not Ms Porter but the government brags about them. When the figures highlight problems, they disown them and say that the Productivity Commission’s figures are wrong. They cannot have it both ways. I thought I would point out that blatant piece of hypocrisy on the part of this government before I get into the detail of this discussion today.
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