Page 3175 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
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This is a small thing but it really is an important thing, and I have had this experience when my husband was recovering from his brain tumour operation in a Sydney hospital some years ago. A volunteer came on a daily basis and massaged his feet. Ian said it was hugely beneficial and, needless to say, he remains grateful to that volunteer to this day.
Mr Assistant Speaker, right across the ACT there are many diverse volunteering programs and activities organised locally by community based organisations, across all the many areas that individuals and families are involved in on any given day of the week. Volunteers and organisations are also supported by Volunteering ACT, the peak body for volunteering in the ACT, which receives ACT government funding and is a foundation member of Volunteering Australia, as we know. Importantly, the ACT government includes community service leave provisions in its enterprise bargaining agreements, where employees can access three days a year paid leave for volunteering.
Between April 2011 and January 2013, 69 ACT public service employees took paid leave to volunteer, totalling 159 days. Now, this is a very small number, Mr Assistant Speaker, and we need to ensure that all ACT public servants are aware that this leave is available as well as the benefits that volunteering can bring to them. I am sure that we can increase this figure. My own staff take their volunteer days to volunteer for the organisations of their choice.
Corporate volunteering helps organisations to meet their corporate social responsibilities, as well as developing their staff by providing them with opportunities to learn new skills and identify pathways into community involvement. The Community Services Directorate has portfolio responsibility within the ACT government for volunteering, promoting volunteering opportunities on its website and providing funding for the work of Volunteering ACT.
In 2012 the directorate established a corporate volunteering program, with the help of Volunteering ACT. The program saw 20 Community Services Directorate employees take part in two volunteering projects. The projects included assisting in the construction of a sensory garden at the Pegasus Riding School for the Disabled in May 2012 and the support of the MS Society of Australia for International Volunteer Day in December 2012. Projects were selected by Volunteering ACT in consultation with the Community Services Directorate.
Other ACT agencies such as ACT Health also run successful corporate volunteering programs, and it is hoped that more directorates will take up the reins. Over the past two years, the Community Services Directorate has funded an inclusive volunteering program to support vulnerable people into volunteering placements and increase their participation in the broader community. This program has helped organisations to engage with volunteers with a disability, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Despite a reasonably high rate of volunteering in the ACT, Canberrans give the lowest median number of hours per volunteer in Australia: so many people but fewer hours. Both the community sector and the ACT government are witnessing the same trends
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