Page 1653 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 May 2017
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Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (10.40): Today I rise to talk about the importance of volunteering for the people of the ACT. This week, from 8 to 14 May, is National Volunteer Week, an annual celebration to acknowledge our nation’s volunteers.
More than one in three people volunteer in the ACT and it is estimated that volunteers contribute over $1.5 billion each year to our economy. Volunteers are crucial to the fabric and richness of life in the ACT community. Their generosity, time and skills enable countless cultural and civic events, emergency and health services and educational, sport and recreational activities.
The 2013 report The state of volunteering in the ACT found that the top three reasons people say they volunteer are to give something back to the community, to help the community and to make a difference. I reckon that last one actually sums up all three. But the theme of National Volunteer Week, “Give happy, live happy”, also says a lot about why people volunteer: because it makes them feel good. Volunteering is personally rewarding and sometimes it is even fun.
In this week of celebration I was pleased to launch the 2017 ACT volunteering statement, which updates the 2011 statement and presents an inclusive vision for volunteering in the ACT. The new statement fulfils a commitment made in the Assembly on 24 September 2014 that the ACT government “review and update the ACT Volunteering Statement to take account of developing trends and challenges”. The headline on the statement is “Volunteering enriches our community”, and today I will talk about the many ways in which this is true.
The new statement is the result of community consultation conducted by Volunteering and Contact ACT in 2016 as well as feedback from government agencies and the community sector in early 2017. The community consultation identified a number of key themes, including removing barriers to volunteering, balancing the needs of organisations with the needs of volunteers, collaborating across organisations and considering non-traditional and flexible volunteer roles.
The new statement outlines principles that serve as a platform for supporting volunteering. The headings remain the same—volunteers are recognised, valuable, diverse and supported—but we have expanded on what this means and how government and community organisations give effect to these goals. Over the next few months the government will work with Volunteering and Contact ACT to develop an action plan to realise the intentions of the volunteering statement.
The overall rate of volunteering in the ACT is about 37 per cent, which is high compared to most jurisdictions. The types of organisations that people volunteer for include education, sport and recreation, welfare and community and religious organisations. And of course we must never forget those volunteers who get going when the going gets tough, our emergency services volunteers in the SES, Rural Fire Service and community fire units.
Volunteers are central to key community events in Canberra and none more so than the National Multicultural Festival. The 21st festival, held in February, would not
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