Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to speak on volunteering in connection with the discussion paper put out by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth. It results from a round table conducted in Sydney on the value of volunteering, which I and other members of the committee took part in.

I would like to emphasise the importance of and the place that volunteers hold in our community. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 4.4 million Australians aged 18 years and over did voluntary work in 2000, contributing a total of 704 million hours of unpaid work to the Australian economy. I was in the west of my electorate recently at the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens at Buronga, near Wentworth in Western New South Wales. These beautiful inland gardens are run almost entirely by volunteers. In the gift shop there is a really big sign, which I think is cross-stitched, which says, ‘Volunteers are not paid, not because they are worthless but because they are priceless.’ I think that captures very much the spirit of volunteering.

In an electorate as diverse as mine in Farrer, there are many volunteer organisations. For most of the towns and communities throughout these areas, the backbone of the community is the volunteer. Without the volunteers these communities would be so much poorer in so many ways. There are many examples of those who volunteer for the betterment of their community, their neighbours, their children, their animals and the environment and—possibly—just to promote the values that they hold dear.

Over recent weeks I have been encouraging volunteer organisations to apply for the Volunteer Small Equipment Grants, and I must thank the current government for continuing these grants. In the past they have been invaluable to so many organisations which do not have the funds to purchase often very small items of equipment to help them carry out their volunteer duties. Only yesterday, I was contacted by a volunteer from the western end of my electorate, who, I think, is eligible for an IGA award, an unsung hero award—the prize being $500. Her attitude was: ‘Please vote for me. If I win the award I will put it straight back into hampers to send out to drought affected communities.’ I was humbled to hear of such a gesture.

Last week I was in Broken Hill, a town with an uncertain future due to major job losses, meeting with volunteers from the Broken Hill and District Hearing Resource Centre, who are desperate for support to sustain a facility that was simply begun by a woman who lost her hearing and wondered how many out in the community were feeling just as she did. They had applied for funds under the Regional Partnerships program. That program is, at worst, cancelled and, at best, on ice. I am worried that volunteers within my electorate are now finding it difficult to find a progam that suits their needs.

The Henty field days are a major event in the eastern part of my electorate. Some 30,000 people attend the field days. Volunteer organisations from a 100-kilometre radius work at the field days. They set up, they man the gates, they serve food, St John’s Ambulance volunteers attend and local school parents clean the toilets. The field day organisers pay the organisations for their time, and volunteers do the work. In May this year, I was invited to present certificates to volunteers at Culcairn’s community newsletter, the Oasis. The Oasis was one of the volunteer groups that received a grant under the 2007 Volunteer Small Equipment Grants program. The newsletter is going strong and is a great example of how volunteering connects with our local communities.

People and, as I said, animals benefit from the valuable work of volunteers. This was evident at the Million Paws Walk held in Albury recently. Volunteers at the RSPCA help more than 138,000 animals find shelter, and every dollar raised at the walk assists the RSPCA operate its animal shelters, support its inspectorate services and provide community education on animal welfare issues. I should mention Landcare, with their volunteers helping the environment and the absolutely crucial role that they play. The Landcare cuts—we have seen quite strong and deep cuts made by the incoming government—have meant that Landcare groups and communities in my electorate are desperate to continue the good work but are finding it very hard to manage with limited resources. I should mention St Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, the CWA and many of our service organisations, such as Rotary and Lions, who are there looking after people who are too easily forgotten. I should also mention the RSL. In my area, the Hume veterans just recently celebrated 60 years of support for local returned service men and women.

The member for Forrest made a moving speech about someone in her electorate who was a victim of the Bali bombings, and we should recognise our volunteer services here in Australia. These volunteers attend after geographic devastation, accidents on our roads or a crisis that no-one could have possibly foreseen. We should recognise that the volunteers in rescue associations in the various states and in the SES give an enormous amount of their time. And it is not just the time taken to attend an accident scene; it is the ongoing effect that that accident may have on them and their families. It is quite remarkable when you consider that so many of those positions are filled by volunteers.

Meals on Wheels is another fantastic example of the work that volunteers do. Since its inception 55 years ago, providing meals to only eight people, the service has grown to become one of Australia’s most vital volunteer institutions, delivering upwards of 50,000 meals a day to frail aged and disabled residents throughout the country. Meals on Wheels helps to provide regular social contact and community involvement to clients and volunteers alike. I think the simple act of providing a warm and enjoyable meal provides a measure of independence for many of my constituents and others and enables them to live in their own homes for longer.

In conclusion, may I thank all of the volunteers in the electorate of Farrer for the work that they do. May I recognise and encourage our young people. What we found out at our volunteering roundtable was that there may be a public perception that it is the older folk who are volunteering—and certainly, if you look at the small towns and communities around rural Australia, that is what you see—but it is definitely not the case that young people are uninterested or excluding themselves from volunteering activities. What we found was that young people see themselves very much as part of the interconnected global community, and so they may not volunteer in their town but they may belong to global organisations such as Make Poverty History or the Micah Challenge or be connected with overseas aid organisations in a different way. This reflects the fact that young people do in fact see themselves not as part of a small rural community but very much as part of a global community. That is a good thing, that is a positive thing, and the hours and the efforts that young people are putting into volunteering are also considerable. I think that does bode well for the future, and I look forward to many more successful volunteering events and recognition in the communities in which I serve.

See this speech in context