Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(3) acknowledges that:

(a) 11 to 17 May is National Volunteer Week (NVW);

(b) the theme for NVW this year is 'Give Happy Live Happy'; and

(c) the six million plus Australian volunteers give happiness to others each year; and

(4) thanks volunteers for their tireless effort and dedication to our community and the enormous contribution they make to our economy and others in the community.

It is sometimes said that people do not value things for which they do not have to pay. Some people claim a price signal is needed, in order to understand the value of a service, but there are some things that are priceless: love, compassion, good health, friendship, fellow-feeling, human contact, community, happiness, making the world a better place. No-one needs a price signal to value those things, and anyone who volunteers knows that the rewards of volunteering can be much richer than anything that could be measured in money.

That is not to say that money is not important. Our community gets an immense economic benefit from volunteers' work. For example, the 2008 Economic value of volunteering in Queensland report estimated the total value of volunteering to the Queensland economy was over $13 billion. Volunteering Australia say 713 million hours are volunteered every year and they say that, from the organisations registered with Volunteering Australia alone, there are more than six million Australians who volunteer. But numbers alone are not enough when telling the story of what volunteering really means.

The week of 11 May—in this place budget week—was National Volunteer Week. While we talked about numbers, cuts, and costs, Australia was recognising the real benefits of volunteering. This year's theme was 'Give Happy, Live Happy.' You could not have a more relevant expression of what volunteering means. In launching National Volunteer Week, Volunteering Australia's CEO Brett Williams OAM said:

Research tells us that volunteering makes a difference in people’s happiness. It’s proven that volunteers are happier, healthier and even sleep better than those who don’t volunteer.

Australia was ranked No. 10 in the latest World Happiness Report, and Mr Williams says that has a lot to do with Australia's dedicated volunteers. The sense of belonging, of making a contribution, of helping others, that you get from volunteering can be an important part of a rich life as a member of a community and a society. And it is not only happiness; volunteers also get a chance to develop their skills, experience and alternative perspectives that are equally useful in paid employment and other situations. So volunteers get personal, individual rewards more valuable than money.

But the happiness does not end with the volunteers themselves. Volunteers genuinely want to make the world a better place, and they give their own labour freely for that purpose. There are not too many things, that a person can give that are more valuable than time out of their lives and effort. They want a healthier, stronger, safer, better place to live. They want to reduce the sum of misery in the world and in doing so they spread happiness. Take those who volunteer in environmental groups like my local conservation groups such as B4C, which is the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, and N4C, the Norman Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee. Their conservation work will reap rewards for future generations long after their own lifetimes. It is the definition of altruistic. As another example, consider Meals on Wheels. Like Meals on Wheels groups around the country, my locals provide much more than just a meal. Their volunteers make contact with elderly people at risk not just of malnutrition but of isolation and loneliness. The members of clubs like Rotary, the Lions, Zonta, the Soroptimists, Quota and other similar clubs build local communities and contribute to international development. Management committee members and directors of not-for-profits give their own time and expertise freely. In my own life I have volunteered as a director of the YWCA in Queensland and as a volunteer management committee member of Children by Choice—both not-for-profit organisations that do important work in our community. And of course there are so many other organisations and individuals freely giving their time to make the community and the world better. Not only are volunteers happier people, they are making life better for everyone else, whether locally or internationally. Our community is therefore rightly grateful to those who volunteer.

During National Volunteer Week, there were thousands of events across the country to say thank you to the more than six million Australians who volunteer. Like volunteers themselves, the events were diverse. There were thankyou breakfasts, morning teas and sausage sizzles, as well as open days, awards ceremonies, street parades, garden parties and movie nights. I know, Madam Speaker, that you also held an event during that period to recognise the work of many of the peak bodies who perform such great not-for-profit services in our community—an event I was very honoured to attend.

I wanted to thank everyone who volunteers. Whether you are volunteering in a small community based organisation or a large not-for-profit, whether you are giving your time or your expertise or lending out your ute so that the volunteer organisation can operate well, whether it is cooking at the sausage sizzle at the community Christmas carols night or helping out at something like MDA—a refugee organisation in my community—I want to thank you. May you continue to give happy, to live happy and to make the world a better place.

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