Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion appearing in my name on the Notice Paper of 23 August 2011, which acknowledges the contribution of community groups in my electorate and generally the role those groups play in all communities. The people behind our community organisations are those who see the things that need to be changed and the things that need to be fixed and who, without fanfare, just do it. These are the individuals and groups in our communities who work together to achieve the most remarkable things, very often doing it on a tight budget. The initiative and ingenuity of community organisations to make every cent work for themselves is well known.

In recent years we have experienced a global economic crisis. Again, community organisations were on the front line to meet the challenge of the rising demand for emergency relief services. Those organisations saw the human toll of economic downturn and the changing profile of people asking for help: families under pressure to make mortgage payments and older people whose retirement savings had plummeted in value because other nations had fallen into recession. Thousands of Australians participate in the vibrant not-for-profit sector across our communities. Not-for-profit community organisations provide valuable opportunities for social and economic participation and are vital for the development of healthy and integrated communities. Community centres are where people go for many reasons. It could be for material support or to learn a skill or to speak about a problem in a language other than English or to get some support when times are tough or simply to have a chat with someone who cares. Our community organisations are in the front line and reflect their community's needs and aspirations. For that reason alone, they have their fingers on the pulse of the communities in which they operate.

I have in the past spoken in this place specifically about the Pole Depot, on 17 November 2010, and the Riverwood Community Centre, on 8 August 2007. I have since acknowledged the remarkable contribution they make to the communities they serve. Today I wish to acknowledge the work of the management committee at Pole Depot, who make an outstanding contribution in support of the centre manager, Kim Buhagiar. They are Lesley Pullen, Catherine Swankie, Robin Bevan, William Osmo, Norm Sandstrom, Greg Kent, Bruce Terlecki, Karen Mack, James Kelly, and Marcus Ho. Similarly, I wish to acknowledge the management committee of Riverwood Community Centre, who support the manager, Pauline Gallagher. They are Pam Child, Margaret Horder, Annie Organ, Frank Chaaban, Janeen Horne, Beverley Dangers, Madge Underwood, Robert Nittolo, Cheryl Field, John Boland, Neale Owen, Hanna Diab, and Fayyaz Laghari. I know these people and know of their personal commitment to the organisations they serve. I know many of them are active in other spheres in the community. They donate more than just their time; they contribute their expertise to the smooth running of the organisation.

The detail of the work of the Chinese Australian Services Society, CASS, has become known to me recently, with the change of the boundaries in my electorate. While the main office is in Kogarah, in the federal seat of Barton—and well known to my colleague the Attorney-General—its work extends into Hurstville, now part of the seat of Banks. CASS describes itself as a community advancement cooperative society and non-profit charitable organisation servicing more than 2,000 migrant families weekly. CASS was founded in 1981, with its main service objective being to provide a wide range of welfare services to the community, assisting migrants to settle and integrate into the Australian society. Through the provision of multicultural interaction and activities, it fosters better understanding and the building of friendly relationships among the different communities. It also promotes the understanding of Chinese culture and develops children's interest in arts and culture.

CASS focuses its activities in areas such as child care; health, ageing and disability; migrant settlement; education and training; and personal development and counselling. A few months ago I attended the opening, by Minister Butler, of its latest venture, a new aged-care facility in Hurstville. I caught up with the chairperson, Dr Leng Tan, and the two vice chairs, Mr Peng Baim and Mr Dominic Sin. Not surprisingly, and as with the members of other organisations, these men are active in the broader community.

Since its inception, CASS has played two roles concurrently. On the one hand, it is a community services provider and, on the other hand, it is a general communal association, organising cultural, social and recreational activities, so as to foster the exchanges of people in the community. CASS sees the two roles as complementary. A community services provider requires the support and assistance of a large number of volunteers and grassroots people to enable it to do its work well. Through social and recreational activities, volunteers and grassroots people can become tied together to form a cohesive force to assist the community services provider to deliver its services. In this, CASS is reflective of all other community organisations.

Mortdale Community Services, MCS, has been assisting its community since 1971, when it was established as Georges River Community Services. Its mission is to provide high-quality, affordable and accessible services to people of all ages in the local community. MCS provides services for people residing in the St George area, in particular the Hurstville City Council area and neighbouring suburbs, depending on the type of program. Some of its services include visiting, shopping and sitting with an older person; helping with social activities for the aged; fundraising; occasional child care; adult leisure learning; and English tuition. The management committee is headed up by Marie Hudson, who works with the other committee members, Kevin Reid, Joan Vaughan, Keith Pasley, Alice Lehane, Heather Johnson and Reg Walker, to deliver the MCS services.

Padstow Community Centre is an agency set up as a charity under the umbrella of Padstow Baptist Church. It offers a range of services to the immediate community: emergency relief; counselling services in the areas of employment, finance, child and family; welfare services for the aged and underprivileged in the community; and a community bargain centre. The community centre is in the process of moving to its new premises, under the guidance of Shirley Wendt and Grant Heslop. The focus of the centre is expressed through its mission of 'Serving the community through acts of compassion, mercy and support'.

The Community Services Alliance is an umbrella organisation in the process of becoming an incorporated body for Pole Dept, Kogarah Community Services and St George Community Services. The General Manager of St George Community Services is Christine Spackman. Its services include home maintenance and modifications; multicultural domestic assistance; a meals delivery service; bus and home shopping and social outings; a stroke support group; dementia day care; and social support. It should go without saying that the Salvation Army, with a Chinese corps at Hurstville and a corps at Narwee, is very active in the community. The Salvos continue the tradition of providing for the needy and those in need of support through difficult times. St Vincent de Paul operates its services locally—at Riverwood, Mortdale, Hurstville and Bankstown. Uniting Care operates locally in Hurstville, Peakhurst, Beverly Hills and Oatley, through Lifeline, aged care services and providing support for children, young people and families.

All these organisations have been assisted by the government, and that includes governments of all persuasions. I suspect that this is truly an area of genuine bipartisanship. This government has recognised that we do have a patchwork economy. For that reason, it has gone to great lengths to make sure that the most vulnerable in our community receive the support they need. The government does that with emergency relief, with financial counselling and with money management schemes such as the No Interest Loan Scheme, or NILS, and the Saver Plus scheme that are both currently operating. No interest loans help people on low incomes make household purchases—to meet unexpected costs such as buying a new washing machine. The popular program is delivered nationally by local community organisations in partnership with Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services and NAB.

Under the government's Family Support Program, the recent announcement by Minister Macklin outlined support to community organisations which will share in more than one billion dollars over the next three years to support local families. A range of family and children's services will share in $588 million, and a further $453 million dollars will support family law services.

These community organisations in my electorate are the glue that hold our communities together. Without them and without the many thousands of hours of volunteer support that is given, our communities would be the worse for it. It is incumbent on government to assist these organisations in a real way, and my notice of motion is about acknowledging and recognising the invaluable contribution of these community organisations, their staff and the volunteers. The determination of these people to ensure that those who are in difficulty or who need support is vital to the social health of our communities. Their advocacy is legend and their commitment is endless. The defining feature of these organisations is that they focus on delivery of a myriad of services to the community in which they are embedded. The operational success of our community organisations is driven by the community that they serve.

I am formally moving this motion as it appears in my name to recognise the outstanding contribution of these community organisations and to ensure that the House confirms its ongoing commitment to assisting these organisations in achieving their goals. It is one of those areas in which, as I said, there is bipartisan support. Everyone in the parliament, I think, supports the sentiment of the motion that is before us.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I fully support the Member for Banks in what is a bipartisan motion and one that is, today, a very valuable and heartfelt motion that is on the notice paper. There are many wonderful organisations in the member for Bank's electorate—and we have heard of just some of the contributions, and I am sure there would be many hundreds more. Similarly, there are hundreds of organisations in the federal electorate of Brisbane that help in the welfare and support of those who are in need. I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet with them, and I am always humbled, surprised, amazed and in awe of the incredible work that the volunteers do and their underlying support of these organisations.

I would also like to recognise the support that the government provides to these community groups. This government, as the Howard government before, provides many forms of support in terms of community grants, such as the small equipment grant, which was introduced by the Howard government, that provided a little bit of support in things that people needed, like computers and very, very small equipment that could make an enormous difference in the operations of many of these organisations. There are also volunteer grants and diversity and cultural cohesive programs that are there extensively for many of these groups to take advantage of. The volunteer grants recognise the valuable work of Australia's volunteers, the government's ongoing commitment to support volunteers to assist disadvantaged communities and to encourage, particularly, social inclusion, particularly amongst those who are the most vulnerable in our community. I recently had an opportunity to visit the new centre of the Multicultural Development Association with my colleague the shadow minister for immigration, Scott Morrison. The MDA provides bicultural support services and has an incredible pool of skilled cultural support workers who are employed on a casual basis to support refugees and migrants in the settlement process, an area in which I have had a very strong involvement in the past. This work is to be applauded. MDA does a fantastic job in Brisbane to give that professional service, particularly in working with families from diverse cultures. I am aware that there are many services and programs that rely upon volunteers at the centre. Social justice and the support for diversity, inclusion and harmony in the community have been the very goal of the centre, and it has had many achievements. Whether through a serious topical workshop or in finding housing and social activities for new Australians, this centre has had great success and deserves to be applauded.

Part of the success of MDA is the terrific partnerships that they engage in, including with RAILS, the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service, in the Migration Advice Clinic, and with the Refugee Civil Law Clinic. They also provide financial counselling in partnership with Lifeline Counselling Services. It is clear to me that MDA is one of the most respected and well-known community organisations in Brisbane, and I really want to commend the fantastic work being done by the director, Kerrin Benson, the Chair, Mr Warren McMillan, and all those involved, for their very hard work and excellent organisation. You provide so many broad responses to requests and you provide a wonderful meeting place. All of your achievements are a great credit to you.

I want to talk a little bit now about ChaplainWatch. This year I had the great opportunity again of meeting with ChaplainWatch to learn about the valuable service they provide to visitors and patrons of our busy night-time precincts. We all take it for granted that our children go out and enjoy themselves in the night-time precincts, but ChaplainWatch is a not-for-profit charity which was founded by Lance Mergard to proactively address the issues and consequences of alcohol and other drug related antisocial behaviour, crime and violence that occurs within the major entertainment precincts of Brisbane—and I, as the member for Brisbane, seem to have all of them in my electorate. Take the Fortitude Valley area—I notice the Deputy Speaker smiling; he has children and I am sure they have frequented, along with my children, the Fortitude Valley area, the central business district and Caxton Street. Most of the time, we hope, everything goes smoothly. But that is where night-watch chaplains proactively patrol: the entertainment precincts. They watch out for anyone who is in crisis or in need. On their midnight-to-dawn mobile patrols they focus on public safety in public spaces. They do crisis intervention, front-line first aid, incident diffusion and peace-making; they are streetwise, professional, confident, independent and non-authoritarian and they have had decades of experience. This year ChaplainWatch celebrates its 10th birthday. I have joined with them in the past, and they will be having a fundraising event this coming Thursday, which I hope I can get to, depending on when I get back from Canberra. They will be having this fundraising event at the Mercedes-Benz showroom, and I really look forward to supporting them.

Another great organisation is Parkinson's Queensland. I had the great privilege of attending their Unity Walk on Sunday, 28 August, where I joined hundreds of walkers in New Farm Park to raise money. Over $24,000 was raised in Queensland through this walk. People from all walks of life have raised awareness about Parkinson's disease, and they continue to raise funds to help support, honour and remember people living with the condition. The Unity Walk began in 2008 and so far has raised more than $600,000. All of that money goes to vital services and support for all of those living with Parkinson's and their families, carers and loved ones. It is also used to fund ongoing research into Parkinson's. It is sad when you think about it, but 25 people every day are diagnosed with this condition, and I just want to place on the record my support for all of the wonderful work that is being done by the team at Parkinson's Queensland. During the last couple of years I have had the privilege of meeting Ronni Kahn, a wonderful person, who was honoured a few years back as a local hero in the Australian of the Year awards. She is an incredible person. She founded an organisation called OzHarvest. Last Thursday I had the privilege of joining with Wesley Mission, who will now partner with OzHarvest in Brisbane. OzHarvest are a unique and incredible organisation. Their mission statement is very clear. They rescue food. What does that mean? They rescue food that would otherwise be discarded. This excess food is distributed to charities, particularly homeless charities, in places like Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle and Adelaide.

OzHarvest were founded in Sydney in November 2004. They began with one van. They delivered 4,000 meals in the first month of operations. Ronni Kahn started in a very humble way. She is an infectious person. She is the sort of person you can never say no to—hence my involvement with them! In Sydney, OzHarvest currently have eight vehicles and they deliver 266,000 meals per month. Australia wide, OzHarvest deliver 333,000 meals per month with a fleet of 12 vans. That is food that would have gone to waste; it goes to people who need it. We are turning excess food into a resource. My many years of working in the hospitality industry showed me quite clearly that there is a lot of excess food that goes to waste. We can save thousands of kilograms of food from being dumped as landfill each year. On average, the rescue of a kilogram of food by OzHarvest will prevent two kilograms of CO2 emissions and prevent the consumption of 143 litres of water.

I commend the fantastic work that Ronni Kahn has done in this area. OzHarvest is in its early stages of partnering with the Wesley Mission. I was really pleased to be there. I will lend whatever support I can in getting the restaurant and catering community involved with this fantastic project. I again commend the member for Banks for this wonderful motion. I commend the many thousands of hours that volunteers, young and old, put in. They are the wonderful and rich fabric of our society. I applaud and recognise their incredible efforts. Their contribution every day makes Australia a better place.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I start by congratulating the member for Banks for moving this motion to acknowledge the work of community service organisations. You can see by the number of members who have put their names down to speak just how important a motion it is. It gives us an opportunity to pay tribute to those many hundreds of community groups in our electorates. The strength of a community depends on the strength of the community groups that operate within it. If you do not have strong communities with strong community groups, your community is a much poorer place. These community groups cover all aspects of community life and support the needs of those communities across a very wide range of areas.

I notice that we have some Indigenous students here in our parliament today. They come from all around the country. They are working with members of parliament. I pay tribute to the Indigenous groups that operate within the communities that we represent. I make mention of Courtney Johnson, who will be working with me here in parliament. A community's resilience depends on the strength of community groups. The member for Banks identified a number of those groups, including family, youth and children's services. There is a very strong group that supports grandparents within my electorate, one of the leaders in that area. Community groups make up for the deficits of government agencies that operate to provide that support. When the government agencies fail, community groups provide that support. There are health, ageing and disability services. The things that make the life of people living in aged-care facilities are the visits that from community groups that come along and entertain, sing and help with all those little fundraising activities.

I would also like to pay tribute to the East Lake Macquarie Dementia Service. It provides support for people with dementia and respite for carers within the Shortland electorate. It is an absolutely fantastic service. It should be a model for every service that operates throughout Australia. It has excellent staff. But the real strength of that service is the wonderful management committee, which has been responsible for getting funding to build a new facility. People regularly come in and work there on a volunteer basis with the elderly people suffering from dementia.

The member for Banks mentioned education and training. Any member who has had anything to do with a school in their electorate knows that the strength of a school comes from the P? the school council; those people who make the commitment to go along and work in the tuckshop on a weekly, monthly or whatever basis; those people who get in there and fundraise for the school; and those dedicated community members or mums and dads who come along and help with reading, who help those students who struggle a little bit more than others.

The final area the member for Banks touched on in point (2) of his motion was sports and recreation. Every junior sports group is manned by volunteers, as is the surf-lifesaving movement that keeps our beaches safe over summer.

Where would we be without volunteers? Community groups provide strength to the communities that we represent in this parliament. Every member of parliament recognises and appreciates the fine work that is done by community groups in their electorate. The government recognises that by providing community grants, volunteer grants and the Community Investment Program. I would like to conclude by thanking, yet again, the member for Banks for bringing this motion to the House. (Time expired)

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion, moved by the member for Banks, relating to community based organisations, in particular, the efforts and contributions made by community groups in my electorate of McPherson. I would like to start with surf-lifesaving. There are 13 surf-lifesaving clubs within the McPherson electorate and each club is run by a very dedicated group of volunteers who predominantly, but not always, live within the local community. This Saturday, volunteers from Burleigh Heads, North Burleigh, Tallebudgera, Pacific, Palm Beach, Currumbin, Tugun, Bilinga, North Kirra, Kirra, Coolangatta, Tweed Heads and Rainbow Bay surf clubs will commence the 2011-12 surf-lifesaving season. During the last patrolling season, approximately 385 rescues were carried out on McPherson beaches. In addition, 4,983 preventative actions were made, along with approximately 7,858 warnings and around 2,620 first aid treatments. In order for these volunteers to patrol our local beaches they have to go through an annual process to renew their qualifications, including requalifying for their bronze medallions through a proficiency examination. They have also completed written examinations, CPR demonstrations and first aid demonstrations as well as completing a range of simulated rescue scenarios. Their fitness is also tested, with each member having to complete swimming and running tests to ensure they are able to respond to rescues in a timely manner without putting themselves or others in danger.

Each surf club promotes leadership and personal development for each of its members. Membership of a surf club offers a range of benefits, including education and training, friendship and the opportunity to keep fit and healthy and be part of the community. Surf-lifesavers aim to educate the community about beach and water safety through public education campaigns such as Rip Currents.

I would like to take the opportunity today to speak specifically about one of our surf-lifesaving clubs, the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, because the work that is done by that club is indicative of the work undertaken by all surf-lifesaving clubs on the Gold Coast and, I am sure, throughout Australia. At the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club the chief training officer, Sue Damon, has been volunteering her time to ensure that all active members attend their proficiency examinations to renew their qualifications. In May 2011 I attended the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club annual awards night, where Sue was the recipient of the best senior club person award. Congratulations to Sue. In addition to patrols, members like Sue have taken on additional volunteer positions, giving many hours to these clubs in addition to other responsibilities. Most members and volunteers engage in this community service at the same time as they are attending full-time employment and juggling family life, and I commend their efforts.

In addition to keeping Palm Beach safe, the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, with President, Scott Rawlings, and Vice President, Troy Kling, was quick to offer assistance during the Brisbane floods earlier this year, setting up a drop zone for essential items and assembling a clean-up squad. Staff and volunteers at the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club sorted through mountains of donated goods brought in by both members and the general public. The recipients of these donations, distributed through the Gatton RSL, were grateful for the donations, which were organised into packages of clothing, household goods, food and toiletries. I thank the general manager of the surf club, Sheldon Steeles, for arranging the drop zone.

On Sunday, 15 January a clean-up crew piled into the surf club's bus with mops, brooms, shovels, sausages and a barbeque and headed into the flood affected suburb of Graceville in Brisbane. Members spent the day helping five properties with the clean-up, and cooked a free sausage sizzle for the volunteers and victims. They ripped out what was left of the victims' homes, offering many hands to assist in restoring the livelihoods of those affected.

Fundraising is a necessary part of the work of the club, as money is needed for building, upkeep, maintenance of equipment and for the purchase of new equipment as required. All clubs regularly hold fundraising events, including sausage sizzles and raffles, for which surf-lifesaving clubs are very well known, but the clubs are also dependent on the revenue from poker machines, as well as grants from community benefits funds, such as those from Jupiter's Casino. Without funding from these sources, cost-saving measures would have to be considered. I know that the lifesavers would not want to be forced to limit their patrols due to a lack of equipment, resources or training. I congratulate and commend our lifesavers and lifesaving volunteers for their contribution to the community.

I turn now to speak about and to congratulate the work that is done throughout Queensland, specifically in the Gold Coast area, by Scouts Queensland. In McPherson we have three scouting groups: Mudgeeraba, Burleigh Heads and Palm Beach. Within those groups are the five sections of scouting representatives, starting from the youngest, the Joey Scouts, through to Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers. I believe that Scouting Australia and Scouting Queensland, and the groups that we have, particularly on the Gold Coast, provide an invaluable service to our youth, particularly in what I would call the target age groups for support, which is the eight- to 11-year-olds, which is the age for the cubs section in scouting. The scout sections meet generally once a week during public sector or public school term times. The leaders, of which there are generally two but sometimes up to four and perhaps six for each section for each meeting, work with each of the scouts that are present on the night and help them with their badge work so that the scouts have something to aim for. They certainly have recognition when they have achieved their badges. The leaders take the children on camps in various locations, sometimes throughout Queensland but normally quite close to where the scout groups are, and they teach the children a number of things, including a significant degree of self-sufficiency. What I have seen from my association with scouting is that it certainly fosters and instils in the children and the young adults, who are far above the scouts groups, a sense of responsibility and a sense that they are part of a broader community that they can and do support.

I am certainly aware that scouts throughout Queensland have participated in some major fundraising exercises, not just for their local scout groups but for the local communities, and quite recently for the Wesley Hospital and the research department that was there, so the scout groups certainly do provide a major commitment to the welfare and benefit of the communities. Scout groups have been around for many, many years, and the commitment of the leaders and the supporters of the scout groups is to be commended. There is a significant time contribution for the leaders. They run the sections each week, and they also have to prepare for the sections; they take the children away on camps. Their commitment in terms of their personal time is enormous, and this is something that I have seen in many of our volunteers and our volunteer groups in the community. Our volunteers contribute their time and their efforts, but they also contribute in their own way to the funding of those organisations, whether it is through donations of equipment for use by the members or whether it is through the fuel that is used for transporting the members all around their community.

In concluding today, I would like to congratulate all the community groups that we have, not just the two that I have mentioned today—surf lifesaving and the scouts—particularly in my electorate of McPherson. I would like to congratulate all the volunteers for the contributions that they make, because, without them, these community groups would not be able to continue and provide the support that is so desperately needed in the community.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are many reasons to love this fine city of Canberra, but the No. 1 reason from my standpoint is its social connectedness. Canberra is a place to enjoy the simple pleasures of sharing time with friends and neighbours, working together in clubs, groups and associations and strengthening the social ties that bind us together. All of this, what academics have called social capital, is the idea that the ties that bind us together have an inherent value. When it was first introduced it was a bit controversial, much as the idea of human capital, that the skills that people have could have an economic value.

But, just as we have come to recognise that people's skills and education have value, like a bridge or a road does, increasingly we are recognising that social capital, the ties that bind us together, are economically important. They are important not only because they are fun but because they make businesses work better. The more you trust the person who is supplying the goods to your business, the less you have to have a contract that writes everything down in case something goes wrong. The bonds of social capital, the networks of trust and reciprocity, exist between two friends who meet for a beer on Friday night. They link together the members of a local cricket team, who know that the more they trust one another the more games they are going to win. And they link together, co-workers who find that working together gets the job done faster. From the year 2000, when I first came across Robert Putnam, the author in the US of Bowling Alone, until last year I was working on a project looking at social capital in Australia, the strength of community ties. The material was eventually published in a book by UNSW Press called Disconnected. The more data I collected the clearer it was to me that we knew what was going on.

In terms of organisational membership, surveys of Australians show we are less likely to be active members of an organisation than our counterparts were in the 1960s. Organisations themselves have gone out of business. There are fewer associations today in Australia than there were in the late 1970s despite a big increase in the number of people in the country. The average age of members of organisations has also risen. This is also because existing organisations have shed members. When I pulled together as much membership data as I could from bodies like Scouts, Guides, Rotary and Lions, I saw that the mass membership of organisations peaked as a share of the population in the late 1960s and has declined markedly since then.

As to people giving their time, Australia saw a rise in the share of people volunteering in the late 1990s—maybe an Olympic effect—but volunteering rates are probably still below their post-war peak. And the proportion of us who give any money to charity has stayed pretty stable over recent decades despite a substantial increase in average income.

On the matter of informal socialising, Randall Pearce of Ipsos Mackay was kind enough to field the same question to a group of Australians in the 2000s that had been put in 1984 when people were asked about the number of close friends they had and the number of neighbours they could rely on. Even on that measure too social capital had declined. The respondents in the 2000s had shed two friends who would keep a confidence, and half a friend who would help them through a difficult patch. Compared to respondents two decades earlier, the typical Australian in the 2000s has one and a half fewer neighbours of whom they can ask a small favour and three fewer neighbours they could drop in on uninvited. We are also more likely to live alone.

I am pleased to inform the House that in Canberra, although our community strength is probably below what it was, we are the most active in a civic sense in Australia. A cornerstone of social connectedness in Canberra is the community of Hall, and there the Hall Progress Association is a critical organisation. When the original boundary was drawn for the then Federal Capital Territory, the direct line from Mount Coree to One Tree Hill took in the village of Hall. Since its official proclamation in 1882, the village of Hall has had a long and rich history of community engagement and civic spirit. The Hall Progress Association, formed in 190, has been meeting and working for the development of Hall and its residents for 110 years.

I recently had the privilege of meeting current members of the association to learn about local matters of interest. Over coffee at the general store, first opened in 1889 and still a hub in the community, I was told of the vision the association has for preserving the historic value of Hall, making it a great place for families and having an eye always firmly to the future.

One idea that we talked about over a terrific coffee, was the establishment of Hall as a 'green village', where solar power generation can meet the energy needs of Hall's 350 residents and, through the retrofitting of sustainable systems for energy, water, waste and landscape management, provide a demonstration case for other communities.

In the face of declining social capital, Canberra and the community of Hall are working strongly to maintain and build social networks. I would like to commend the Hall Progress Association for the role it plays in the process, particularly Bob Richardson, Helen White, Alastair Crombie, John Starr, Phil Robson, Paul Porteous and Trudy Mansfield for their hospitality, enthusiasm, energy and dedication to the Hall community.

I am proud to say that you see a lot of community spirit in the rest of Canberra. On virtually every social capital measure, Canberra is at or near the top. Compared to other states and territories we have got the highest share of charitable donors and the highest volunteering rate. If any Canberran listening to or reading this would like to be recognised for their volunteering we have even got volunteering awards on at the moment. Eighty-five per cent of Canberrans give money to causes in a given year, compared to 73 per cent in New South Wales, the next closest jurisdiction. In terms of giving time, 38 per cent of Canberrans volunteer in a given year compared with 33 per cent of Victorians, the next closest. In terms of sporting events, 47 per cent of Canberrans attended a sporting event in the previous year, compared to 44 per cent nationally, and 41 per cent of Canberrans actually take the field, by playing organised sport, compared to only 30 per cent in the rest of Australia. On the cultural front, Canberrans are twice as likely to attend an art gallery or a museum than other Australians. They are more likely to go to the movies and more likely to go for a stroll around the National Botanic Gardens. They can cheer for the Raiders, the Brumbies, the Capitals and the Prime Minister's XI. They can see Alfred Deakin's portrait in the Museum of Australian Democracy and Ned Kelly's death mask at the National Portrait Gallery. They can enjoy a cool stroll through the Botanic Gardens.

Canberra's community organisations may not have the same level of exposure as its well-known national institutions, but the role they play in building social capital is just as valuable. Community organisations are an integral part of the fabric that forms social capital. They bring together a wide cross-section of members of the community. They build networks of trust and reciprocity, and they link together individuals from diverse backgrounds. It is one of the reasons that living in Canberra is such an enjoyable experience and why so many people from throughout Australia choose to come to our city for work or to study. Community organisations lend a helping hand to help people newly arrived in Canberra. They help new residents connect to established members of the community.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge Jessica Woodhall, an intern in my office who is working with me for the week. I pay tribute to her favourite community group, the Peregian Beach community school. I would like to acknowledge Alisha White, an Indigenous intern from Airds High School, whose favourite community group is the Iragmga Dance Group, and Damien Hickman, an adviser in my office. His favourite community group is ACT Veterans Rugby, which works to raise money for Clare Holland House, an activity that I am sure makes his wife, Kate, and his daughter Liesel greatly proud. I would also like to pay tribute to ACT volunteers: those who care for people with a disability; who help out at the school tuckshop; who assist refugees, such as the organisation Companion House does; or who campaign on issues that matter to them, like the Australian Youth Climate Coalition does.

Yesterday I enjoyed competing in the Canberra Times Fun Run to raise money for the Heart Foundation. My staffers Gus Little, Louise Crossman, Damien Hickman, Lyndell Tutty, Ruth Stanfield and Claire Daly all joined me, and they were willing to put their pride aside and all wear an 'Andrew Leigh—Supporting Our Community' t-shirt for the run. I thank them for being part of a terrific community event and for their role in raising money for the Heart Foundation. On a gorgeous Canberra spring day we ran down Adelaide Avenue, looking up at Parliament House and recognising what a wonderful city this is, how lucky we are to live in it and how terrific our community organisations are in building the social fabric of Canberra.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Banks. Community organisations play an integral role in all of our electorates and deserve to be recognised for their ongoing commitment to the people they serve. The electorate of Hasluck has a comprehensive network of community organisations providing emergency relief, advice and support to the vulnerable people of our communities. More often than not, the people these organisations support are those on low incomes, those who have hit rock bottom, or those who find themselves in a difficult situation, in need of some immediate stop-gap assistance to get them back on track.

One cannot underestimate the dedication and the true humanity of those people across Hasluck who work in these organisations. They are literally at the coalface of the human experience. They are dealing with the acute and often desperate basic needs of fellow human beings. I would like to recognise the contribution of our many church organisations to the relief and support programs operating across Hasluck. I believe every denomination is actively involved in making a difference to their local community. The network of community groups operating across Hasluck includes groups providing assistance in the areas of food and emergency relief, accommodation and housing, legal advice and advocacy. I will start with the most basic of needs on Maslow's hierarchy and share with you some of the organisations handing out food to families in Hasluck.

There is a very strong connection with many of the churches across Hasluck in the provision of emergency food relief to families in need. Dorothy Grimshaw and Wendy Smith of Thornlie Anglican Hampers work tirelessly to provide food hampers to Thornlie families. There is the work of the Anglican Parish of Gosnells Welfare and Community Service and Audrey Shalley and the team. The Kenwick Real Life Church runs a weekly cafe and opportunity shop and has activities for children. This church also runs after-school activities—collecting children from different schools—and activities for preschoolers and the elderly. It is a community hub, a safe place for many to come and to be welcome.

Another organisation I have had a close association with is the Highways Cafe, run from the Gosnells Baptist Church. Patrick and Suzanne Gorgan run an extremely efficient and much-needed service in the area on Monday evenings. They can serve up to 290 families in one evening. Crossways Community Services operate pantries, op shops and computer workshops. For those of us to whom computers and computing are a way of life it is worth remembering that this is not the case for all members of our communities. With so much information, particularly government information, available only online, computer literacy is an important skill.

Communicare, Mission Australia, the Salvation Army and St Vincent De Paul all have extensive networks throughout my electorate of Hasluck. The support and care these groups give to those in our community—for whatever reason people find themselves in need of relief—is priceless.

I would like to mention in particular Ruah Tenancy Fast Track in Maddington, who assist the most vulnerable—those with a mental illness. Manager Tony Chorley provides outstanding assistance and support in a difficult area of assistance. So often we forget the needs of those who experience mental health problems.

Foundation Housing, Centrecare and Access Housing all provide long-term low-rent accommodation options to those on low and middle incomes. With public housing waiting lists up to seven years, this is an important adjunct to accommodation options for the people of Hasluck.

We have several wonderful organisations which provide legal and financial advocacy within Hasluck. They are the Gosnells Community Legal Centre; MIDLAS, the Midland Information Debt and Legal Advocacy Service Inc.; and the Foothills Information Referral Service, FIRS. I have met with staff at all three organisations and have seen firsthand the work they do on a day-to-day basis. I do not think we should underestimate the commitment of the staff of these organisations. It takes a special person to work with those in crisis on a day-to-day basis. Our communities owe the staff at Gosnells Community Legal Centre, MIDLAS and FIRS a debt of gratitude for the work they do and the way they reach out.

All these organisations deal with the pointy end of relief and support. Hasluck is lucky to have other organisations which provide essential relief, support and help to the elderly in their homes and to families who are getting by but need that extra bit of assistance to make it through the week. These groups include People Who Care. Based in Guildford, they provide home help, gardening and transport. Allan Yule and his team of amazing volunteers are assisting and enriching the lives of all those they help.

Social isolation is developing into a significant issue in many urban landscapes. We are all guilty of being too busy to look in on the older neighbour in the street. People Who Care and other organisations, such as the local government Home and Community Care organisations, provide much-needed social contact and engagement for many lonely and isolated people. The Gosnells Women's Health Service provides family and relationship counselling, parenting classes and events for both mothers and children. We owe so much to those who give willingly to others and who provide a point of support that enhances the humanity of compassion for both the giver and the recipient.

I am often amazed at the capacity of individuals who give of their time so freely in community organisations. When you consider the salary, that is not the factor that drives them, but rather it is their commitment to providing a level of support and intervening in a constructive way in the lives of ordinary Australians who live within their suburbs and communities. We underestimate the effectiveness of the work that they do. As we know, if we were to fund the real costs, governments would not be able to afford the work that is done by those who volunteer in community organisations.

I thank the member for Banks for giving us the opportunity to stand in this committee room and in this chamber to acknowledge the contribution that community organisations make to our way of life as a country. I spent some time recently with MIDLAS and in talking and meeting with individual staff I asked them what it was that drove them. Each of them made the point that what they wanted to do was to give back and help those who did not have the capacity, and in many cases the educational level, to be able to engage constructively with the organisations that make the difference to their daily lives, but also to have that strong advocacy role.

More recently I have become engaged with another organisation in Midland that is looking at the employment pathways and opportunities for those who do not complete their schooling. What they do is connect young people into pathways that engage them in lifelong learning and in the opportunity of being engaged in a workforce in a real and meaningful way.

I think too often we take for granted the work that community organisations and the non-profits do and make some assumptions. I certainly dedicate my time and commitment to the work that they do and will advocate very strongly so that they are able to enhance their capacity to reach those Australians that we know need levels of support and intervention in a way that enriches their lives. Because unless we do that, we lose the essence of the humanity that should always prevail within our societies. I would hope that each of us, as members of this parliament, engages with some rigour with the non-profit organisations that provide so much.

I want to conclude by saying to all of those, particularly in my electorate of Hasluck, but in all electorates, congratulations on the work that you do. Continue to give with the passion and the belief that you have and thank you for the difference that you have made for ordinary families, those members with mental health challenges, but particularly for those who engage in wanting to improve their lot in life whose circumstances do not enable them to do that. So to all of you, thank you deeply.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much for your contribution.

Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I at the outset mention the presence of Andrew Hunter from Sir Joseph Banks High School, Revesby, and Peter Spinner from Rockhampton SHS who are part of an Indigenous students program with myself and many other MPs who have taken up that office. They have just missed out by a few seconds on hearing a contribution from the member for Hasluck, who is the first Indigenous member of the House of Representatives. So it is great that this program can occur and that many MPs can participate on both sides of politics.

I am not surprised that the member for Banks is the person sponsoring this resolution. We all claim to be fairly close to our electorates, but he is—as president of the Revesby Workers Club, in his intimate involvement with the Bankstown Cricket Club, as a strong adherent of the Western Suburbs Balmain Tigers and involved in local Catholic parish activities—very close to non-government community organisations in his electorate. I want to join with him in supporting this resolution.

The American sociologist Robert Putnam is the acknowledged expert in regard to community organisations, the breakdown of communities and the challenges in making sure that they exist. I noticed in the last week or so, just coincidentally, he is co-authoring another publication which is about to hit the bookshops. He has written about the breakdown of society—the fact that Lions clubs, Elks in the US, tenpin bowling clubs he was once a member of et cetera have all declined.

We know in Australia, whether it is Rotary, Lions, local churches, or people that formerly did tuck shops where now we have to pay contractors to do that in every second school around the country, or whether it is on weekends in regard to sporting organisations and getting people to train or to run down the sidelines putting down those lines and running canteens there, it is extremely difficult. It is all the more necessary that we recognise community organisations that are still struggling to fulfil these requirements of society.

I should say in passing that in my old electorate at the weekend I went to the centenary of Granville scouts, which was the second earliest established in this country and probably the longest continuing. To see those people, through various ups and downs, various struggles, very strong retractions of memberships and the disappearance of people from the community, still persist is a great thing.

I want to turn to the electorate of Werriwa and mention a few organisations that are doing what the member for Banks indicates in his motion and which are, as I say, so necessary for society. Break the Cycle, Macquarie Fields, provides effective assistance to people in crisis/need/hardship by providing assistance with electricity and gas bills, no interest loans and counselling. Beautiful Minds, Ingleburn—and I have met the main organiser of this group—are doing active work to provide intensive support to people suffering a mental illness through the Day 2 Day Living Program. Most particularly, they are focused on schizophrenia.

People in New South Wales would be fairly aware of Odyssey House, Ingleburn. I am not sure whether it is national. It assists participating individuals to overcome their dependencies upon harmful external agents by empowering them through the concept of self-help and the ability to integrate. I have had the opportunity to be there, see the graduates of their courses—people who were indeed very challenged but have come through the program and some of them now are out there assisting new students. It is tremendous to see what they have accomplished with education and employment as a result of the efforts of Odyssey House.

AFFORD, Prestons, is a not-for-profit organisation that is dedicated to helping people with a disability. They provide community participation programs, skills development, transition to work, training, supported and open employment, respite and accommodation to their clients. Over 500 people with disability work at their five factories. Of course, many of us are aware of the abysmal management that led to the failure of another company in the sector, Cumberland Industries, which certainly caused a major crisis in this field over the last few years.

PCYC—the Police and Community Youth Club—at Minto works with young people to get them active in life. They provide activities both sporting and recreational as well is offering programs and opportunities for participants to develop skills. I note in the past the conduct of a variety of Department of Immigration and Citizenship funded programs out there as well, basically working with the police to have young people who have come to their attention participate in trips away, building their confidence and their interaction with others. That is one of the many programs that operate out of there, and I congratulate the police who give their time towards it.

Macarthur Diversity Services, while their name might not imply it, are essentially what was previously a migrant resource centre. They provide an integrated delivery system. Programs are specifically tailored to meet the needs of the community through four broad service areas: child, family, youth and aged. They offer a selection of 13 settlement and community services in over 15 community languages from over 18 cultural backgrounds. They have volunteers fluent in 14 languages and 20 cultural backgrounds. Once again, I have been active with them in trying to get them access to electricity and the rights to distribute those passes. I still question the continued decision of the department federally to not make them a provider, as they certainly have close contact with the community and are on the ground in a very real sense.

The final group I want to talk about, and I went to their 11th anniversary last week, is Macarthur NILS—No Interest Loan Scheme. They were established in 1998 by the Presentation Sisters out of Wagga, believe it or not. They receive significant help from NAB, the Catholic Club at Campbelltown and St Vincent de Paul, who I understand provide office space. A lot of people have been very instrumental down the line, including Father Kevin Goode, Jan St John, Jenny Shepherd and Sister Noela Fox, who wrote their history, which was launched last week along with their new website.

I am getting correspondence from these payday lenders at the moment, concerned about the threat of government action to restrict their interest rates. This has happened in a number of states already. I am quite supportive of any legislative endeavour to do something about this and quite frankly prefer very strongly community based organisations such as this No Interest Loans group. It is impressive to note that this group have received a large overdraft and have measurably increased the number of loans that they provide locally. These loans allow people to obtain white goods in particular. At the same time, they are educated about how to manage money. This gives them confidence and the ability to interact with others and gets them into a habit of repaying loans.

The member for Banks's motion is commendable, as it makes sure that groups locally are recognised. I finally mention Myrtle Cottage, a community based organisation providing activities for frail aged people and younger people with disabilities and respite care for people with dementia.

One of the things I noticed in moving quite a few suburbs in Sydney, from the Reid electorate to the Werriwa electorate, was the enormous presence of disability organisations in the Werriwa electorate. In 20 years as the member for Reid, if I was invited to one disability organisation event a year, it would have been a big year. In Werriwa this year there will probably be about 30 fundraisers just in the disability sector. The area is characterised by a high presence of community workers, volunteers and family carers—people who really give a lot in this sector. It reflects to some degree the housing department presence in the region but also, as I have said in this House before, perhaps a stronger inclination by Anglo-Saxons not to hide these problems or think that they are some kind of stigma and to be more open about disability.

All of those organisations are doing worthwhile work. I can talk about groups—particularly in the Bangladeshi community—that run language schools on weekends. These do not just happen out of the air. It requires people to do the booking, get the teachers and make sure they have significant enrolments. All these groups provide services where there is otherwise a gap in society, a vacuum. I think all sides of this House would join very strongly in commending them.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the member for Bennelong, I think everyone in this chamber would join the member for Bennelong in his elegant congratulation of Sam Stosur on her fantastic victory earlier today. We join you and thank you for that very, very good speech.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Community based organisations are the lifeblood of our local regions, a point that has been repeatedly pressed upon me during my last year as representative for the electorate of Bennelong. Over this 12 months, and the six months prior on the campaign trail, I have visited many volunteer and not-for-profit organisations that perform such a huge task of promoting strong community values, social cohesion, health and welfare programs.

These activities occur across the nation, but, as Bennelong is one of the most culturally diverse regions of Australia, these groups greatly assist people here to integrate into our broader culture as well as vibrantly maintaining these beautiful, strong cultural traditions and building bridges across ethnic groups that can sometimes have troubled backgrounds and tensions in their home country.

Recently I spoke of the Australian Asian Association of Bennelong, who work on behalf of the Chinese and Korean communities. Last week I was delighted to represent our party leader at the Australia India Business Council. I have spoken previously of our vibrant and active Armenian and Sri Lankan communities, to name just a few. Over recent months I have also visited the Korean Chamber of Commerce, the Shack at Epping, Achieve Australia in Top Ryde and Minimbah Challenge in Marsfield. I have joined seniors for social club activities at the Granny Smith Day Club in Epping, been to a men's health group in Ermington and had lunch with volunteers at North Ryde Community Aid. However, with the restriction of just five minutes to talk on this very broad topic and with so many fantastic community based organisations in Bennelong, I will focus on one in particular. Next week is Dementia Awareness Week and in light of that I met with John Watkins, CEO of Alzheimer's Australia, last Friday in their offices in North Ryde. This meeting further highlighted to me the difficulties and realities of living with and caring for those with dementia.

The causes of dementia are not well understood but scientific research and the great work of organisations like Alzheimer's Australia has given us a much better understanding of this disease and its impacts on the individual and those caring for them. There are over 250,000 Australians with dementia and over 1,300 new cases each week. It is anticipated that by 2030 there will be over 560,000 Australians with dementia and by 2050 almost one million. Dementia is the third-largest cause of death after heart disease and stroke. Dementia is already the single largest cause of disability in Australians aged 65 and over.

In 2008, dementia care was estimated to carry an economic cost of $5.4 billion per annum. This is just one figure that highlights the size of the challenge that our nation is facing. Unfortunately, dementia carries a social stigma to go alongside the medical condition, having a profound impact not only on the life of the person with dementia but also on the lives of those around them—spouses, partners, families and friends.

Caring for a person with dementia is an incredible challenge. The progressive degeneration of a person's cognitive ability will often lead to a reduced ability to communicate and to complete regular daily activities. Alzheimer's Australia plays a great role and is a beacon of hope in our local community. John Watkins, the former member for Ryde, is a valuable and effective CEO and his organisation is just one example of an inspiring community based organisation that performs an incredible task both in the electorate of Bennelong and in our broader nation. All these volunteer and not-for-profit organisations deserve the recognition of this parliament and are to be commended on the contributions they make to our nation.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also congratulate the member for Banks on bringing this motion before the House as it gives all of us an opportunity to reflect upon the good work that various organisations do within our community to enhance not only community spirit but also the general operation of the community.

I would also like to indicate that I have Comissa Hunter with me today. He is part of the Indigenous student program—a program absolutely worthwhile supporting. I and the member for Werriwa have one of the biggest Aboriginal populations in New South Wales in our electorates. I pay particular respect to Aunty Norma Shelley and Aunty Mae Robinson who do an extraordinary amount of good work for the Aboriginal community of the south-west of Sydney. Both are former teachers—I would hate to say 'in their twilight' so I will not say it—and both are very committed and active in supporting the Indigenous communities of the south-west of Sydney. Their passion and commitment is something that should be recognised and they have played an extraordinary role in looking after members of the Indigenous community.

I also reflect on an organisation which is making a huge difference in Fowler. There are many things in Fowler that I am particularly proud of but I am certainly not proud of the unacceptable high level of youth unemployment. One organisation which is committed to making a difference is South West Connect, which operates throughout my electorate. South West Connect works with schools and businesses to provide placements for year 11 and year 12 students in the Fairfield, Cabramatta, Merrylands and Liverpool areas, particularly those who are studying vocational education and undertaking appropriate training courses. Many students have been offered part-time, casual and full-time work as a result of their participation on completing their work experience. This is a good result for students and a fantastic result for local businesses and for anyone who believes in our local community.

Recently South West Connect won a number of awards, particularly for the most outstanding specialised business in 2011 in the Fairfield local business awards. These achievements are a testimony to the hard work of the board members and volunteers, including its executive officer, Carol Richardson, and her team, among them Heather Doyon, work placement team leader, and Trish Booth, partnership brokers team leader.

As I mentioned at the outset, there are a range of organisations that do wonderful work in our communities with the sole intention of making the community and community life better. One such organisation, which I know that the member for Werriwa has also had an association with, is the Autism Advisory and Support Service, led by Grace Fava, a woman who has two autistic sons. She has thrown herself in in a voluntary capacity and set up an organisation which goes out very actively to advocate on behalf of and support those families in our community which are afflicted in some shape or form with autism. I wish we could do more for people such as Grace Fava, because her organisation is very much funded and operates through her commitment and that of her fellow volunteers.

In the brief time I have available I also acknowledge the Victory in the Pacific committee led by Taffy Richards and his executive, which each year commemorates the momentous Australian military history marking the end of the Second World War, particularly in regard to Australians in the Pacific theatre and what it meant for our country. I am very touched by having been invited to speak at that commemoration, not all that long ago. The number of young people who turned up for the commemoration was particularly impressive.

I also acknowledge the work of the Lions Club that operates in the area and particularly, at both the Canley Vale High School and the Cabramatta High School, the Leo clubs that operate to encourage young people to put providing service above self. I pay particular respect to and acknowledge the Cabramatta Lions Club president, Jenny Tew, for the invaluable work she does throughout our school based community as well as the broader community as a whole. (Time expired)

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In joining the debate on this motion I will particularly focus on the work of two community organisations in my electorate which have been doing some outstanding work for many, many years, those being Rotary and Landcare. It is probably a bit unfair to single out two organisations, because there are volunteers across my community who make an extremely valuable contribution in organisations like surf lifesaving clubs, Lions clubs, school parents clubs, hospital auxiliaries and sporting clubs and as committee members.

I preface my comments by pointing out that I am a little bit concerned that in our community at the moment, with so many people having such busy lives, there is a noticeable greying of the volunteer workforce. The burden unfortunately is falling on too few, and our volunteers are ageing. It is not a criticism of younger people in particular, because there are many who are doing an outstanding job in my community, but we do need to encourage more younger people to get involved in community life through volunteering. In regional communities like Gippsland we recognise that we all have to pull our own weight and it is up to all of us to do our own little bit. I encourage people to find an organisation that suits their interests, to join up and get involved and to help make a difference in their community. They will certainly benefit from the experience, and so will our wider community.

As I said, I want to refer specifically to Landcare. This week we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Maffra and Districts Landcare Network and we launched a booklet which commemorates some of the great achievements of Landcare in my community. While it was an opportunity to celebrate and give the members of Landcare, along with the professional staff, a chance to reflect for just a moment on some of their outstanding achievements, I believe that there are some significant concerns facing the future of Landcare in the government's failure to commit to the $11 million it originally had in its forward estimates to pay for Landcare facilitators throughout Australia. It is a concern to me because we have Landcare volunteers who I describe as the practical environmentalists of our nation. These are the people who are prepared to get their hands dirty. They do the tree planting. They do the erosion control work. They do the weed removal programs. They are helping to boost biodiversity in our community. I think it is up to governments at both state and federal levels to deliver on the funding for the Landcare facilitators, who do a very good job of leveraging additional volunteer effort in my community. On a more positive note, I would also like to comment briefly on the success of the Rotary movement in the Gippsland region. I attended a fundraising function on Saturday night for the Gippsland Rotary Centenary House. I have spoken about Centenary House in the past in this place, but it is worth recapping just for a moment on what an outstanding job Centenary House does. This organisation was established to provide accommodation for people as they attended the Latrobe Regional Hospital, normally for cancer treatment. The Rotary club volunteers from across Gippsland have done an outstanding job in terms of fundraising and were instrumental in establishing, with support from the previous coalition government and the former state Labor government in Victoria, the first stage of this project that provides accommodation. It has had very strong bipartisan support from day one.

The people of Gippsland have benefited for several years now from that work of the state and federal governments, philanthropic organisations, local businesses and Rotary members. I am pleased to report that that spirit of bipartisanship has continued with the current federal government. The Minister for Health and Ageing announced earlier this year $1.5 million for the next stage of Centenary House. While it is depressing that we need to build an additional nine units at Centenary House because demand is so high for cancer treatment at the Latrobe Regional Hospital, on the positive side it has also brought out the best of the Rotarians right across Gippsland. So in addition to the government's $1.5 million, which the community is very thankful for, Rotary members from clubs right across the Gippsland district have been fundraising again over the past 12 months. On Saturday night the fundraising function was very well attended. I would like to congratulate the organisers, Kay and Tony Radford, Carmen Cook and the rest of the fundraising team, along with the Chairman of Centenary House, Mr Ken Peake, his team and the house manager, Carol Crewe, who does such a great job in accommodating Gippslanders at a time of great need in their lives.

These are just a couple of examples of some great Australians, some great Gippslanders, who are setting an extraordinary example for our community. I think it further highlights the importance of volunteering to help others. I encourage Gippslanders who are interested in getting involved in community groups to join up and help make a difference in our community. I thank the House for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the volunteers throughout the Gippsland region.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am really pleased to have this opportunity to speak on this motion on community based organisations. I think both sides feel very strongly, regardless of their politics, about the value of people being able to join together in their local communities to improve the lives of the people who live within those communities. Their day-to-day existence is boosted and benefited by the work done by a range of different community groups. These groups may have their focus on a whole range of different areas. As contributors have reflected on today, they could be sporting groups, veteran groups, environmental groups or groups who help newly arrived migrants boost their contribution to Australian society, like those I have been associated with. All of these groups, regardless of their focus, have the overriding objective of helping in some way, shape or form people engage in their local community.

Certainly from my perspective diversity is one of the greatest strengths in our communities as a result of the different groups that exist and operate on a day-to-day basis. As a country our national identity is based on mutual respect and shared values, and I see this on a day-to-day basis in the electorate of Chifley, having worked with and engaged with many community groups across the various neighbourhoods that make up Chifley. I have seen and made lasting connections and friendships along the way in Chifley. I want to particularly highlight a number of groups I have had the pleasure of being associated with.

I am especially focused on and have a personal interest in technology, especially the rollout of the NBN and the way it provides people with an opportunity to engage with the internet. I note that the member for Ryan is here. Recently we were involved in the major inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications that looked at the projected benefits of the NBN on a range of regional communities. One group I want to mention in the time allowed is Computer Pals Blacktown. I want to congratulate Wendy Lambert and her volunteers in carrying out its mission, which is to help people over the age of 45 become familiar with computers, with IT technology. For many people of an older generation, who may have been in workplaces that had no reliance on PCs, laptops, BlackBerries or iPhones, the issue of technology is quite confronting. That particular community group, Computer Pals, takes people in and shows them right from the start how to turn on a computer, how to work their way around a computer and then how to determine the best things to get out of that—for example, typing up resumes, connecting to others through Skype or videoconferencing, a concept they may never have thought possible. Up to that point they relied on telephones. To then be able to use that as a means of communicating is a total eye-opener.

Computer Pals is not just a facility for senior Australians; it is also a group that has helped, for instance, people who are still in the workforce and who are 45 years plus. For example, in the construction industry, people are being told that when they submit plans they have to submit them in a form that they may never have heard of—but that we might be familiar with—called PDFs. They have no idea what that means, how to generate it or how to then distribute it.

Computer Pals is a community group that is opening up the eyes of people in a way that, as I said at the start of my contribution, maximises their engagement and participation in the community. They do it through a lot of support from other community groups, but an enormous voluntary contribution is made to ensure that a group like that is successful. It is building meaningful links within the broader community for people who, rightly, as senior Australians, have contributed to the development of our nation, to the development of the communities in which they live and who also have a right to be able to participate through technology in decisions that are being made in the future for them, their children and their grandchildren. I want to commend this motion and commend all the work of the community groups that will be mentioned through the course of this debate and salute them for what they are doing to help our nation prosper and grow.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Community service organisations are a vital part of our social fabric. They help countless Australians and indeed citizens around the world not only in times of headline-grabbing disasters but also with the everyday needs of the vulnerable in our communities.

Whilst the member for Banks's motion today specifically recognises his local organisations, I am grateful for the opportunity he has provided for all of us to acknowledge the work of community services in all of our electorates. My electorate of Ryan is home to countless organisations which are always there to lend a helping hand. In particular, I take the opportunity to acknowledge Father Bill of the Holy Family Parish in Indooroopilly and Reverend Costa at the Moggill Uniting Church, who continue to provide support to those affected by the January floods and to let them know they are not forgotten, even though the floodwaters have receded. Recently, with my colleague the member for Hasluck, I met with Aunty Jean Phillips and Reverend Heather den Houten, who are in the process of setting up a safe space for Indigenous youths to drop in for a hot meal at night. These are just two examples of hardworking altruists who are determined to make a difference in our community.

The first two parts of this motion are without doubt commendable. I had originally intended to use this time to speak further about the benefits that community service organisations provide. But I am troubled by a recent newspaper article which reported that, as a result of new federal regulations, many not-for-profit community service providers are facing the potential of becoming insolvent within weeks. Given we are here today to acknowledge the great work of community service organisations and the government's support, I feel it is timely to question both the federal government and the Queensland state Labor government about why this has happened. The report states that new federal regulations were put in place on 4 August and have left some not-for-profit community service organisations with bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay after the state Labor government requested that pay increases be retained after Queensland transitioned to the federal industrial relations system. Salaries have risen between 18 and 37 per cent, leaving not-for-profit groups with 18 months worth of back pay. The Queensland Council of Social Services warned that some groups will have no choice but to fold, let staff go or reduce services, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people and indeed the tens of thousands of people who rely on these services.

Many groups will be affected by this change. This sector employs 50 per cent more people than the mining industry and it is estimated that 45,000 employees will be affected in Queensland and 280,000 nationally. In Queensland alone it is estimated that more than 2,000 employees will be laid off and potentially more than 12,000 nationally. This summer in Queensland, with 90 per cent of local government areas affected by natural disasters, it was the Red Cross which was on the ground delivering services to the community. Imagine the cost, the time and the effort Red Cross Queensland alone saved government, both state and federal, during recent disasters. And yet the Red Cross is just one of hundreds of community service organisations these new regulations have hit.

However, when both the Queensland Council of Social Service and Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, wrote to the Prime Minister seeking a lifeline to ensure that jobs and services would not be compromised, this report states that the federal government simply said that the new regulation was at the request of the state. More buck passing! It seems that both levels of Labor government have some explaining to do and, more importantly, they need to ensure the future viability of these essential community service organisations.

I call on the government to act now, to slow down the proposed timetable and to provide a comprehensive industry adjustment package. If the member for Banks is genuine in moving this motion today, he will now call on his caucus to remedy the untenable situation in which his party's policy has left these organisations.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:07 to 16:00