Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Wednesday, 18 July, I was very pleased to able to host a morning tea and celebrate with 15 of Werriwa's volunteer heroes. Volunteers are the backbone of our community, allowing participation in sporting events, providing food and comfort to our elderly, looking after children and new arrivals to our country and providing calming and green spaces in our aged-care facilities. Volunteering also contributes enormous amounts to our economy, providing support that money is not available to buy. The latest census revealed an increase in the number of people volunteering—18.1 per cent of our community volunteer, and they come from every walk of life and every age group. This was demonstrated in the contributions from Werriwa volunteers. I thank Kirsten, Warren, Pat, Jayne, Maureen, Mary, Hazel, Helena, Bill, Joe, Srideve, Sid, Donna, Rebecca and Colleen for all their hard work and commitment to our community, but I especially thank their supporters for nominating and recognising their hard work. I am very much looking forward to being able to reward more volunteers next year.

Liverpool Council also recognised volunteers at their annual Gift of Time function. Forty-three diverse groups were recognised for their efforts in volunteering in our community, at a function I was privileged to attend. My electorate is a better place for the contributions of our volunteers. They turn our suburbs into communities.