Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm concerned that in recent decades we've seen a gradual erosion of civil society, at a time when community has become, unfortunately, increasingly reliant on government. We know that, post GFC, government budgets right across the Western world are under continuous strain, and, as a result, we risk people falling through the cracks. I believe that we do need to rebuild civil society in Australia.

To that end, I want to make mention of the Buderim Foundation. This foundation is a community philanthropic not-for-profit up in my seat of Fairfax on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Its operating model is simply this: it receives donations and bequests; it invests those funds, generating income; it then takes that income and redistributes it to needy not-for-profit groups in the community.

We need to take inspiration from this group that now has $1.4 million under management and has distributed nearly half a million dollars. Only last Saturday, it distributed $65,000 to 17 different not-for-profit organisations. The erosion of civil society can indeed be addressed.