Page 4642 - Week 14 - Thursday, 24 November 2005
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This is a lesson Volunteering ACT certainly learnt and, along with the Stanhope government, the first ever plan in Australia for managing the spontaneous volunteer was formulated. In fact, this plan is one of the first in the world and is now accepted by our own ESA and the national emergency organisations as being a suitable template for their management of volunteers.
Another wonderful initiative born out of a disaster is the community fire units. The ACT government has adapted the New South Wales model and established 28 community fire units in the ACT to assist home owners protect their properties at the fringe of the city. There are 450 specially trained and equipped volunteers standing ready to defend homes, in the event of a bushfire, until the regular brigade arrives This is yet again an example of how willing people are to volunteer to provide services to their community if given the right resources and conditions to do so.
I have said previously in this place that there have been added benefits flow from the establishment of the CFUs, that is, the building of community in those streets which host the units. People who live next door to one another and hardly spoke to each other now know one another; neighbours know when people in their street are going away or need help. Previously, I have related to members that it is my experience that when a few people come together to respond to an identified need or with a particular passion or interest, with perhaps limited resources apart from their own willingness to commit time, energy and sometimes their own hard earned, these groups can achieve much. Numerous examples of that can be given but time does not allow.
As we approach our centenary, the community is becoming enthused by the prospect of this once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate this wonderful place in which we live. Many volunteers are coming forward already to offer their services in the lead-up to the event and to participate in it. We saw that, of course, in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics and the volunteers were part of the reason that our Olympics event was so well respected around the world. Whilst the Sydney Olympics showed what a positive experience volunteering can be for all concerned, I know that the government recognises that developing a successful volunteer program is a complex task and I believe that those charged with bringing to us the centenary celebrations will ensure that the volunteer work force is well managed.
This propensity to volunteer makes the Howard’s government’s mutual obligation policy, which forces unemployed people to volunteer, a nonsense and quite unnecessary. The policy actually works against its intended outcome in the same way as the welfare-to-work policy will work against its intended outcome, having many unintended and negative outcomes, unfortunately. One of those unintended consequences of the welfare-to-work legislation and the IR changes is that there will be less free time for people to devote to both family and community life. Given the change to the voluntary work force that is already occurring, we should all be very concerned.
However, 5 December, International Volunteer Day, is an important day for all volunteers, celebrated every year at the same time, as I said at the outset. Volunteering, in its different forms, occurs round the world and well over 100 countries now belong to the International Association for Volunteer Effort, an organisation that first came up with
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