Page 2094 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
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assist the work of large organisations like Greening Australia and St Vincent de Paul. But Volunteering Australia’s 2009 report shows that single parents volunteer in different, but no less important, ways.
As we all know, single parents have a lot on their plates. They are often, by necessity, involved in all aspects of community life. For this reason, they are well placed to know where their neighbours are struggling; and I am always impressed by those among them who find time around the full-time role of parenting to take a proactive approach to building stronger communities for their children.
This involvement and commitment to the life of our city is typified by a constituent of mine, Kelly. Kelly is a single mum with four young children who, when she is not doing the full-time job of being a parent, works three days a week in a school-hours job and volunteers in her local community. Like many single parents, Kelly is highly involved in the life of her school. Over the years, she has undertaken a variety of voluntary activities that supported both her children and their classmates.
Last year when the clothing pool at her children’s school was going to close, Kelly took it over. Kelly knew the value of this program because she had faced the yearly challenge of kitting out four kids for school. And as any parent in the chamber knows, between lost jumpers and growth spurts, school uniforms are a constant expense for most Canberra families.
Kelly also knows the importance of modelling volunteerism for our next generation. In 2009, 65 per cent of Australians who volunteered reported having a parent or role model who made a voluntary contribution to their community. Kelly not only provides this example for her children; she finds the time in a busy life to foster another generation of volunteers through her work as a leader in her local girl guide troop.
Single parents often take on the small but indispensable roles that make our communities work. They run sports teams, guides, canteens and P&Cs. Their contribution has a financial and social impact; and, in the way it is often so closely tied to the lives of their communities, it plays a vital role in modelling the kind of active citizenry that makes Canberra such a great place to live.
Again, I thank Ms Porter for bringing this motion to the Assembly. I look forward to hearing more about volunteering as I spend more time here in the Assembly.
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (6.28), in reply: I would like to thank all members for their contribution to the debate. As Mr Hanson said, it is good when we can all agree on something—and there is no argument, I believe, about this motion.
As members said, there is a very wide diversity of volunteer tasks. Some members have highlighted other areas, and thank you for reading out the list of category winners, Mr Hanson, because that enables us to sample that wide diversity and be able to congratulate the category winners as well as the other winners of the volunteer of the year awards.
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