Page 1479 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 9 May 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Christmas”; Lai-Chiu Dawson; Lesley Harris; Linda Barry; Margaret Porter; Mark Bell; Mark Warren; Matthew Martin; mentoring team at Palliative Care ACT; Noreen Vu; Orange Sky Laundry, Canberra; OzHarvest Canberra volunteer team; PANDSI board; Rob Stanier; Ronald McDonald House Canberra; Rosemary Drabsch; Soroptimist International of Canberra Inc; St Vincent de Paul Canberra-Goulburn Calwell conference team; St Vincent de Paul Canberra-Goulburn Kaleen conference team; Technical Aid to the Disabled ACT cycle solutions team; Tennis ACT volunteer team; Tony Cory; Wellways Australia—Helpline ACT; William Kukkonen-Shortt; working bee teams—National Arboretum Canberra; Yvonne Farr; and the Zonta Club of Canberra Breakfast Inc.
These were all winners, as were many volunteers in our community who were not nominated. They are still doing their part to make our community stronger. I would also like to acknowledge Volunteering and Contact ACT for the work that they undertake to support our volunteers here in Canberra year round, plus the enormous amount of work it takes to put on their annual event to recognise and acknowledge our volunteers and keep our volunteering spirit alive and well. They include Mat Franklin, the Chair of Volunteering and Contact ACT, and all the other board members, Glenda Stevens, the CEO of Volunteering and Contact ACT, and the rest of the wonderful staff.
This week please take time out of your busy day to recognise volunteers in any area and let them know how much we appreciate the work that they do in their chosen area.
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (4.23): I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance today and thank the Leader of the Opposition for submitting this to the Assembly. We are especially blessed in Canberra to have so many volunteers in so many capacities and in so many areas. As previous members who have spoken before me have stated, the ACT has the highest volunteering rate nationally and it would be no exaggeration to say that without volunteers this city would struggle to put on many of our sporting, community and school initiatives.
I refer to the Weetbix tryathalon for juniors, the more serious Sri Chinmoy duathlon, the Royal Canberra Show, the Connect and Participate Expo, the school volunteer program to help students with literacy, numeracy, craft and cooking, the countless volunteers who provide their time and expertise to customise mobility aids for TADACT, and the countless volunteers of organisations like Bosom Buddies, Diabetes ACT and Pegasus Riding for the Disabled who stuff bags, bake cakes, man stalls and sell raffle tickets to raise funds for the most vulnerable members of our community.
In my own professional background of law, a profession which it is fair to say usually gets a pretty bad rap from society, I do not think that I have come across a single lawyer who has not provided some type of volunteer or pro bono work. As a lecturer, I used to teach a subject on lawyers’ professional responsibility. One of the concepts that I would talk about was how being a “legal professional” sets us apart from a job or a trade, and one of the factors that does this is the notion of “service”.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video