VOLUNTEERS

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:25): I rise today to pay tribute to all the volunteers in the electorate of Mawson and, indeed, across the board in the southern suburbs. It is National Volunteer Week this week, and where would we be without the volunteers? Certainly, government could not afford to pay for the great roles that are carried out by our thousands of volunteers.

South Australia has one of the greatest rates of volunteering anywhere in Australia. Something you understand when you get around and talk to the volunteers is that people are immensely proud of their contribution and the fact that they can give something back to the community. Some have been doing it for decades, others are just trying it out, and I encourage anyone who has not volunteered in their local community to give it a go because quite often you get a lot more back than what you put in. It is a tremendous thing to do for the community.

I pay tribute to the Country Fire Service and the State Emergency Service volunteers we have. People only see them at car accidents or bushfires or floods, but they are in there week in, week out doing their training, giving up time away from their families and friends so that they can maintain their excellent level of professionalism so that they can deal with whatever disaster they are called out to deal with. To all those wonderful people, including the St John's Ambulance volunteers, we thank you for all the work you do and also thank you for being there when the community needs you when things are at their worst.

Volunteers do so much in our local schools and hospitals. I know that at the Flinders Medical Centre there is an excellent group of volunteers who help people who might be there with loved ones in the hospital. They give them a hand; they just help people in general with directions around the place. It can be a fairly overwhelming experience going into such a large hospital and the volunteers there do a terrific job. As I mentioned, volunteers in our local schools include the parents who give up their time to do tuckshop duty and coach kids in sport. Schools cannot function without the volunteers.

To our service clubs, the members of Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, and all the services clubs who put so much back into our community, not just with fundraising to build local facilities but also with the hours they put in to clean up parks and streetscapes. It is really much appreciated by the wider community.

Last week on Friday I visited the Noarlunga Volunteer Transport Service. There are some amazing stories of volunteering there going back decades. It is obviously a great place to volunteer because they have a very low turnover of volunteers; some people have been there for more than 20 years. I pay tribute to the people at the Noarlunga Volunteer Transport Service, in particular the executive officer, Jayne Delmore. She has been there for more than 20 years. I met with Jayne and two of the clerical officers and some admin assistants who were working seven hours a week along with 55 volunteers.

They drive people throughout the southern region to medical appointments, dental appointments and even to do the shopping. We met Roy there who is a valued volunteer member of the team. Roy takes people shopping. He takes them into the shops if they are frail and helps them do their shopping and then takes them home and, if they need, he goes in and unpacks that shopping for them. It is just a service that governments could not possibly afford to do, yet it is so important for our community. It is important for the individual to stay in their home for as long as possible. It is important for that individual to be able to get out of their home and to function in the community, which is not easy when you are frail and can no longer drive. So, the Noarlunga Volunteer Transport Service really does enable people to get out and about, back into the community.

Other volunteers that I met along with Roy were drivers Les and Neil and Karen and Tamsyn, who were working in reception. So, in all there are 55 volunteers at the Noarlunga Volunteer Transport Service. To Tim Ryan, a great hardworking local who chairs the Noarlunga Volunteer Transport Service, thank you for giving up your time to do that. The volunteering is very much appreciated by everyone, from the clients of the service to their families and right through to the people in this place—the ministers for volunteers and health—because you make their job a lot easier too.