National Volunteer Week

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:40): Today, I want to add some more comments to what the Minister for Health said earlier about the role of volunteers in our community. This week, being National Volunteer Week, is an opportunity for us to do a couple of things. One is to acknowledge the work volunteers do in our community, and it is also an opportunity for volunteers to show the community the important role they play.

Volunteering comes in all shapes and forms right across our communities. According to some Harrison research undertaken for the Office for Volunteers, 42 per cent of the community are involved in some sort of formal volunteering and another 49 per cent are involved in informal volunteering. Formal volunteering means people who are involved in some sort of community organisation, be it sporting, recreation, community or health, etc., and informal volunteering is those people in our community who, on a regular basis, just help out a neighbour or a friend who needs some support.

In this state, 920,000 South Australians are actually involved in some sort of volunteering and contribute 1.76 million volunteer hours a year. The same research found that in terms of volunteers it is mainly women; more women than men volunteer. Generally speaking, the biggest group is the 35 to 54-year-old age group. Most are actually in paid employment, so they are volunteering alongside paid employment, and they are university educated. Research also tends to suggest that more volunteers than not are people who are married or in some sort of de facto relationship.

Of the volunteers involved, 29 per cent are involved in some sort of sporting organisation (which would not surprise people here), whether that be Aussie Rules, soccer, netball, cricket or hockey. Certainly all amateur and even professional sport has volunteers involved. At the local level, most sporting activities would not take place if it were not for the role of volunteers. At the junior levels, they often have volunteer coaches, and parents often volunteer as other officials, team managers, etc. Even in the professional field, many people who make Port Power and the Crows work, for example, are volunteers as well.

Another 25 per cent of people are involved in welfare and community organisations, such as, in my community, Heartbeat, and the various seniors groups, people who volunteer for councils in information centres or libraries or local museums. The local Care and Share Group in my community, for example, which turned 40 yesterday, looks after and supports seniors in our community. Also, let us not forget the number of service clubs in our communities who volunteer their time raising funds for valuable community projects. Another 12 per cent are involved in education and training; for example, in schools they are involved in governing councils and they are involved as coaches. Many parents volunteer in their schools with reading or as volunteer SSOs and the like.

Why do people volunteer? Research indicates that there are two main reasons: one is a desire to help others, people who believe they are fortunate in their own lives and wish to assist others in the community; the other reason is a desire to give back to the community which enables them to live a good quality of life. In my view there are a couple of things that are really important in volunteering. While the economic factor has been calculated to be roughly a $6 billion benefit to our economy, more important factors include the social aspects in terms of volunteers helping other people to remain connected—for example, Meals on Wheels. For some people who for some reason are housebound, Meals on Wheels volunteers are the only contact they have with the outside world.

People who volunteer enjoy better health and wellbeing. If you want to understand the work that volunteers do, just imagine your community without any volunteers for just one week. Volunteers are very important and are often recognised through various awards, and last week I attended the Northern Volunteering awards in my area.