National Volunteer Week

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:16): National Volunteer Week is next week and it is an opportunity for all of us in this place and around the community to step out and to seek out those wonderful volunteers in all of our communities. We all know, and we speak about it often in this place, the vital and indispensable role that volunteers play in a wide range of areas that very much build and hold the fabric of local communities together.

I want to pay particular tribute to The Hut at Aldgate, which at present count has 220 active and dedicated volunteers assisting the vital community work that The Hut plays. For those who are not familiar with our local area in the Hills, The Hut occupies what was the Aldgate Railway Station. One of the achievements, of which I am very proud as local member, is in recent years helping The Hut to secure long-term tenure at that location. It is an ARTC site and The Hut has a long-term lease to continue its work right there at the Aldgate train station.

That is just the starting point base for so much outreach work that The Hut does. At the risk of missing some, I will just refer to my notes in that regard, because the volunteers are helping with everything from reception to facilitating interest and fitness programs, gardening, and driving buses that enable our older community members to get to the shops and social outings. Many volunteers will get involved in volunteering to support a wide range of programs.

Whenever we get together to say thank you to the volunteers, it is just a moment of great joy and solidarity, looking around on the railway platform, as we did on the Easter weekend, to say thank you, because there are so many people who are both benefiting from those wonderful services and providing them. It is a wonderful thing to both give and receive those wonderful services. I will just draw attention to a couple of them, in particular, in a moment.

This effort cannot be done without a very effective governance and leadership team and I pay particular tribute to the executive officer at The Hut, Deb Bates. Deb Bates is a true leader in the state in this area. She has been an effective leader at The Hut now for many years, and I am proud to say I have worked very closely with her over that time. She has a very able team: Finance Officer, Ivonne Allen; Administrative Support Officer, Jo Jarvis; Community Development Manager, Bernadette Reading; Community Programs Officer/Financial Wellbeing Officer, Courtney Dean; and Community Connections Coordinator, Cally Tierney. And I want to pay particular tribute to the Spark & Loneliness Project coordinator, Hayley Everuss.

Dear Hayley has taken great care in the initiative, in particular in relation to Spark. Spark mateship is one of the new Spark initiatives. It is a men's wellbeing initiative, and in this case it is led by eight volunteers who are working to create a space that can bring men together for good company and meaningful conversation. They are doing that at the Bridgewater Sports and Social Club. It is still a fledgling initiative, but showing what can be done when efforts are made to bring men together in the interests of wellbeing.

Another program, The Book Shed—places at both Stirling and Woodside—are critically important for The Hut's work. That in turn contributes to provisioning for the Food Pantry. The Hut tells me that there are presently 26 volunteers who make the Food Pantry happen week after week. That is part of the overall financial wellbeing program. I visit the Food Pantry frequently and applaud the work that is done there in a sensitive, discreet and effective way. I give particular recognition also to the board, and the board members, led by the Chair, Dr David Rawnsley. May The Hut continue to go from strength to strength.