Australian Red Cross

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (16:54): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises that 2024 marks the 110^th year of the Red Cross in Australia;

2. Acknowledges the significant humanitarian assistance provided by the Red Cross to some of Australia’s most vulnerable people over the last 110 years; and

3. Commends all past and present Red Cross employees, members and volunteers for their service.

Celebrating the milestone of 110 years in 2024, the Australian Red Cross is an impartial and independent humanitarian aid organisation and community services charity whose broad mission is to reduce human suffering. With its history extending back to 1914, the Australian Red Cross is our national society. It is our representative to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and part of the International Red Cross Movement.

One of the most well-known roles the Red Cross plays is in supporting disaster and emergency response and preparedness both within Australia and internationally. As part of the largest humanitarian network in the world, with a local presence in almost every country on earth, they support locally led humanitarian action and support through community services. They embrace collective impact and they are a very visible pillar within an interconnected global landscape of organisations.

The Australian Red Cross began when a federated branch of the British Red Cross was established in Australia only nine days after the start of World War I. The person behind its establishment was Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, an activist, a noted orator and speechwriter, and the wife of Australia's sixth Governor-General. She wrote to the mayors of every municipality in the nation asking them to establish a local branch. The uptake was remarkable, with the organisation growing to well over 300 branches within only months.

Local Red Cross branches played a significant role in domestic activities around the war effort, including organising home front activities like producing socks and bandages. The Australian Red Cross Society sent a team of civilian nurses to France, and the Red Cross Information Bureau was established in 1915 to coordinate information gathered on the war's casualties beyond what was provided by the armed forces.

The organisation's contribution to the war established a strong reputation with the broader Australian community and helped set it on the path to becoming the trusted and respected institution that it is today. The Australian Branch of the British Red Cross Society changed its name to the Australian Red Cross Society and was incorporated by royal charter in June 1941.

From supporting bushfire-affected communities to providing assistance to the sick and wounded during times of conflict, the Australian Red Cross has done it all with dignity, efficacy and purpose. They have enjoyed strong community support and robust volunteer participation throughout their history. All Australian Red Cross programs are primarily run, organised and managed by volunteers, with oversight by Red Cross employees.

Today, volunteers are organised into three different streams, each of which responds to different community and global needs. Community volunteering is the avenue through which is provided support domestically and locally—for example, for people experiencing homelessness, mental health, migration, youth, the elderly and people engaged with the judicial system.

Emergency services volunteers provide support through urgent response programs. These include aid for people in evacuation centres, door-to-door support following a flood or bushfire, or monitoring the status of missing persons after disasters through the organisation's Register.Find.Reunite platform. Volunteers across retail, customer service and administration include those who volunteer at the Australian Red Cross shops, which help fund the organisation's services, and in key administrative positions that help to keep the organisation running.

Red Cross's own data shows that 2.5 million people have in some form or another volunteered with the Australian Red Cross since its inception. That is a truly impressive number of people. They are people who demonstrate genuine empathy for others and a strong dedication to their cause by delivering what is needed when it is needed most.

International humanitarian law quite rightly protects aid workers who are providing assistance to those impacted by conflict. In such situations the symbols of the Red Cross, which are the red cross, the red crescent and red crystal, indicate that the person, building, vehicle or equipment displaying the emblem is not part of the fight but is providing humanitarian assistance. These highly recognisable symbols are beacons of hope, sometimes amid widespread desolation, for those who are impacted by conflict and disaster, and to all people the symbols are a reminder that we should act to care for one another in times of need.

Another important contribution of the Australian Red Cross is to deliver aid and services to people who are displaced or vulnerable due to becoming refugees or seeking asylum. This includes people who are in immigration detention. Once refugees and asylum seekers have arrived in Australia, and are in the process of settling here, the Australian Red Cross also provides support for those who do not have access to commonwealth income to help them meet basic needs such as food, medicine and shelter.

The Red Cross also provides important assistance and support domestically to First Nations communities and people, aged-care residents, people experiencing homelessness and people who are in the justice system. Vitally, the Red Cross runs the Lifeblood blood bank in Australia. This is a crucial life-saving service that enables and encourages members of our community to donate blood and plasma, and even organs and tissues, for people who have been impacted by accident or illness.

Over the past 110 years, there has been much need of the services of the Australian Red Cross and, whenever such need has arisen, the organisation and its volunteers have delivered. To be able to rely on their steadfast presence and their dedicated assistance has been a crucial comfort and support to many people, often in times of unimaginable difficulty.

The organisation's broad mission to reduce human suffering can be seen in action through the aid and the services of its volunteers across the world at any opportunity. I recognise and commend the Australian Red Cross, its leadership past and present along with its members and many dedicated volunteers past and present, for all that they have done and continue to do for our community and for the global community. I commend the motion and call upon members to support it.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.R. Hood.