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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-05 Daily Xml
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Motions

International Volunteer Day

Debate resumed.

Mr BOYER (Wright) (11:51): I, too, rise to support the motion moved by the member for Hurtle Vale, noting that today, Wednesday 5 December, we celebrate International Volunteer Day. Since becoming the member for Wright, I have proudly continued a tradition that was started by my predecessor and that is to present volunteer awards at children's centres, preschools, primary schools and high schools in my local community.

The Hon. Jennifer Rankine started this in 2003 because she felt that volunteers were often omitted from end of year presentation nights, graduation nights and end of year break-ups by community groups and she wanted to do something about that to make sure that they received the acknowledgment that everyone I know in this place agrees they deserve. It is a tradition I have been very happy to continue. I would like to share with the house a couple of observations that I have made while attending those awards nights by way of making a contribution to this motion.

My observation has been that volunteers are, without exception, the most praised and well-received winners at every school graduation night that I go to. Certainly, all the parents and staff are very positive and pleased to see students and sometimes their own children win awards, but when it comes to acknowledging volunteers at the school who do a lot of very important work, the biggest round of applause is often reserved for them. I think this certainly says something about the esteem in which we hold volunteers.

Unfortunately, what I have noticed at these graduation nights and other local events is that it is still the case that it is often one or two volunteers who are doing the lion's share of work by undertaking multiple volunteering roles at these organisations. When I have read out the citations for winners of awards, I have noticed that they almost always serve on multiple committees, whether it be parents and friends, fundraising committees or governing council, and they often volunteer in the school canteen and help on sports days as well.

Last week, I presented an award to Deanna Curnow, a volunteer at Keller Road Primary School, who was an ex-employee of the school for many, many years. Out of the goodness of her own heart, she elected to stay involved with the school and come back when she finished her paid employment. Deanna is a fantastic example of someone who does something that I am sure all the pupils at the school have no idea is done, and that is to collect all the new books from the library every week, take them home and laminate the covers to make sure that generations of school students at Keller Road Primary School can enjoy those books for years to come.

I asked the Principal of Keller Road Primary School, Narelle Kusabs, 'What would you do if you didn't have someone like Deanna offering to do that role?' She said, 'Quite simply, the books wouldn't get covered. It's not something that we can do ourselves. We don't have a budget line for it. We don't have a budget line for it and we don't have a paid staff member who has time to do it, therefore the books wouldn't get covered, they would not last as long and the school would have to spend more money to replace them more often.' It is often the case that volunteers do things in some of these important local community groups that we all cherish that simply would not get done if we did not have them.

Another thing I take away from a lot of those events is that, on the one hand, yes, it is inspiring to see some of the amazing work people do in our communities without any kind of acknowledgment or financial reimbursement, but I often walk away wondering what will happen if the next generation of volunteers is not prepared to step in and take their place. People's lives are busier than ever before, and we have been saying that for years, but it is incredibly true.

Many families have both parents working, and of course the many families who have one parent are under even greater pressure to manage work and family commitments than they ever have before. It is very difficult to ask those people to squeeze in volunteering on top of things they already do, which includes paid work and looking after kids. One of the things I hear a lot now from young families in particular are the pressures they feel from having to take their children to school sport, and often their weekends are completely consumed with driving their child or children around to soccer, basketball, football or cricket, and they really have no time to themselves, let alone time to give or donate to a community group or organisation. That poses a real problem for society moving forward.

As I said, I commend the member for Hurtle Vale for bringing this motion to the house, and absolutely these volunteers who are doing the work right now deserve our acknowledgment, but I think our role as members of parliament and community leaders in this space is twofold, and that is that we should take the opportunities afforded to us, like this motion today, to acknowledge their work, and we must think about all the things we can do to encourage the next generation of volunteers to take the place of today's volunteers and make sure that the work they do can be continued into the future.

Something we can do in that vein is to make special mention whenever we can of young people who are volunteering now to inspire other young people to do the same thing. Just this morning I dropped off a bag of food for the Foodbank stall at Tea Tree Plaza. We all know that Foodbank is a fantastic organisation. They are doing a Christmas drive at the moment, which is being very generously supported by ABC radio in Adelaide.

I noticed that there were four volunteers there at the stall, all women, interestingly, which is another pattern I often see at volunteer awards. I think that probably 75 or 80 per cent of the awards I have given so far to acknowledge volunteers have been to women. There were four women there today, but one was a very young girl as well, so I made a special effort to congratulate her and say, 'Well done.' I put something up on social media to acknowledge her, so that way some of her classmates might see the great work she is doing and think they can do it as well and provide their own time.

At Modbury Meals on Wheels, where once a fortnight I do a shift and deliver meals in the north-east, there is a young man called Paul, who for many years every week has driven volunteers like me around to deliver meals to the people who need them in our community. The Salisbury SES, another organisation I am involved with in a volunteer capacity in my area, has a large number of men and women in their early 20s who respond to the lion's share of taskings, and are regularly called away at all hours of the night.

During that storm event we had last night, I responded to one tasking and I was there with two other unit members, two young men who would not have been older than 25, both of whom had responded the night before at 8 o'clock and had finished at about 10.30 or 11 o'clock, had gone back and got a little bit of sleep until the pager went off at 2.30 am, and they then responded all the way through to 8 o'clock—an incredible effort. One had young kids as well, so he had left the kids with his partner to go out and do that work. I am pleased to have the opportunity today in this place to acknowledge the efforts of our young volunteers, and I certainly encourage other young people to take their lead and give their time generously as well.

Before I finish, I would like to acknowledge some groups in the north and north-east, too. I am aware that it is always risky business when you start listing groups, because you are always bound to leave one out; nonetheless, I am going to have a go. I would like to acknowledge the Lyell McEwin Volunteer Association; Modbury Hospital Foundation Volunteers; Tea Tree Gully Community Men's Shed, who just last night, when I was at the Gulfview Heights Primary School end of year break-up, were there cooking the barbecue; Wynn Vale Community Garden; and Meals on Wheels Modbury.

I would also like to thank the local Scout groups; the Neighbourhood Watch groups; the Salisbury and the Tea Tree Gully SES groups; local CFS units, who are of course going to have a very busy next few months, though I hope not, while they are on high alert, protecting us; Rotary groups; Lions groups; the Tea Tree Gully and Salisbury RSLs; volunteers who help in our local councils and operate the community bus services, including JPs at libraries; the volunteers who work at the Tea Tree Gully Toy Library; and many church volunteers.

I would like to make particular mention now of Clovercrest Baptist Church, whose community pathways program have a number of very dedicated volunteers. Each week, they go out to Coles and Aldi and collect all the leftover food, bring it back to their centre and prepare it for hampers, which they take out to people in the community who are doing it a bit tough.

I would like to finish off by commending the member for Hurtle Vale on the motion and thanking all the volunteers I mentioned above and the ones I missed out at well. I would also like to make special mention of foster carers. It is important at times like this that we acknowledge the amazing work they do as well and also use the opportunity today to encourage everyone in this place to think of all the things we can do to encourage the next generation of volunteers to step up and to make sure that all the vital functions that we know are fulfilled by volunteers in our communities are continued into the future. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:01): I rise also to support the motion of the member for Hurtle Vale. I note that the motion firstly notes that we celebrate today International Volunteer Day. Importantly, it calls on us to acknowledge the valuable contribution that volunteers make, and I particularly highlight that aspect of social wellbeing in our communities. Further, it urges us, in this house, to call on all South Australians to thank and show their appreciation of all volunteers in our community.

I could think of no better way to do that than by way of one of the very best examples of that in my electorate of Heysen in the Adelaide Hills, bringing attention to the lifelong dedication to volunteer work of one of so many in my community. Before I do that, because I want to emphasise that opportunity to say thanks and to show appreciation, I make the observation—and I spent some time on this in my first speech in the house back in May—that volunteering takes place, particularly in the Hills, in such a diverse range of ways throughout the community. In some respects, volunteering takes the place of work that would otherwise need to be funded either commercially or by public funding. For that, we thank volunteers.

In other ways, it provides for the social fabric of the community and adds to the joy and quality of life that people experience throughout our communities. That is particularly the case in the Hills. From my point of view, I would say that while we acknowledge volunteering, volunteering is very much the new black in the Hills. It is something that we should all understand is not just worthy but something we all want to get on board with. So volunteer, everyone, and thank and appreciate volunteers because it is a wonderful part of what we regard as the building blocks of community.

In this short opportunity today, I want to single out someone who is in the background and who is literally and perhaps too much and too often referred to in the footnote to the main action, and that is Lois Allen. Lois has been a stalwart of the Hills communities in Stirling, Aldgate, Bradbury and surrounds for her entire life. She has in particular made contributions over many decades to, on the one hand, the Stirling op shop and, secondly, and in a very substantial way to our local Meals on Wheels service.

On the op shop side, Lois has been there since its inception. Together with those others who work at the op shop, she raises funds that help to support the cancer unit at the Stirling Hospital. It has also provided funding for the first community bus for elderly people through the community. Lois continues to volunteer at the Stirling op shop. It is a wonderful contribution in a wonderful context. Secondly, I wish to highlight Lois's contribution to Meals on Wheels. Lois has been a constant, really, of Meals on Wheels in Stirling, Aldgate and surrounding districts for a very long time indeed.

I understand that Lois commenced her involvement in delivering meals when her children were very young. After they went to school, she then started what she continues to do, cooking in the kitchen and preparing meals at the Meals on Wheels base at Aldgate. It is a wonderful thing. It is a diminutive, unassuming building. People gather quietly, they go about their work and they deliver large numbers of meals to people who would otherwise not have the social contact, not have the quality of fresh meals and would be much the poorer without it.

Let me say further that Lois does it with gusto and with personality, and she will stand up to those in power who might be inclined to dictate the sort of meals that ought to be delivered. She will stand up for making sure that they get the best, the freshest and the most diverse meals that they can possibly muster there. She makes an enormous difference. As manager these days of the kitchen, coordinating all these vital services, and now in her youthful mid-70s, she is still going strong as ever and has devoted a considerable part of her life to that contribution.

I cannot celebrate Lois without also recognising that this year has been a particularly tough one for her and the Allen family. Another great volunteer of our local community, Lois's husband, Ray, passed away on 30 August this year, aged 83. His funeral was attended to bursting point in early September this year on what was a delightful sunny day in the Hills and an occasion to recognise Ray.

Ray, too, had been a lifelong volunteer. Time does not permit me to catalogue the wonderful achievements of Ray over a lifetime. Suffice to say that his contribution at Bradbury and Scott Creek since the 1950s—indeed as a founder of the local CFS and the person who basically set up the first equipment for the brigade going back all of that way—was almost unparalleled. He was a life member, and I hope that there will be other occasions to detail more fully Ray's lifelong commitment.

I said that Lois was used to being a footnote. She literally has been. When the board of Meals on Wheels thanked those who have contributed, they went so far in a footnote to thank also those who served in a non-board capacity, including Lois Allen. Here you are, Lois: you are front and centre today and, as we celebrate volunteers, I focus very much on you. I commend the motion.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:11): I will make a brief contribution to this debate and fully support the motion. I think it is a really good motion. I thank the member for Hurtle Vale for bringing it to our attention. I will not try to cover ground covered by other members, but something that never ceases to amaze me about volunteers is the scope of areas they cover. In other words, they come from all different walks of life and they are involved in all different walks of life.

I will not mention individual organisations, but I would just like to just mention the various areas of work they undertake in our communities. For example, service clubs have volunteers who do an enormous job in supporting our communities through fundraising and supporting projects. We have sporting organisations. The reality is that most weekend sport in our communities is run by volunteers. Were it not for volunteers, we would not have weekend sport in our communities. Volunteers help run our schools, whether it is by helping with reading, with maintenance on the grounds or with the school canteen or tuckshop, etc.

Our environment is protected by volunteers. A number of volunteers in our community do work in the environment. Our health sector, for example, has volunteers who visit people in our hospitals or who serve in a hospital canteen. Our churches probably would not be able to operate were it not for volunteers. I am talking about not just the people who sit on the boards, the governing councils or the parish councils, but also the people who help maintain buildings and the grounds of our churches and other places of worship and faith.

Our emergency services—for example, our Country Fire Service, our State Emergency Service and also our St John's people—are made up of volunteers. An area that has been mentioned—and I will mention this separately because it is an important category—is what I like to call community welfare. There are a number of organisations in the community welfare area that support our aged community, our veterans, our young people and women. For example, Meals on Wheels has been talked about by the member for Heysen.

Sometimes we see these people do their work and we do not appreciate the importance of that work. Particularly for Meals on Wheels, an area that is of growing concern in our communities is isolation amongst people who are by themselves or who are aged. Meals on Wheels provide not only a meal but a very important social contact. Sadly, for some people the Meals on Wheels visitor every week or however often they visit is perhaps the only social contact they have with the outside world.

We also have animal welfare volunteers—as you can see, there is not one walk of life in our community that is not supported in some way by volunteers. To understand how important they are, imagine your community without any volunteers for a week. Imagine all the things that would not be done in your community if there were no volunteers for a week. I think most communities would not be able to operate.

In a previous life, when I was a mayor, we did a survey on how many volunteer groups we had in our town. At that time, there were about 330 different organisations in the Town of Gawler that provided some sort of volunteer service. That shows how important they are. The volunteering sector faces some challenges. For traditional ways of volunteering, particularly for service clubs and organisations, there are declining numbers of people who volunteer in that traditional sense by either going to regular meetings or being involved on a regular basis. That does not mean that people do not want to volunteer; what it means is that the groups have to modify the way they operate. They need to make use of the digital world to keep in touch.

I now work with a number of volunteer groups who are using Facebook pages as a way of communicating and keeping in touch with people and, if you like, doing the business of volunteering but online, and that works quite well. One thing I hear, which I think is a little bit unfair, is that young people do not want to volunteer, and I disagree with that. Young people are keen to volunteer. Young people do not want to volunteer in the traditional sense that some other groups have done in the past. They do not want to have to turn up to a dinner meeting every Monday, etc., but they will volunteer for causes that they are passionate about.

So the challenge for us older people is to make sure that we not only provide opportunities for those young people to volunteer but also support them. When there is a cause that is dear to their heart, they do come out, voice their opinion and work. I have never found it difficult to find people to do volunteer work. As I said, our communities would be so much poorer without volunteers. With those few comments, I support the motion and thank our volunteers on this International Day of Volunteers.

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (12:17): With great thanks to the members for Narungga, Wright, Light and Heysen, I again thank all volunteers for everything they do in our community. There is a hashtag today for International Volunteer Day, which is #ivd2018. I encourage all members who participate in the practice of Twitter to thank volunteers and to use the hashtag. I thank everybody in parliament for supporting the great work of volunteers and commend the motion.

Motion carried.

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