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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-18 Daily Xml
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Light Electorate

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:35): Today, I would like to pay tribute to all the volunteers in my local community. It is National Volunteers Day, and I would just like to acknowledge the work and contribution made by volunteers in my community. Volunteering is an important part of an inclusive society. Volunteering connects us, strengthens our sense of belonging and creates positive relationships that build stronger communities.

South Australians have a long history of volunteering, and they contribute directly to the health and wellbeing of individuals, our communities and the economy of the state. Volunteering keeps our communities and organisations working together. Volunteering maintains the quality of life in our communities by providing essential support to those members in need.

For example, in my community, like many other communities, we have volunteer organisations like Meals on Wheels who provide an important service in terms of not only helping to feed people in their homes but also providing that social interaction and that connection to community for the people who need it. Most of our communities have service clubs who do great work in providing a range of services in those communities and also raising funds for various projects they donate moneys to. My community also has environmental groups who do tree planting and various native grasses, etc. to improve our community.

The sporting organisations, whether it is football, or soccer, or netball, or tennis, all those organisations in my community are run by volunteers. People participating in those sports, particularly young people, would not be able to do so if we did not have volunteers. In our schools, members of the governing council are all volunteers. We often have volunteers who act as referees and umpires and coaches in local schools. Again, our community benefits from that contribution. Our aged, youth and women's organisations support those communities through a whole range of activities.

The small business sector has a range of volunteers, too, in terms of their own business groups, who then promote businesses in the town. For heritage and culture in my community, for example, we have the history team that helps promote the history of the town and also helps to catalogue the history of our town in the community.

We have a number of groups and volunteers involved in health and wellbeing, and one of those is the Willo's Men's Shed. It provides a service to men, predominantly men who are retired, in terms of a place for them to interact and socialise, and their wellbeing is improved. Our faith organisations, the churches, are also run by volunteers and supported by volunteers.

As to our community safety, Neighbourhood Watch and the Road Safety Committee in Gawler also help to keep our community safe. We have justices of the peace who are volunteers, and I am fortunate enough in my office to have a range of JPs who actually have a roster system. We provide a JP system through the electorate office, and they do that in their own time.

Our emergency services, our SES, CFS, St John's, all have a lot of volunteering involved. I also note that today it is WOW Day, when we recognise the contribution of volunteers who volunteer their time and skills in the State Emergency Services. With respect to that, I am proud to say that this government will provide the funding to establish an SES subunit in Gawler for the first time, and so the volunteers who want to participate in the SES do not have to go to Salisbury or Kapunda to volunteer but will be able to volunteer in Gawler. More importantly, by being in Gawler they are actually closer to the action when they are required.

There is no walk of life that does not receive the support of volunteers. Volunteering helps not only the community but also the volunteers themselves, who learn new skills and form new friendships and relationships. The contribution volunteers make to our community and our community connections cannot be underestimated. Unfortunately, the volunteering sector has been hit hard by COVID-19, and now it is important that we actually support our volunteer organisations in a way to get them back on board to ensure that they can provide their important services.

I would also like to mention the fact that our volunteers are supported in this state, particularly in the northern suburbs, by two organisations, Volunteering SA&NT and Northern Volunteering, who support our volunteer sector through training and other services. Today, I take this time to say thank you to all the volunteers in my community.

Time expired.

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