Am feeling quite exhausted today. Only half way through Volunteer Week here in Australia - three presentations in three different parts of the country! I have been interested to see the political reaction to volunteering across the country.
The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing and Minister for Social Inclusion, The Hon Mark Butler MP, has recorded a speech for Volunteer week- which is super. Thank you Mr Butler! I would have liked him to sound less like he is reading a prepared speech, though! Seeing him talk about his own volunteering would be good. It is also interesting that Australian stats on volunteering dollar value come from six years ago!
It would also have been good to have had a collage of politicians celebrating volunteering. For a 14billion dollar "industry", it does not seem high on the political agenda. If volunteering was being taken seriously, then we would have politicians all over the country pouring over projects and scrambling for press conferences and making parliamentary statements.
One who "gets" volunteering is Ms Quentin Bryce, The Governor-General of Australia who was photographed yesterday, visiting the St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Fitzroy soup van in Melbourne, Australia for National Volunteers Week.
It was interesting having my Mayor: Councillor Frank Martin (Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor for 2012) at my session yesterday in Mornington, Victoria. He told me he really liked what I was doing with the Presentation. (Phew!) He, himself is a Rotarian. My local councillor Cr Antonella Celi was also present. I was bemused that we met last year in Volunteer week and not seen each other since! The life of someone who travels too much! She spent a large chunk of her day with us listening and taking note of what was said. I enjoyed sparring with another councillor Cr Leigh Eustace during the day! He likes to keep abreast of what volunteers are doing. There were other local councillors present too but neither my Federal or State representatives.
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Secondly, volunteers are their voters. A politician who shows concern, interest and support for the 30 to 40 per cent of people in their community who volunteer are saying see these voters as important.
Thirdly, we need politicians to model support for volunteering so that more will be encouraged to volunteer too. We may mock politicians sometimes but the reality is we do listen to their words and observe their actions.
The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing and Minister for Social Inclusion, The Hon Mark Butler MP, has recorded a speech for Volunteer week- which is super. Thank you Mr Butler! I would have liked him to sound less like he is reading a prepared speech, though! Seeing him talk about his own volunteering would be good. It is also interesting that Australian stats on volunteering dollar value come from six years ago!
It would also have been good to have had a collage of politicians celebrating volunteering. For a 14billion dollar "industry", it does not seem high on the political agenda. If volunteering was being taken seriously, then we would have politicians all over the country pouring over projects and scrambling for press conferences and making parliamentary statements.
It was interesting having my Mayor: Councillor Frank Martin (Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor for 2012) at my session yesterday in Mornington, Victoria. He told me he really liked what I was doing with the Presentation. (Phew!) He, himself is a Rotarian. My local councillor Cr Antonella Celi was also present. I was bemused that we met last year in Volunteer week and not seen each other since! The life of someone who travels too much! She spent a large chunk of her day with us listening and taking note of what was said. I enjoyed sparring with another councillor Cr Leigh Eustace during the day! He likes to keep abreast of what volunteers are doing. There were other local councillors present too but neither my Federal or State representatives.
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Political support for volunteering is important. Firstly, so many community services are delivered by volunteers. Their life would be made harder trying to patch up this missing infrastructure not to menton having to ask for more taxes to pay for things that are provided by volunteers.
Secondly, volunteers are their voters. A politician who shows concern, interest and support for the 30 to 40 per cent of people in their community who volunteer are saying see these voters as important.
Thirdly, we need politicians to model support for volunteering so that more will be encouraged to volunteer too. We may mock politicians sometimes but the reality is we do listen to their words and observe their actions.
