Premier Iemma, Peter Debnam, Ian Kiernan and Adam Spencer share their thoughts about what volunteering means to them
[6 June 2006 | The Centre for Volunteering]
During National Volunteer Week, 15–21 2006, Premier Iemma, NSW Liberal Leader Peter Debnam, Clean Up Australia's Ian Kiernan and ABC Radio's Adam Spencer were all asked by The Centre for Volunteering: "What does volunteering mean to you?"
"Volunteering represents what I like best about our society. It's a real contribution to making our community a better place to live," said NSW Premier Morris Iemma. "Many of the services everyone relies on in times of disaster are dependent on volunteers. I'm very proud that in NSW there are now 70,000 Rural Fire Service volunteers, making it the largest, best-trained and best-equipped volunteer fire brigade in the world. In addition, there are 10,000 State Emergency Service volunteers who help out in times of storm and flood. These people are always there when we need them and our community relies on them for support."
"Some people say there is less volunteering now than before, but I think the nature of volunteering is changing. In the past, people worked with their church or sporting club, but now people are more involved than ever in groups supporting the environment such as Clean Up Australia Day. The Sydney Olympics in 2000 showed the world that Australian volunteering is alive and well," said Premier Morris Iemma.
"As Premier, I'm not in a position to volunteer directly myself, but I make it a point to acknowledge our state's volunteers at every opportunity. When I visit regional towns in NSW, I often stop in at the local Rural Fire Service or State Emergency Service headquarters to meet the local volunteers and say thank you."
NSW Liberal Leader Peter Debnam paid tribute to the state's volunteers for the immense contribution they make to the local community when he said: "The tireless work and dedication of volunteers form the foundations of our state."
"We are all touched by the efforts of volunteers. Without volunteers we would not have life savers patrolling our beaches, referees and umpires at our children's sporting events or SES volunteers fighting bushfires."
"Nearly everyone in NSW has either served as a volunteer or benefited from the assistance of volunteers themselves, and for this we can all be grateful," said Debnam. "The satisfaction volunteers get from the community work they undertake is significant reward for the time they commit."
ABC Radio breakfast presenter Adam Spencer cut to the chase when he said: "I've been coaching the University of Sydney women's soccer team for four years now and I absolutely love it. Sure I could have gone for the big bucks overseas, but I get just as much out of the gig as the girls do," he joked. "Volunteering rocks!"
Clean Up Australia's Ian Kiernan knows the value of volunteers – without them Clean Up Australia Day couldn't happen. "My first exposure to the power of volunteers was our first Clean Up Australia Day in 1990 when more than 300,000 people volunteered their time. At Clean Up Australia, we've always been driven by the community's desire to prevent our precious, natural environment from being trashed. We work with a simple philosophy – that everyone can and should contribute to the health and protection of their local environment," he said.
"Volunteering gives people a chance to contribute to change or to other people and the power of volunteering lies in that simple action."