Minister's Forum embraces diversity in volunteering

28 March 2008 | Minister for Fair Trading, Youth and Volunteering, Linda Burney

NSW Minister for Volunteering, Linda Burney, said today that encouraging greater diversity was a crucial part of strengthening the community and making New South Wales a cohesive, welcoming and caring society.

Ms Burney hosted the "Diversity and the Volunteer Workforce" forum in Campsie with the aim of increasing the participation of people from non-English speaking backgrounds in formal volunteering and community activities.

"I see this issue as hugely important because volunteering is a positive way to bring people together and to harness their skills and experience for the wellbeing of the broader community," Ms Burney said.

"Today we are exploring some of the barriers faced by young Muslims or newly arrived Sudanese who want to volunteer. How can we tackle these issues? We know through research that answering these questions is critical to building social capital in our communities."

"Representatives from over 100 community and government organisations attended, all eager to work together to enhance the services they deliver to the community – whether that's supporting the disadvantaged, conserving the environment or helping to run organised sport."

Organisations like ACT NOW, ICE (Information and Culture Exchange), Surf Life Saving Australia, the State Emergency Services, Meals on Wheels, St Vincent de Paul, the NSW and Australian Sports Commissions and The Centre for Volunteering already tap into the different skills and knowledge of volunteers from non-English speaking backgrounds and involve them in a meaningful way.

"They have the opportunity at the forum to share their experiences with migrant resource centres and groups who operate with volunteers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds," Ms Burney said.

"We know the contribution of smaller groups is immense but they often go unnoticed and unacknowledged because they help the disadvantaged within their communities rather than through formal, more public organisations.

"We need to better recognise what they're already doing, and help to bring them into mainstream volunteering."

"If we can embrace through volunteering the diversity that makes our state so rich, then we can create a society that respects and celebrates difference."

The Iemma Government recognised the need to better support volunteering and community participation by establishing the volunteering portfolio in November 2006. Ms Burney was appointed as Minister in March 2007.

This forum, the first of several to be held this year around the state, is just one way the Government is working to make it easier to volunteer, and to support organisations to better recruit and retain their volunteer workforce.

The forum was co-hosted by the Community Relations Commission and keynote speaker Senator Ursula Stephens, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, discussed the Rudd Government's Vision for Volunteering 2020.

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Phyllis Sakinofsky
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