Minister's Forum on Volunteering

4 April 2008 | Lynne Dalton, CEO, The Centre for Volunteering

The Minister for Volunteering, the Hon Linda Burney, hosted a Forum on Volunteering on Friday, 28 March following the Volunteering Roundtable held in June 2007. The Forum was co-hosted by the Community Relations Commission and focused on volunteering by people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Senator Ursula Stephens, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and Volunteering, attended the Forum as a special guest. The object of the Forum was to discuss ideas and issues to assist people with CALD backgrounds to volunteer and, in so doing, to meet one of the objectives of the Government's State plan, which is to raise the level of engagement in communities where there is a high level of diversity. Lynne Dalton attended the Forum and encourages people to read the speeches from the State Minister for Volunteering, Hon Linda Burney and Senator Ursula Stephen, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and Volunteering:

1. Minister Linda Burney said "Encouraging greater diversity was a crucial part of strengthening the community and making New South Wales a cohesive, welcoming and caring society".
2. Senator Ursula Stephen's Speech to the Forum: Diversity and the Volunteer Workforce: Towards a 2020 Vision for Volunteering