Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari Gamarruwa, Diyn Babana, Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which Government House stands, I pay my respects to Gadigal Elders, past, present and emerging, and to Elders of all nations on which volunteers contribute across NSW.

• Mr Mark Boyd, Chief of Staff, representing The Honourable Jodie Harrison MP, Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
• Commissioner Michael Wassing AFSM, NSW State Emergency Service
• Deputy Commissioner Todd Andrews, Marine Rescue NSW
• Commissioner Ilan Lowbeer, St John Ambulance NSW
• Ms Zoe Robinson, Advocate for Children and Young People, Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People

In a recent article, Associate Professor Milad Haghani of the University of Melbourne wrote that: “Volunteering is an act of reciprocity.” “It reflects an understanding that no one exists is isolation” … that we are all part of humanity and “reliant on the efforts and goodwill of others.”[1]

From the Enlightenment’s ‘social contract’ and even further back to Aristotle’s idea of ‘civic virtue’, volunteering is philosophically grounded in the belief that we can improve the well-being of our community, our ‘polis’, through active and willing participation for the common good.[2]

Australia has a long history of volunteering. Organisations to help vulnerable people such as the Benevolent Society formed early, as did other organisations that relied on volunteers such as the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. These two organisations, each over 200 years old and today iconic in our community, speak to that long history and to the depth and breadth of volunteering since early colonial times.

What is remarkable about this tradition of volunteering organisations and groups, both formal and informal, is that it goes across every conceivable aspect of our lives: whether that be in times of crises; in response to the paucity of services for people in need; to support the cultural life of our community -  think of our museums, art galleries and historical societies; keeping our sporting associations going and more. 

By the 1970s, as our population grew, as our society became more complex and sometimes more disconnected, it became apparent there was a need for a framework to underpin the volunteering work in the community.

One person who saw that need was Rose Miller, who worked with the Australian Red Cross and the Council on the Ageing NSW.  Back then, “to establish a new organisation without any particular {support or] following in the community – one relied mainly on who you knew”.[3]  She knew there had to be a better way.

In 1971, Rose travelled to the United States, where she saw “volunteer clearing houses” in Washington DC and San Francisco, linking and referring volunteers to organisations where they were needed.[4]

Inspired by what she saw, she came back to establish Sydney’s first Volunteer Bureau in 1974, with nothing more than a phone and some petty cash. By the end of the first year, 170 volunteers had been placed, a Better Community Award had been received, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney lent financial support and, soon afterwards, a Commonwealth Government Grant of $4000 followed, to fund a pilot study. From those antecedents, through its various eras, iterations and leaderships, including that of Heather Buck and Margaret Bell, The Centre for Volunteering was born.

Over 50 years, the Centre, the peak body for volunteering in NSW, and the first,[5] has celebrated many key achievements:

• Gifting the artwork of the ‘Red V’ symbol to become a national and a global symbol of volunteering;
• Establishing the first “Volunteers Week” in Sydney in 1978;
• Hosting the 1986 International Association for Volunteer Effort Conference in Sydney;
• Founding the National School of Volunteer Management in 1998;
• Launching the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards in 2007 - which last year, recognised over 139,000 volunteers;
• Developing sector-wide resources, helpdesks, training programs, and research publications;
• Partnering with the NSW government to help deliver the first NSW State of Volunteering Report in 2020, Volunteering Strategies for NSW, the NSW Volunteer Taskforce and Australia’s first Volunteer Charter in 2023; and
• Contributing to the creation of National Volunteer Week, Volunteering Australia, and the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement.

Underlying those achievements is the on-the-ground impact of volunteering – with NSW recording some 893 million recorded volunteer hours in 2023^[6] with an economic impact estimated at $178 billion.[7]  Without a hint of hyperbole, it can be said that without our volunteers our economy would also be poorer in a fiscal sense, but more importantly our communities would be poorer in every sense.

There are challenges ahead, including an ageing demographic, impacting the numbers available to volunteer and a cost-of-living crisis increasing the demand for services. This makes the advocacy and leadership of The Centre for Volunteering critical to the continued support of our communities.

One of the things Dennis and I most hear from volunteers is that they don’t do it for recognition.  Another comment is that what they ‘put in’ to volunteering is returned ‘in spades’ - in friendships and connections, in skills development and in personal well-being.  Then there is the grace and humility of volunteers who say: “There are so many people who do far more than me.” 

Tonight, as Patron, I thank The Centre for Volunteering for your support of thousands of NSW community organisations and their volunteers - and 50 years of representation, advocacy, policy development, training and recognition. 

In thanking you, in recognising the contribution you make, can I simply say, as I’ve said before, our volunteers are the ‘beating heart of our community’.

Here’s to the next 50 years!

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/religion/volunteerism-australia-decline-reimagining-social-infrastructure/105118866

[2] NSW Volunteer Charter defines Volunteering as “Time willingly given for the common good and without financial gain.”:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-10/108_DCJ_NSWVolunteerCharter_v8_FA-WEB.pdf

[3] Centre for Volunteering 50 Year document

[4] ibid

[5] https://www.volunteering.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/50th-Anniversary-Origin-Story-The-Centre-for-Volunteering.pdf

[6] The Centre for Volunteering: 50 Year document: A message from the CEO

[7] 2023 NSW State of Volunteering Report:

https://www.volunteering.com.au/2023-state-of-volunteering-report/