Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulating our volunteer organisations and the support services that help match volunteers to organisations can never be hard work. In Australia, but particularly on the northern beaches of Sydney, which I represent here in parliament, volunteerism is in our blood. In Mackellar I am proud to say people more often than not solve their own problems. They see something in the community they are not happy with, they see someone in need, so they get together and actually make a difference.

Take, for example, and this is but one of many, the Mums for Mums Group. It was started by a couple of friends, mothers whose children all attended Newport Public School. One of their own was diagnosed with brain cancer. A couple in their prime, working and raising healthy and happy kids. It could have been any one of them. Offering sympathy is easy. Who could not be sympathetic to such a plight? Actually helping and making a real difference day in and day out through what can be a long, steep road is the hard part.

Unwilling to stand by and watch, this group of mothers decided to band together and help. Discreetly and respectfully, they started supporting the family with frozen meals that could easily be popped in the oven after a hospital visit. They organised a cleaning service to help unburden an overwhelmed father trying to keep his family together. They helped take care of the kids. They were there providing support every step of the way. Seeing what a difference their help made, they were asked again and again to help families in the community who had fallen on hard times. They grew into a group of energetic parents learning how to raise money, how to organise and how to provide support. Tragically, after having gone into remission, brain cancer claimed their friend's life.

I am honoured to have been joined by my colleague Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and the state Minister for Education, Rob Stokes, to support the Mums for Mums campaign, selling brain cancer beanies just last week. They are raising money not just to continue their own work but also to support the Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group in memory of their friend.

In supporting this campaign, we hope to raise awareness so that everyone can do their bit. Every single one of us can dedicate some of our time to helping someone or something else—whether it be spending a Saturday patrolling our beaches, a Sunday back burning the bush, a Thursday night helping out a the local women's shelter, a morning at the Be Centre for traumatised children, an afternoon at the Sargood centre or whether it be joining groups like the Mums for Mums or the Surfing Mums of Newport.

I am proud to be part of a government that recognises the enormous contribution volunteers make to each of our communities, which is why we are improving the delivery of community development funding through the redesigned Strong and Resilient Communities activity, now more closely aligned to the Commonwealth's constitutional authority. We are truly committed to supporting community based organisations that are tackling complex social problems on the ground day in and day out. SARC will help support community organisations wanting to increase people's sense of belonging and engagement within their own local communities, helping to foster cohesion. It will improve their chances of getting people who are often in desperate circumstances the help they need and their lives back on track.

We have maintained our support for these community organisations with $18 million in government funding every year. Under the new grant system, support service organisations will continue to be eligible to apply for funding to support the management and referral of volunteers for projects that meet SARC's objectives. In fact, we have increased the amount volunteer support service organisations can apply for to $150,000 per year per project. It is our hope that SARC will help fund innovative, community led solutions to social and economic challenges, because there are often no better placed people to help their community than their own—locals who know the people, who know the systems, who know the pitfalls and who are invested in seeing their own thrive and can put their heart and soul into their projects, knowing that this government supports them.

The funding application is competitive because, as much as we would like to give endless amounts of money to every organisation wanting to do good, the government is not an ATM. The supply of taxpayer money is not endless and, just like in the real world, tough decisions must be made. Including a competitive process in the allocation of grants ensures the money contributed by hardworking Australians is put to the best use that it can be, will have the maximum impact and will help the most people in the best way. As Margaret Mead said:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

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