Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion, moved by the member for Banks, relating to community based organisations, in particular, the efforts and contributions made by community groups in my electorate of McPherson. I would like to start with surf-lifesaving. There are 13 surf-lifesaving clubs within the McPherson electorate and each club is run by a very dedicated group of volunteers who predominantly, but not always, live within the local community. This Saturday, volunteers from Burleigh Heads, North Burleigh, Tallebudgera, Pacific, Palm Beach, Currumbin, Tugun, Bilinga, North Kirra, Kirra, Coolangatta, Tweed Heads and Rainbow Bay surf clubs will commence the 2011-12 surf-lifesaving season. During the last patrolling season, approximately 385 rescues were carried out on McPherson beaches. In addition, 4,983 preventative actions were made, along with approximately 7,858 warnings and around 2,620 first aid treatments. In order for these volunteers to patrol our local beaches they have to go through an annual process to renew their qualifications, including requalifying for their bronze medallions through a proficiency examination. They have also completed written examinations, CPR demonstrations and first aid demonstrations as well as completing a range of simulated rescue scenarios. Their fitness is also tested, with each member having to complete swimming and running tests to ensure they are able to respond to rescues in a timely manner without putting themselves or others in danger.

Each surf club promotes leadership and personal development for each of its members. Membership of a surf club offers a range of benefits, including education and training, friendship and the opportunity to keep fit and healthy and be part of the community. Surf-lifesavers aim to educate the community about beach and water safety through public education campaigns such as Rip Currents.

I would like to take the opportunity today to speak specifically about one of our surf-lifesaving clubs, the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, because the work that is done by that club is indicative of the work undertaken by all surf-lifesaving clubs on the Gold Coast and, I am sure, throughout Australia. At the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club the chief training officer, Sue Damon, has been volunteering her time to ensure that all active members attend their proficiency examinations to renew their qualifications. In May 2011 I attended the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club annual awards night, where Sue was the recipient of the best senior club person award. Congratulations to Sue. In addition to patrols, members like Sue have taken on additional volunteer positions, giving many hours to these clubs in addition to other responsibilities. Most members and volunteers engage in this community service at the same time as they are attending full-time employment and juggling family life, and I commend their efforts.

In addition to keeping Palm Beach safe, the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, with President, Scott Rawlings, and Vice President, Troy Kling, was quick to offer assistance during the Brisbane floods earlier this year, setting up a drop zone for essential items and assembling a clean-up squad. Staff and volunteers at the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club sorted through mountains of donated goods brought in by both members and the general public. The recipients of these donations, distributed through the Gatton RSL, were grateful for the donations, which were organised into packages of clothing, household goods, food and toiletries. I thank the general manager of the surf club, Sheldon Steeles, for arranging the drop zone.

On Sunday, 15 January a clean-up crew piled into the surf club's bus with mops, brooms, shovels, sausages and a barbeque and headed into the flood affected suburb of Graceville in Brisbane. Members spent the day helping five properties with the clean-up, and cooked a free sausage sizzle for the volunteers and victims. They ripped out what was left of the victims' homes, offering many hands to assist in restoring the livelihoods of those affected.

Fundraising is a necessary part of the work of the club, as money is needed for building, upkeep, maintenance of equipment and for the purchase of new equipment as required. All clubs regularly hold fundraising events, including sausage sizzles and raffles, for which surf-lifesaving clubs are very well known, but the clubs are also dependent on the revenue from poker machines, as well as grants from community benefits funds, such as those from Jupiter's Casino. Without funding from these sources, cost-saving measures would have to be considered. I know that the lifesavers would not want to be forced to limit their patrols due to a lack of equipment, resources or training. I congratulate and commend our lifesavers and lifesaving volunteers for their contribution to the community.

I turn now to speak about and to congratulate the work that is done throughout Queensland, specifically in the Gold Coast area, by Scouts Queensland. In McPherson we have three scouting groups: Mudgeeraba, Burleigh Heads and Palm Beach. Within those groups are the five sections of scouting representatives, starting from the youngest, the Joey Scouts, through to Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers. I believe that Scouting Australia and Scouting Queensland, and the groups that we have, particularly on the Gold Coast, provide an invaluable service to our youth, particularly in what I would call the target age groups for support, which is the eight- to 11-year-olds, which is the age for the cubs section in scouting. The scout sections meet generally once a week during public sector or public school term times. The leaders, of which there are generally two but sometimes up to four and perhaps six for each section for each meeting, work with each of the scouts that are present on the night and help them with their badge work so that the scouts have something to aim for. They certainly have recognition when they have achieved their badges. The leaders take the children on camps in various locations, sometimes throughout Queensland but normally quite close to where the scout groups are, and they teach the children a number of things, including a significant degree of self-sufficiency. What I have seen from my association with scouting is that it certainly fosters and instils in the children and the young adults, who are far above the scouts groups, a sense of responsibility and a sense that they are part of a broader community that they can and do support.

I am certainly aware that scouts throughout Queensland have participated in some major fundraising exercises, not just for their local scout groups but for the local communities, and quite recently for the Wesley Hospital and the research department that was there, so the scout groups certainly do provide a major commitment to the welfare and benefit of the communities. Scout groups have been around for many, many years, and the commitment of the leaders and the supporters of the scout groups is to be commended. There is a significant time contribution for the leaders. They run the sections each week, and they also have to prepare for the sections; they take the children away on camps. Their commitment in terms of their personal time is enormous, and this is something that I have seen in many of our volunteers and our volunteer groups in the community. Our volunteers contribute their time and their efforts, but they also contribute in their own way to the funding of those organisations, whether it is through donations of equipment for use by the members or whether it is through the fuel that is used for transporting the members all around their community.

In concluding today, I would like to congratulate all the community groups that we have, not just the two that I have mentioned today—surf lifesaving and the scouts—particularly in my electorate of McPherson. I would like to congratulate all the volunteers for the contributions that they make, because, without them, these community groups would not be able to continue and provide the support that is so desperately needed in the community.

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