Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Speaker for turning up to allow me to do my adjournment speech this evening. I am very grateful. I rise tonight to speak about the outstanding work of local volunteers and the contribution they make to communities right across Australia, including some truly inspirational individuals in my electorate.

As a society, we often make the mistake of taking for granted the sacrifices that volunteers make in volunteering their own time for the betterment of our community. Most volunteers say that they do not do it for the recognition but to help others, and I am truly grateful for all the great work they do.

Recently I held the Caroline Chisholm Awards ceremony in my electorate. This is an awards ceremony I started about eight years ago to recognise the outstanding work of local volunteers in my electorate. We recognise those people who live in and/or volunteer within my electorate. I commenced the awards in the International Year of Volunteers, and it was such a success that we decided that we would keep the award going. The award and, obviously, my seat are named after Caroline Chisholm, who was famous for her work in assisting newly-arrived migrants in the 19th century. Caroline Chisholm was an outstanding volunteer. For all the work she did, over many years, for all the people she looked after, she never took one cent of remuneration. She died in abject poverty. She was returned to England and for many years was in an unmarked grave, but that has been rectified. Sadly, Caroline Chisholm has come off our $5 note, and I do hope that over time my seat will remain with her name, because she was a great woman to be honoured and recognised.

Caroline Chisholm was an outstanding contributor in her community for many years go, just like the Caroline Chisholm Award winners in our community today. This year we recognised over 80 volunteers, many of them from very large organisations but some of them individually. I would like to single out two. First, May Keeley. May was an award winner at the ceremony. She is an absolute standout. I have known May for many years and I have appreciated her great work for the area. May has lived most of her life in Oakleigh and she has been performing volunteer work in and around the Monash community for around 74 years. May’s record of volunteering is immense and includes assisting newly arrived migrants with their English and helping teenagers find jobs during past recessions.

In one extraordinary act of generosity, May took it upon herself to take in an 11-year-old Oakleigh boy off the street and provide him with a three-course meal every night of the week for seven years—a truly amazing act. May has also been a tireless worker for the Oakleigh historical society and has recorded much of the history of the area. Oakleigh is one of the oldest suburbs in Victoria. This is the sort of community volunteering that often goes unheralded, but it is what makes our society tick. I want to put on the record my appreciation for May’s outstanding record of volunteering.

I also want to speak about the Box Hill Hospital volunteers. Box Hill Hospital is attracting a lot of publicity in my electorate at the moment. Sadly, this coverage focuses on the shortcomings of the hospital’s infrastructure, which overshadow the tremendous work of the staff, particularly the great volunteers. The hospital manages to survive because of the great base it has. I had the opportunity to present Caroline Chisholm Awards to many of the hospital’s dedicated volunteers, who do not usually receive the recognition they deserve. These volunteers commit huge amounts of their own time to help make the hospital a more comfortable place for patients and a more pleasant place to work for its staff. Volunteers such as Moya Slevision, who has been a stalwart of the volunteer team at the hospital for the past 18 years, Terry Bennetts, Daphne Mansbridge and Beverley Sidari make vital contributions to the day-to-day operations of the hospital. Volunteers such as Elizabeth Smith, Sally Fenton, Ainslie Walker and Annette Ward help to take the pressure off staff in the hospital’s emergency department, which is one of the most stressful environments in the hospital. These people dedicate volunteering hours to the emergency department and are a great help.

I am delighted to see that Leader Community Newspapers are supporting the Volunteers for Victoria campaign, which is striving to celebrate more than 80,000 volunteers across the state. This is a terrific initiative and I want to commend it. It must be remembered that volunteers are giving up their own time to perform these duties purely as gestures of goodwill and expect nothing in return.

On a very sad note, I want to recognise the passing of Brian Mier. Brian Mier was the Mount Waverley MLC between 1982 and 1996. Brian was a stalwart of my area. He served in the Victorian state government in the portfolios of Aboriginal affairs and consumer affairs. I want to give my deepest sympathies to Shelia and his sons David, Paul and Phillip.