The previous comment spoke of the situation of the danger the volunteer is placed in by some organisations, my volunteering was to drive school bus [12 seater] with no jockey to control the primary school children,the observation required to stop them putting arms and heads out of the windows of the bus made driving a very hazardous and dangerous job,I had enquired at the start of my volunteering as to the insurance etc, and was assured it was in place but was never shown a policy, after 6 months driving my blood pressure had risen to 195/110 from normal and having fastened the windows on the bus to prevent injury to the children was told by the education dept I should not have done that, I then found out that I could be sued and possibly lose all my assets if an accident occurred,at this point I made a decision to retire from that situation. If and when I volunteer again I will make sure that their is better support for the volunteer than this horrendus situation

I think the real reason people want to see an end to, or whinge about, Games like the Commonwealth Games and Olympics is because these events show a very positve side of human interaction.

Both the far left and far right would love to see conflict of a more spiteful and hateful nature. War.

Why don't we just ban Little Athletics, School Swimming, all the sporting clubs and force our youth to join the military - the dumbest, irrational of all human endeavours?

Why no mention of the violent sports like Rugby League? Milliions more of taxpayers dollars and human resource are given over to the biffo boofheads.

Why is there this new thrust against the arts and sports that focus on individual achievement and sportspersonship? Why this obsession with violent sports?

Rainer next time you win a Gold Medal I'll be the first to organise a didge in the crowd and have an Indigenous Flag for you.

Of course that is another example of supposing my white fella culture means anything to you and your mob. Seeing people with tears in their eyes and singing their anthem to me is a symbol that we are not beaten - that we have not rolled over to that mindless, meritless existence where the mark of nations greatness is the size of its surplus and how well its networked.

Rainer. I want to see a fair go and proper representation of Indigenous Peoples. After all this place is supposed to be a democracy. The problem is that we create our electoral boundaries according to geography. I think the best and most logical way of ensuring proper representation of Indigenous peoples is to build those boundaries according to history, culture and connection to the land. No other mob can claim sovereignty or whatever it is your mob call it. So in the true tradition of Australian fairplay - I think we must have all the indigenous peoples elect their representatives and create an Indigenous Peoples' electorates - kind of nation within a nation. Then you can have your own flag and anthem.

I'm a little surprised nobody commented on my point in the first post, don't anybody read other people's posts?

I would have thought some rabid leftists would have attacked it, although I don't see how they could.

Why is it that in the heart of multucultural western Sydney, all the volunteer services, as well as the community minded jobs like the ambulance, police, and fire brigade, are exclusively Anglo's & Europeans - Italians, Greeks, Yugoslavs, German, etc.

Is Australia simply a bank, a place to live, educate your kids, but you always remain loyal to the true homeland?

It really is disgusting that in Fairfield, which would have to be 80% non-European, there are still no non-European migrants who volunteer.

I believe that they volunteer within their own community, but this is ridiculous.

Is it that tolerant Australia, which has policies of deliberate positive discrimination of migrants, not let them join such service jobs? Not let them join the volunteers?

Or are the majority just xenophobic and don't care less about Australia?

I even remember about a year ago, in the Daily Telegraph, there was a full page article about a Muslim who joined the Police. It was evidence that it doesn't happen often. One would imagine that with all the trouble with their youth, they would respect Lebanese faces in the service as they do with security guards at Westfields plaza's.

Incidentally, the businesses learnt to employ Lebanese because the trouble-makers who hang out at the mall asking young women for sex, and bashing Anglo-males for sport, are so racist, they only respect their own kind.

Great future Sydney has got!

Hi Benjamin

Yes, I did take time to read your first post, and I have read your last with interest.

I concur with many of your views. I rarely say anything on OLO about Muslims and Islam - for fear of the white Australian left.

My husband and I are very pleased that we re-located from Sysney to the Sunshine Coast of Qld. Sorry, we do not have to worry about the stuff you speak of.

We live a peaceful life. Even so, I am an advocate for people who have mental health problems, and other people who are disadvantaged. But, I will never support dole bludgers.

You and other readers may think that my reply to you is off on a tangent. Read between the lines, and you will see that is not so.

Cheers
Kaay

Hi Benjamin
If you had read my post you will have noticed that I mentioned that a lot of the volunteer groups I have come in to contact with (and there are a few)can be a bit cliquey. Volunteering is a deeply entrenched australian cultural passtime, helping your mates, and pitching in when the chips are down for your neighbour are highly valued. Can I suggest having family who come from a non anglo background, that some cultures put helping family above all else and don't see volunteering in the community as important as we may. If we also look at how some organisations (eg lifesaving) promote themselves, they don't on the surface appear to be applicable to these people's lives. Not all of us are big bronzed beach lovers, which is why I chose to get on the boats.
And just a quick question back to you about your 80% of Fairfield comment, have you just counted the really big noticeable volunteer orgs? There are many culturally specific community groups around. And where did you get your numbers from or is it a generalisation from your own observations?

By Sha Cordingley, CEO Volunteering Australia: 28 March 2006

Part 1

I was intrigued to read Mirko Bagaric’s article about the Commonwealth Games volunteers posted on 20th March 2006.

Whilst we are in the midst of an intensive five-year campaign (started in the International Year of Volunteers 2001) to promote the fact that healthy communities are about volunteer participation in a multitude of areas, the author is busily injecting value judgement into the type of involvement and its relative merit. Contrary to the view postulated in the article, volunteering is often as much about means as ends.

Volunteering isn’t confined to service delivery to the frail elderly, ‘needy people’, or some form of benign charity stemming from the Poor Laws. Volunteering is about active citizenship and the building of social capital.

In reality, it is a dynamic and evolving activity where choice is fundamental and people use their skills and interests for some community benefit. In 2004 13.4 million Australians donated $5.2 billion to non-profit organisations and an additional $2 billion was raised by people buying raffle tickets. Over 41% of the adult population volunteered their time and skills for a variety of causes including aged care, victims of crime, disability services, asylum seekers and victims of torture as well as a myriad of sporting, cultural and environmental groups. This has been a steady increase from 1995 where the figures were around 24% of the population. How can the accusation that we ‘refuse to assist those in genuine need’ be levelled, when it is quite clear from the statistics that Australia is growing and developing as a volunteering and philanthropic nation.

see part 2 for end of this comment