4 February, 2011
2CC Canberra The Drive Show
With Mike Welsh
4 February 2011
3:10pm
E & OE
Subjects: AUSCORPS proposal
MIKE WELSH:
Mitch Fifield had an article in The Punch today about it being high time that we had some sort of specific group put together an army if you like of volunteers, organised and ready to be dispatched to the areas of greatest need. Mitch Fifield is a Liberal Senator for Victoria and Shadow Minister for Disabilities, and he’s on the line. Mitch, good afternoon. Thank you for your time.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Hi Mike, how are you?
WELSH:
Good. So, am I reading it right, your suggestion is for something that is trained up like a reserve, like the Army Reserve, for example?
FIFIELD:
Well, not quite that formal. I think the good news is that the voluntary spirit is alive and well in Australia. And when it comes to the crunch, as we’ve seen with the floods and cyclones, we know that Australians will step up. Where we come in to more difficulty is volunteering year in, year out. And what we’re finding is that the number of volunteers are dwindling, and they’re getting older. So we need to find a way to encourage a new generation of volunteers.
WELSH:
Was something like this a commitment by the Government the Labor Government prior to the last election?
FIFIELD:
No, it wasn’t. Labor, at their 2020 Summit in 2008, canvassed the idea of a national volunteer corps. In fact, Kevin Rudd said it was one of the best ideas out of the 2020 Summit. But nothing came of it. The Coalition actually took to the last election an idea which I raised in my first speech to the Senate in 2004 and that was that we seek to give university students a discount on their HECS debt for each hour of volunteer work that they do. Say $10 an hour, up to 200 hours a year you’d give them a $2000 break on their HECS debt. The idea would be that you encourage younger people to take part in volunteer work in the hope that in later life they would continue in that practice.
WELSH:
So would there be a training element to it?
FIFIELD:
Well it would be up to the particular voluntary organisation. So you could have someone, under this scheme, coaching the junior footy team, being a scout leader, or working in meals on wheels. So it would be up to those organisations to provide the training for those volunteers.
WELSH:
So, in Canberra, for example, we have a lot of university students who are young people here. They’d be doing x amount of hours per month. But I’m just wondering if your plan is to have the volunteer corps expanded, so when events like what’s happened in Queensland happen, you can send 50 or 60 people with specific skills to a specific area of need?
FIFIELD:
Well that could be a possibility if you had a group of students who chose to join the SES as their particular voluntary organisation. So if they had those skills, you could certainly deploy those people.
WELSH:
Now what sort of interest are you getting from those who might need to be a part of it ie, the universities?
FIFIELD:
Well when we announced the idea in the lead up to the last election, we got a very strong reaction from young people at universities, who thought it was terrific. It’s a great opportunity for them to contribute to the community but also to have a bit of their HECS debt waived. So we got a very positive reaction.
WELSH:
But now you have to nudge Julia along and get it happening in real terms.
FIFIELD:
Well that’s right. Sure, it was originally a Coalition idea, but the Labor Government at the 2020 Summit said they thought it was a great idea and wanted to do it. Just because Kevin Rudd said that it was a good idea is no reason for Julia Gillard not to do it. She said that this will be the year of decision and delivery, so I think this is an easy decision for her to make.
WELSH:
Good to talk to you, thanks for the information Mitch.
FIFIELD:
Thanks Mike.
WELSH:
Good luck with it. That was Mitch Fifield.
ENDS