Volunteering Australia Consultation Template
Pre-Budget Submission 2018-19

Volunteering Australia is consulting with our State and Territory volunteering peak partners and stakeholders, to gauge feedback for our 2018-19 Pre-Budget Submission, GoVolunteer/VIKTOR, and rights-based issues in relation to volunteering.

Volunteering Australia engages in consultation to ensure that our work is representative of the views of the volunteering sector. Your feedback will be vital to achieving policy outcomes for the sector.

You are not required to answer every question, only those that are relevant to you, your position or organisation.

Please use this Consultation Template when responding to the questions.

All feedback will be considered during this consultative process. Please note: it may not be possible to include everything in submissions, reports and other policy outcomes.

All feedback must be emailed to lavanya@volunteeringaustralia.org by 5pm AEST on Friday 3 November. Late submissions will not be accepted.

If you have any questions, please contact Volunteering Australia Policy and Communications Coordinator Lavanya Kala on 02 6251 4060, to discuss further.

Are you a (please check):

Volunteer

Manager of Volunteers

Other (please specify)

Do you work for (please check):

Government

Not-for-profit

Volunteering Support Service

Volunteer Involving Organisation

Other (please specify)

Contact Details:
Name
Email
Phone
Organisation
Town/Region/State

Volunteering Australia provided a Pre-Budget Submission for the 2017-18 Financial Year, that proposed a number of Budget measures to benefit the wider volunteering sector, as well as recommendations. Despite there only being a brief mention of volunteering in the 2017-18 Federal Budget, Volunteering Australia is looking to once again propose a number of Budget measures to the Government that will benefit the wider volunteering sector. You can read Volunteering Australia’s Federal Pre-Budget Submission 2017-18 here.

In your view, what are the most pertinent issues facing the volunteering sector? Examples could include funding, grants, governance or effective oversight. Do you have any recommendations on how to address these issues? Please provide examples.

Volunteers have the same rights under the law, however they are not covered by awards or workplace agreements in the same way as paid employees. There are also variations in State and Territory legislations in regards to a number of protections. Volunteering Australia recommends that Volunteer Involving Organisations consider using best-practice guidelines such as Volunteering Australia’s National Standards for Volunteer Involvement, when engaging volunteers in their organisation.

In your view, are there any volunteer rights issues in the volunteering sector that need to be addressed? Examples could include, issues relating to reimbursement, insurance, discrimination, harassment, bullying, and workplace, health &safety. Do you have any recommendations or solutions on how to address these issues? Please provide examples.

GoVolunteer is an initiative of Volunteering Australia, designed to make volunteering easier for everyone. The service links volunteers with opportunities or organisations with volunteers. Volunteering Australia is also seeking feedback on user experience of VIKTOR volunteer management software.

If you use GoVolunteer and/or VIKTOR, please describe your experience using it. Do you have any feedback on your use of the service, or any areas in which you would like to see improvement? Please provide a detailed response.

Are there any other areas of concern that you would like to raise with Volunteering Australia?

Thank you for participating.