VC’s corner
campusreview.com.au
Volunteers contribute an enormous
amount to Australia’s major civic
institutions, including universities.
By Adam Shoemaker
T
The
volunteer
revolution
20
he slogan ‘more give, less take’
applies far more to universities
than to any bank in Australia. And
that fact is even more pronounced in
regional areas.
As the 2016 federal census revealed,
there are all sorts of developing – and
accelerating – differences between capital
cities and regional hubs. Over the past
year as vice-chancellor of Southern Cross
University, I have been privileged to learn
just how important those regional cities
can be. There is no doubt that many people
are surprised by the huge contribution that
regional cities – and campuses – can and
do make.
Take the phenomenon of volunteering
– genuinely agreed to be a hallmark of
an enlightened society. As Bernard Salt
and other commentators have observed,
not only is the overall rate of volunteering
increasing across Australia, but “the most
civic-minded Australians are based in rural,
regional and remote parts of the nation”.*
In the major capitals, 19 per cent of
the population give their time voluntarily,
whether to sporting clubs, cultural groups
or religious associations. In regional and
remote areas, the figure is 26 per cent.
And in cities and suburbs that surround
universities, the figure can be far, far higher.
That is a very significant difference.
We saw that volunteering impulse come
to the fore in April 2017 in the Northern
Rivers region of NSW, the backyard of
our university. Once-in-a-generation
floods in the wake of Cyclone Debbie
wiped out more than $400 million of
wealth, infrastructure and livelihood in just
three days. It was devastating. But what
was incredible was the response. From
Murwillumbah to Lismore, staff at the
university rose up to assist. The local head
of the St John Ambulance brigade (a full-
time member of our library staff) had never
been so busy. She lived her volunteering
experience for nearly six days in a row,
with only a few hours’ sleep in between.
It was legendary.
The most common question that I
received throughout the crisis was about