Insurance Rises Putting Volunteers Out Of Action
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday April 6, 2002
The Australian tradition of getting in and giving it a go will be the next casualty of crippling insurance premiums.
A crisis meeting convened by Volunteering NSW and Aon Insurance yesterday heard that Australia would lose its record volunteer numbers because there would simply be no more local events for which people could offer their services.
Some volunteers may also opt out because they could not afford personal accident insurance.
Premium rises of more than 800 per cent for some community groups meant fewer and fewer options for volunteer work, the conference heard.
``Many volunteers work in smaller organisations receiving very little funding and with no paid staff at all," the chief operating officer of Volunteering NSW, Joy Barnett, said.
``There could easily become a situation of so many people wanting to volunteer but no community events to operate with."
People may also hesitate to volunteer as they feared the financial repercussions if events or groups were not covered.
This would impact on the unemployed looking to further their skills through volunteer work, according to Adam Badenoch, of Volunteering NSW
``It is not acceptable for people who give of their time to be expected to have to pay their own accident insurance," he said.
Volunteer numbers are integral to campaigns such as Clean Up Australia Day which operates with only 15 office staff but has attracted more than six million volunteers since it began.
But the chief executive, Ian Kiernan, told the conference yesterday personal accident insurance was not an option for the campaign. ``Clean Up Australia simply cannot afford personal risk insurance for our volunteers," he said.
``A quote we received this year put the cost at $700,000."
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald
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