Council on the Ageing Queensland’s response
To turn this momentum into results, we’re encouraging the state government to pair the plan with a clear resourcing strategy and forward budgeting, including dedicated funding for a statewide network of volunteering hubs and a targeted reimbursement pilot in high-impact areas. This is particularly important for volunteer emergency services, so personal costs don’t become a barrier to service. This includes:
A single, whole-of-government plan
We strongly support a plan that brings agencies together, sets measurable goals, and gives volunteers clear, consistent pathways. This includes online, by phone, and via local hubs to get involved. Clear accountability, milestones and public reporting will reduce duplication, align messages and make it far easier to navigate entry points—especially for people re-joining after a break.
Local volunteering hubs—funded and sustained
We welcome the focus on strong, local hubs as an accessible ‘front door.’ Hubs help people find roles close to home, provide friendly support with forms and checks, and match skills to real community needs. For older Queenslanders, hubs are places to learn new systems, try short new roles and connect socially. To succeed, hubs need secure, multi-year funding in the forward estimates for staffing (coordinators), outreach (including mobile outreach in regional/remote communities), and assisted digital/phone support, not just short-term pilot grants.
Faster sign-ups that respect experience
Recognising prior learning and allowing training while onboarding is exactly the right direction. Many older volunteers bring decades of capability, such as in administration, logistics, mentoring, radio/communications. They shouldn’t have to start from scratch. Speeding up the process keeps momentum and respects people’s time.
Portable checks and simpler compliance
Momentum toward portability of credentials and streamlined safety checks is welcome. Reducing repeated paperwork and harmonising requirements between agencies and organisations will remove a major friction point and make it easier to help where the need is greatest.
Inclusion and community-led approaches
We support efforts to ensure volunteering is welcoming and culturally safe, with First Nations, multicultural and regional communities supported to lead their own solutions. That’s how we grow both participation and local ownership.
Promoting the wellbeing benefits
Volunteering is good for mental and physical health and social connection. Celebrating that publicly, alongside practical reforms and funded local supports, will bring more people back into the sector and encourage first-time volunteers to give it a go.
Together, these reforms, properly resourced, will make volunteering simpler, friendlier and more respectful of the skills people bring. They align with what Council on the Ageing Queensland has advocated previously: cut administrative clutter, back local infrastructure, and value experience.
Next Steps:
The Committee has acknowledged that reimbursement options should be explored, and we support that direction. We’re not proposing reimbursement everywhere. Budgets are real and contexts differ. But for priority volunteering areas where the public benefit is high and personal costs are unavoidable, especially volunteer emergency service work like the Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ), a modest, well-designed approach can keep experienced people engaged and help new members say “yes.”
RFSQ volunteers often travel to training and callouts and spend long hours away from home. For those on fixed incomes, fuel and a basic meal add up; when serving your community means dipping into your own pocket, it becomes a barrier to staying involved. There are interstate arrangements that provide targeted relief during major incidents or for defined duties; while systems differ, the principle is comparable, and Queensland can adapt it to our context.
Consistent with the Inquiry Committee’s recommendations, our ask to the Queensland Government is that a whole-of-government volunteering plan includes:
- A reimbursement framework for priority volunteer roles with primary consideration given to emergency services (a focussed RFSQ trial in selected regions, co-designed with volunteers and services, tracked recruitment and retention, published results, and assessment of scalability)
- A fully costed resourcing plan for the network of volunteering hubs, including multi-year funding for coordinators, outreach (including mobile outreach models), and digital and phone support to ensure access for older Queenslanders especially in regional and rural communities.
The combination of action on reimbursement and forward-budgeted resourcing for the hubs removes cost barriers and funds local practical supports, the backbone of the volunteering, and this supports all other reforms.
You can contact us at: policy@cotaqld.org.au with the subject line ‘Volunteering Inquiry’ if you want to share your views and experiences as an older person volunteering in Queensland.