Parliamentary Inquiry into Volunteering

A Parliamentary Inquiry is when Parliament decides to send an issue to a Committee of MPs to examine an issue in depth. It receives submissions from the community, holds public hearings, and provides a report with recommendations back to the Parliament. The government then has up to six months to provide its response to the recommendations.

Apart from being a good opportunity to inform our elected representatives, it is also a great way for those with an interest in the topic to hear other people’s views and ideas. Submissions and transcripts of public hearings are put online (with occasional exceptions), so everyone can examine them.

Approximately two-thirds of Queenslanders over 15 years old are volunteers, that’s 2.8 million people out of 4.3 million. Volunteering happens in every part of the state and underpins every sector of society. If we can improve the number and effectiveness of volunteers, it will massively improve our communities in a multitude of ways. But if numbers continue to decline, retention rates fall and under-investment in volunteering continues, the harm to our social fabric will be incalculable – particularly for people and communities in need.

Volunteers are a bedrock which keeps our communities functioning – the golden thread which weaves through our social fabric, adding colour to the rich tapestry of our communities and holding it all together. It matters to all of us. It rarely gets adequate attention because is the invisible glue hiding in plain sight.

If you have volunteers involved in your organisation or need more of them, if you work with groups who do, or if you are a volunteer yourself, this Inquiry especially matters to you.

The Committee has been asked to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly by 18 September 2025 on:

• • The current state of volunteering in Queensland and the value it contributes, including benefits to volunteers, organisations, communities and the state;

• • The views of volunteers, prospective volunteers and the volunteering sector on the current barriers to volunteering, including excessive legislative and regulatory burdens and other restrictions adversely limiting active volunteers;

• • The current experiences, motivations and challenges for volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations and their recommendations for addressing challenges and improving the volunteering experience;

• • The unique challenges experienced by people from diverse backgrounds, genders, age groups, abilities and locations, and opportunities to improve volunteering participation, accessibility and experience for these groups;

• • The extent, effectiveness and efficiency of current government support at all levels for the volunteering sector in Queensland and sustainable opportunities for improvement;

• • Opportunities for the Queensland government to leverage all portfolios to support growth in volunteering across Queensland, including through hosting the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games;

• • Opportunities to increase emergency response volunteering in Queensland, including how to optimise the engagement, support and integration of volunteers assisting with natural disasters and community recovery;

• • First Nations peoples volunteering, including in remote and discrete communities, and the role of First Nations volunteering in Closing the Gap; and

• • Any other relevant matters, including academic and other diverse sources, and any relevant reports and reviews at the national level and across other states and territories.

1. Write a submission: A submission can be on behalf of an organisation or group of people or on your own behalf. Submissions can be as short or as long as you want. A single page or a single idea can be as valuable as 100 pages. If it’s a long submission, it’s a good idea to include a summary of the main points and any recommendations. If you’re are unable to provide a written submission, you can contact the Committee to discuss other options.
2. Read this guide about how to make a submission.
3. Encourage organisations or volunteers to write a submission.
4. Spread the word through your local networks, community media, local representatives for people to tell their stories.

The committee invites submissions addressing any aspect of the inquiry from all interested parties.
Guidelines for making a submission to a parliamentary committee are available here. Please ensure your submission meets these requirements.

The closing date for written submissions is 5pm, Friday 28 February 2025.

Click here to make a submission.

Through this link, you can write your submission or upload a file containing your written submission.

If you are unable to provide a written submission, please contact the secretariat to discuss other options.

Submissions must include:

• the author’s full name
• if the submission is made on behalf of an organisation, the level of approval (e.g. a local branch, executive committee or national organisation), and
• at least two of the following:

• • email address
  • mailing address, and
  • daytime telephone number.

Please ensure your submission includes the above or it may not be considered by the committee.

The committee intends to hold a series of public hearings commencing March 2025. Details will be posted on the committee’s web page once they are confirmed.

Everything!

Share your challenges, your solutions, your experiences and your ideas. If it is meaningful to you and you want to share it, you can.

All details about the Inquiry, as well as submissions and other related publications are on the Committee’s website.

Volunteering Queensland will be providing regular updates about the Inquiry, as well as tips and advice on how to write a submission to the Inquiry.

You can send information or research, or share any thoughts or suggested recommendations you have to our advocacy advisor andrew.bartlett@volunteeringqld.org.au

Ann Leahy, who at the time was Shadow Minister for Volunteers, promised in May 2024 that if elected, the LNP would establish an inquiry looking at opportunities and barriers to volunteering. The LNP decided this would be on their list of early priorities if they won government, which is why this Inquiry has been initiated so soon after the election. The government moved a motion in Parliament to establish the Inquiry, which was supported by all parties & MPs.

The Inquiry is being conducted by the Local Government, Small Business and Customer Service Committee, which is responsible (among other things) for volunteering matters. The MPs conducting the Inquiry are listed on the Committee’s webpage. There are 3 LNP members & 3 ALP members. 

The Committee is Chaired by Mr James Lister MP from Southern Downs, and the Deputy Chair is Mrs Margie Nightingale from Inala. 3 of the Committee’s members are based in regional & rural electorates, and 3 are from electorates in the SEQ metropolitan area.

While only the six MPs on the Committee are formally conducting the Inquiry, you can always talk to any of your Council, state of federal elected representatives about volunteering issues in your area. You can also ask them to promote local volunteering and encourage local volunteer groups to participate in this Inquiry.

While this is common, it is not automatic. The Committee will present its final report, including any recommendations, to the Parliament. The government is required to respond to these recommendations within six months. They are not required to adopt all of the recommendations, although normally their response would include reasons explaining their decisions.

No this is not required, although many Committee reports are adopted unanimously by all members of the Committee. If they wish, any member of the Committee can add additional comments or recommendations, or include comments in the final report dissenting from the majority view on certain matters.

This is completely up to the government of the day, and the nature of the recommendations. A simple recommendation may able to be implemented immediately, a proposal requiring funding may need to go a whole-of-government process that is part of formulating each year’s Budget expenditure, a suggested program may need to be run as a trial or rolled out over a long period, or adopting an agreed principle or approach may be aimed at continuing permanent implementation.

A lot of local, national and international research has been published about volunteering. We will have a page on our website which will include a sample of this for you to draw on or share. We are also happy to receive suggestions for information you think we should include.

It is up to you as to how much time you have available to participate in the Inquiry. Just sending in a single page of ideas or information based on your own activities or knowledge can still be helpful. But if you are part of a sector which has a peak body, umbrella organisation or a head office, it can be a good idea to make sure they know about the Inquiry, encourage them to contribute something on behalf of their wider sector or organisation, and – should you wish – to let them know what you are planning to provide to the Inquiry.

Part of our role is to make sure as many people as possible are aware of the Inquiry and to encourage them to participate. It is not our role to tell people what they should raise. You are welcome to draw on ideas or principles Volunteering Queensland has raised in our publications and advocacy, or to seek advice from us about how to present the ideas and information you want to share. But the Inquiry has been established to hear genuine ideas perspectives and experiences, from as many people and organisations as possible.

It is not appropriate for Volunteering Queensland to draft or write submissions for others, but we are happy to provide assistance or advice on how to most effectively present what you want to tell the Inquiry. We recommend you also have a look at this guide from the Queensland Parliament on making a submission.

Most submissions are lodged with the Committee online via the Inquiry website, or via email, but Committees can accept submissions in other formats. It is best to contact the Committee directly to discuss how best to do this. Their contact details are on their website. 

• State of Volunteering in Queensland reports
  

• Volunteering Queensland’s 2024-25 Budget submission to the Queensland government, and 2024 state election priorities.
   

•  National Standards for Volunteer Involvement.
   

• National Knowledge Base – a collection of useful resources collated by Volunteering Australia to support effective volunteer management
   

• Other resources, including material research, disaster resilience resources, corporate volunteering and more.
   

• State of the World’s Volunteering Report 2018