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Well thank you very Mr Morris. To Mr Turner, To Heather Thurland,
to my Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentleman. Can I particularly
acknowledge Heather's involvement in today's event. We're
very proud of your sporting achievements. I think we're equally
proud of the fact that you have so willingly associated yourself
with an organisation which is synonymous with looking after the
less fortunate in the Australian community. And I would have thought
that you spoke for the mothers and fathers of all children in Australia
when you said that there would be nothing worse for a parent, mother
or father, to feel that they could not provide for their children,
particularly at Christmas time. And that of course is what this
great organisation is about and I'm delighted to be here today
to formally launch the Christmas appeal of the Smith Family.
The Smith Family is one of the great volunteer organisations of
Australia. It's an organisation that from the earliest of my
recollections of Christmas I associated with helping people who
needed help at Christmas time. You think of the Christmas story
in the Bible, you think of the things associated with Christmas,
and Santa Claus, and then in a sense you started thinking of organisations
like the Smith Family and the Salvation Army. And it has played
a part in my own recollection of Christmas from my very earliest
days.
I had an interesting experience last week at ACOSS when I made
some remarks about the respective role in our society of the government,
the welfare sector, the business community and individuals and I've
been quite interested, indeed fascinated, to examine some of the
response to those remarks that I made and I'm very glad that
I made those remarks because they did begin to generate a debate
within the community about the contribution that all of us must
make to looking after the less fortunate amongst the Australian
community.
Those remarks were not designed to be critical of the many business
men and women, and a number of them are here today, who over the
years have given unstintingly of their own personal resources and
also of their time and professional skill to help great charitable
organisations. But they were designed to indicate that there are
some in the business community that don't necessarily match
the example of others.
They were also designed to make the point that helping the needy
and the less fortunate in Australian society must be a partnership.
We as a government do not expect the burden to be shifted to the
welfare sector or to the business community. We recognise that whoever
is in government there is an ongoing role for the government on
behalf of the community to support organisations and to help organisations
like the Smith Family.
That is one of the reasons why there has been a very big increase
in the amount of emergency relief provided by the Federal Government
to organisations like the Smith Family over the past couple of years.
And I'm very proud of the fact that despite budget cutbacks
in other areas we were able to dramatically increase the amount
of emergency relief to the different welfare organisations in the
Australian community. And for example, last year some $1 million
was provided out of that emergency relief fund for the Smith Family
alone.
But the point I sought to make was that it is a partnership. We
as a government have a role, the business community has a role,
individuals have a role and the volunteer sector of welfare in this
community has a very important role as well. And we can only achieve
the goals we set ourselves, and we can only help in the most practical
way possible if we work together. It's not a question of us
saying it's your responsibility now. That is not the point.
It is a collective partnership. One where the Government plays a
very important role but recognising that it can't do it all
on its own because it doesn't have the expertise.
There is nothing quite like an organisation which is steeped in
the spirit of volunteerism to provide compassionate care for the
less fortunate within our community. That extra special commitment
that is born of a personal desire to help somebody and to help a
cause is quite irreplaceable. You can't buy it with money,
you can't supplement it with paid help although professional
welfare workers are a very important part of the network.
But there is something special like an organisation as such as
the Smith Family and that is why I'm particularly pleased on
behalf of the Government to be associated with it, to commend its
efforts since 1922 when it was formed, to applaud it for its commitment
particularly at Christmas time to ensuring that no children in Australia,
to the extent that that is possible, go without care and go without
assistance and go without sharing the joy of Christmas along with
the many more fortunate children within our community who don't
need any kind of assistance.
So I'm very pleased to launch this appeal. I'm very pleased
to announce a contribution of $5,000 from the Federal Government
towards the Christmas appeal. I want to salute the work of the Smith
Family. I want to thank it for what it has done to relieve the hardship
of so many children and families generally throughout the Australian
community. I want to thank the many men and women in business who've
helped it. I want to endorse and emphasise again the importance
I stressed last week of a partnership between the Government, the
community, individuals, and business to ensure that we have a world
class sensitive welfare sector in Australia, a peculiarly Australian
model may I say of providing welfare in this country. One that we
don't seek to copy from any other country. One that has been
particularly fashioned to suit the needs of the Australian community.
And a great streak of that is the volunteerism that is within so
many of us in which gave birth to the Smith Family and has sustained
it ever since it was formed back in 1922.
I thank all of you. I particularly thank the leaders of the Smith
Family for the work they do. I compliment them on behalf of the
Government. I wish the appeal well. I hope it is widely and generously
supported by the Australian community. Thank you.