Minister for Social Inclusion Tanya Plibersek made the announcement in recognition of Australia’s volunteers on International Volunteers Day.

“As we celebrate International Volunteers Day, the Government is pleased to announce it will establish a Volunteer Advisory Group to provide expert advice on how to best encourage community service,” said Minister Plibersek.

The Minister said that the advisory group will provide advice to the Government in the lead up to the release of the National Volunteering Strategy.

She said that the strategy will guide the Government and the community on increasing volunteering in Australia, and will assist the Government to create an environment in which volunteering is encouraged, supported and properly recognised.

“Australian volunteers contribute more than 700 million hours of unpaid work each year to their communities, valued in monetary terms at $15 billion per year.

“The Gillard Labor Government would like to thank all Australian volunteers for their tireless work and commitment to helping others.”

Meanwhile, Volunteering Australia has released the preliminary results from itsNational Survey of Volunteering Issues.

This survey looks at the issues that affect volunteering from the aspect of volunteers, volunteer based organisations and companies with corporate volunteering programs. This first release is a preamble to the full report which will be released at a later date.

The survey can be found online at Volunteering Australia.