QFES Volunteerism Strategy Discussion Paper : 2017

olunteerism Strategy

Discussion Paper : 2017

From a Queensland perspective, these risks are exacerbated by

a number of external societal and environmental changes. With

an estimated resident population of 4.8 million people, Queensland

is experiencing growth at a rate of 1.4 percent with overseas migration

accounting for 31 per cent

of this.

A majority of Queensland’s population is concentrated in coastal regions, and

the South East corner of Queensland has traditionally “outpaced growth in all

other regions.”

However, more recently the gap between rural Queensland and South East

Queensland migration has started to narrow.

While some rural areas are beginning

to experience a decline, other peri-urban areas are experiencing rapid population

growth. These changes present a number of challenges to local brigades and groups

in terms of maintaining service delivery, as well as pre-empting service needs and

capabilities.

These risks are further compounded by increased severe weather patterns and

climatic changes that will have a dramatic impact on future storm and fire season

severity and length. These also have the potential to cause significant risk to ongoing

emergency service delivery.

There has also been a shift in volunteerism trends identifying changes to social

and economic conditions that have generally led to people becoming increasingly

time-poor. This has affected their availability and willingness to commit to traditional

models of volunteering. Instead, there is a preference to support smaller project-

based volunteering or roles that can adapt to their lifestyle needs. For QFES this has

been most noticeable in attracting and retaining the next generation of volunteers for

the department.

What this environment means for QFES

3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2016). Population growth, Queensland, June quarter 2016. Released 15 December

2016.

Website viewed 14.03.2017

4. Queensland Government Statistician’s Office (QGSO), Queensland Treasury, Population growth highlights and trends,

Queensland, 2016 edition.

highlights-trends-qld-2016-edn.pdf

Website viewed 14.03.2017

5. Ibid.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services