2017-06-12

From the outset of her speech, Bennett highlights the roles that volunteers play in our everyday lives. She offers a personal angle as she details how her ‘‘own mother’’ has benefitted from the ‘‘helping hands’’ of these volunteers. Bennett’s experience with these services gives credibility to her speech, convincing her audience that she herself has witnessed the impact that volunteering can make to an elderly person’s day to day life. The audience is likely to agree with her stance that volunteers ‘‘are so much a part of everyday life’’ as they are prompted to recall ‘‘the many things (volunteers) do without expecting a reward’’ from their own experience or through others’. Bennett employs the term ‘‘silent angels’’ to describe the volunteers, which carries connotations of being kind and holy, hinting that volunteers undoubtedly make our lives ‘‘better’’ without asking for recognition. Such a comparison is likely to generate a positive response from the audience, encouraging them to share her belief that the ‘‘enormous’’ contribution should not be overlooked or forgotten. She further reinforces her view by claiming that the bigsplash award ‘‘will help to change this situation’’ of volunteers being undervalued, in doing so emphasising the extent to which volunteering has assisted in our daily lives.

In addition to providing help with day to day activities, Bennett argues that volunteers improve living standards by assisting with events and emergencies both in Australia and overseas. She poses the compelling question, ‘‘What would be do without them?’’ and proceeds to answer her question with descriptions of major events with no ambulance volunteers and ‘‘no one....watching to keep us safe in the water.’’ The image she created is one of helplessness and vulnerability, evoking a sense of loss in the audience as they picture their lives without the assistance of volunteeers. Few could remain unmoved as they acknowledge that the work of volunteers are paramount to the success of events as well as the safety of patrons. Furthermore, Bennett offers her audience statistic figures from the website ‘Volunteering Australia’ which reveals that ‘‘the total amount of time volunteered by Australians wasestimated to be 713 million hours.’’ The comprehensive research adds authority to her stance that volunteers’ contribution is ‘‘enormous’’ and deserves recognition for their kindness in a world often ‘‘obsessed with money.’’ As such, the audience is likely to join in her call for citizens worldwide to ‘‘thank’’ these ‘‘Australian heroes’’ for their help with events and emergencies both in Australia and overseas.

At the core of her speech Bennett firmly believes that volunteers deserve to be recognised and this recognition will encourage further volunteering. She emphasises the importance of maintaining unpaid contribution as she claims that volunteering is a ‘‘fundamental part of a civilised society.’’ She utilises the inclusive pronoun ‘‘we’’ to refer to us all as citizens of the Earth, aiming to point out the fact that volunteering brings people from all walks of life together. Appealing to a sense of unity, she gracefully reminds the audience that volunteers ‘‘stitches together the social fabric of our nation’’ and creates a bond between nations around the world. Such an array could not fail to affect her listeners as they reflect on the impact that volunteering has on earth, the one society and world that we are all part of. The accompanying visual which depicts two hands holding another with the words ‘Giving back to the volunteers of Australia’ reaffirms Bennett’s stance that volunteering unites humans together and thus the act of kindness through volunteering needs to be valued so that as citizens of earth we can work together to create a better society.