“I make a difference in this world with what I do”: Older Australians and Volunteering

Australian volunteers contribute to their communities and assist individuals in critically important ways. Some organisations are highly dependent on the work of volunteers and may not exist without them. Yet the full extent of volunteers’ contributions is generally unrecognised by Australian society at large. This is especially so within statistics about national productivity and the economy because the work is unpaid. This invisibility is an injustice to the people who participate in volunteering and thus provide crucial services to Australia.