The Volunteers Protection Act (external link) provides a level of protection for volunteers so that they may feel comfotable in fullfilling their volunteer obligations.

The legislation establishes an environment to prevent a volunteer from incurring personal civil liability for any acts or omissions done in good faith when performing community work organised by a community organisation.

The Act provides no protection for an organisation. In fact, the Act transfers personal liability from the individual to the organisation. Organisations should therefore look at their risk management— (150 kb PDF) policies and procedures and ensure they have adequate insurance — (90 kb PDF).

The development of this legislation included a community consultation process. The associated discussion paper— (1.52Mb pdf) is available for download.