Volunteer Power and what changes are coming for Outdoor Activities

Volunteers quietly hold up the outdoor industry, and the numbers are bigger than most people realize. We start by grounding ourselves in community and workforce pathways, including what we’re hearing from students at a careers day and why outdoor leadership roles are still “unknown” to too many young people. Then we zoom out for National Volunteer Week and put real data behind the gratitude: volunteer participation, hours, and the huge economic value that flows through sport, physical recreation, and outdoor activities, from trail maintenance and landcare to committees, boards, and mentoring.

Next, we tackle the bigger shifts coming toward outdoor recreation and outdoor tourism. Victoria’s Outdoor Recreation Bill signals a new approach to governance and a planned digital hub for bush users, raising a practical question: is this a model other states will follow? We also unpack key takeaways from European Outdoor Week, where “feel good” sustainability storytelling is being replaced by accountability, transparent metrics, and circular economy design. Extended Producer Responsibility and digital product passports are not distant concepts anymore. They’re shaping the expectations that outdoor brands, operators, and consumers will live with, including here in Australia.

We also share updates that matter for day to day operations: free access to mandatory Australian standards referenced in legislation, plus a clear walkthrough of the AAAS review and the emerging knowledge, skills, and experience framework across domains, capability levels, and context from urban to wilderness. We round out with member benefits, the snow activities guidance note, the upcoming Uploads upgrade for incident reporting, and a packed calendar of masterclasses, awards, and leadership development opportunities.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why We Gather

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Outdoors New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, weekly Outdoor Industry Connect and Share Forum. Where ideas thrive, collaborations spark, and our industry comes together to grow. Let's connect, share, and make an impact. This episode is recorded live with our professional outdoor friends and provided post-event as a resource for the outdoor industry.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Good morning everyone. Welcome to another Connect and Share with Outdoors New South Wales and ACT.

Acknowledging Country And Community

SPEAKER_01 0:34

And before we get into a lot of information about what's happening this week and next week and beyond, we would love to acknowledge the traditional owners and the lands in which we all come from today and pay our respects to elders, past, present, and those we're working with today for the future of connection to country.

Careers Pathways In Outdoor Leadership

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Interesting week. Yesterday I was at a careers day where I partnered with TAFE to promote our outdoor leadership qualifications. Really pleased to hear a strong cohort of students going through the course at the moment. And by going to these opportunities, we can then ensure that we've got a lot more interested in coming through. We saw everyone from year eight through to year 12 and uh yeah, getting an understanding about what everyone's wanting to do. Interesting, the image on screen actually was provided by TAFE where they asked the kids as they came in, what do you want to do in your career? Quite a different um mix of what was on there, um, including someone wanted to be a man. Uh, that that's a really good start. We had uh tattooing artists, everything from marine science right through to uh army and beyond. But uh it's good to educate on our careers and what they look like because they are one of the unknown areas of uh a student's opportunity. So um another great opportunity to connect with more students at that event.

National Volunteer Week By The Numbers

SPEAKER_01 2:02

But it's National Volunteer Week, and I would love to thank all of our volunteers, but I thought I'd give you a bit of a snapshot of the volunteer sector when it comes to the outdoor industry. Uh, this week is a whole lot of different volunteer uh events, and uh we'll start off by giving you some of that data. You can see here that the outdoor industry is part of what we know as sport and physical recreation when it comes to categorizing volunteers. And uh there was 9.5 million volunteers in Australia in 2025. That actually actually constitutes close to 42.8% of all people over 18, over 15, sorry, in Australia. So quite a high number. Now that could be everything from you know an hour contribution right through to many hours contribution, but quite a staggering number when we look at pretty much close to 15% of our adults. Our volunteer hours were up since 2020, no doubt. We actually had quite a different scenario back in 2020, but we did have time on our hands in 2020. So um, whether that uh is influenced by the fact that we're just getting back to our activities or there's a lot more demand from uh volunteers today. So ours volunteered was up to 618 million hours. Incredible, which then when it equates to an economic value, you can see the the figure on the bottom there, uh, using the formula that they use in the ABS for the impact of volunteers, it's worth a staggering $290 billion to the Australian economy. So that's of course, you know, overall. But when we look at our top one volunteering category, guess what? That is us. We do combine with sport in that category, but it does constitute 30.7% of all volunteers are in the sport and physical recreation sector. That um is a huge benefit to us, and as we know, we have a huge GDP of $11 billion annually. And um so when we look at our volunteers, uh we're constituting up to 10,000 uh local and 2,000 internationally that are connected to our particular sector. But when we look at the volunteers that are actually in the outdoors, it's quite varied. And you can see yourself probably in here as well as people that you're connected to. But certainly trail maintenance and and uh care and building is is um up there when our when we look at our mountain bike trails and community parks and things like that. We've also got land care, which councils heavily invest in and support volunteers in land care so they can manage um noxious weeds and all the different um aspects of land that need to be cared for. Uh, and still a growing number in that space, uh, that volunteer. Of course, safety patrols, whether that be in clubs or uh events, uh event marshalling, and I'll use Park Run as a great example of a huge uh cohort of volunteers that support physical activity. Um, junior coaching, guiding, leading. Uh, it's not just in sport, it's in recreation as well, as we know, through uh paddle clubs and uh all the different types of activities that uh we do in the outdoors. Certainly conservation work is in there, um, but then you look at really where all of our volunteers as Outdoors New South Wales and ACT sit, and they're on boards and committees and reviews, reviewing standards, um, but also our scouts and our guides are heavily volunteer run, driven, and uh, and embedded in what they do every day. So, as you can see, it's not something to be sneezed at. Uh, our last census um dictated that we have 38% of our workforce that are volunteer in the outdoor industry. So, on this week, um, and always, I say thank you to our amazing volunteers that make up not only our outdoors New South Wales ACT board, but also our committees, which are currently the strong four. We've got a few on the side that we activate as needed, but our strong four committees are our outdoor learning committee, our adventure guides committee, our trailbike committee, and our mountain bike committee. So a huge thank you to all those people that give up their expertise, time, and energy in supporting our activities in those areas. And as we are nearly to the graduation of our second pinnacle leadership program, a huge call out to our mentors who are supporting our women through this program and connecting with them every month, making sure that they are on track with their program and supporting them in their uh their evolution into leadership. And of course, outside of that, as we know, we've got the AAAS review happening at the moment, and there's a lot of people involved in those committees. So, whether it's the core or the good practice guides or just generically coming along and giving feedback, um, that is certainly appreciated because that only helps build a better industry into the future. And of course, our vet review committees as well. So there's a lot going on that requires our volunteers to be involved in, and we are so much better for that. So, thank you.

Victoria Outdoor Recreation Bill Explained

SPEAKER_01 7:31

On to other news the outdoor recreation bill in Victoria comes into effect on the 1st of July. This is going to be an interesting shift and move that Australia hasn't actually seen before. It's actually consolidating the Victorian Fisheries Authority, the Game Management Authority into one statutory authority. And it also expands beyond that scope, including things like fishing, game hunting, forward driving, off-grid camping, boating, and probably more. A digital hub is planned for Bush users. So it's an interesting mix of what's actually happening in relation to state government in Victoria. So uh probably a provocation or a question for everyone. You know, is this model going to work for the outdoor industry? Is it something that other states need to look at carefully and uh see where it heads and something that they would introduce? So there's a bit of a thought process for this morning.

Europe Tightens Sustainability Accountability

SPEAKER_01 8:33

This week was the European Outdoor Week. So I thought I'd do a deep dive into actually what was actually talked about, uh, what was on the agenda, because often we find that uh you know it's not that long after that that influence then takes effect in other countries such as Australia. So the deep dive was um certainly the theme was no excuses, and it was very heavily connected to environmental impact. So it was certainly meant to be a provocative tagline, um, and it gathered about 400 brands in Italy across the outdoor industry. So certainly talking about sustainability commitments and feel-good storytelling is definitely over. What people are demanding is stats, accountability, transparent data, and a real circularity built into products that are designed, sold, and repaired. So, what Europe does mandate is certainly something that we need to watch. The first one, the EPR, is that brands that sell products in Europe, including many global outdoor brands distributed in Australia, are now legally responsible for what happens to their products at their life end. So this has been expanded to include textiles and uh something that's come into effect. The next one that was due to come into effect uh in 2027 is a digital passport so that every updoor product sold in the EU will now need a scannable digital record. So that's materials, supply chain, repairability instructions, recycling pathways, um, substances of any concern. All of it needs to be transparent and verifiable. So a huge change for a lot of the manufacturers, uh, of course, of these products. And the uh third one there, which was really underpinning the whole outdoor week, was the biosphere is national, the natural capital. So not an inexhaustible resource to extract from, but a balance sheet that businesses have to have a responsibility to maintain. So businesses are being pushed into reducing environmental dependencies, measuring that negative impact, and managing ecological risk in their supply chains and operations. So the no excuses mandate is really coming in in that in that theme. So certainly the consumers are now expecting that data-backed sustainability claim. Australian consumers are also increasing that literate too. So the brands that have to get ahead of this will certainly lead in this space. And you might know, uh we'll talk about it in a little bit, but our own masterclass will be looking at EarthCheck coming along, and they will be talking at depth about the movements in the space as providers, as leaders, as businesses in the outdoor industry, and what is expected from our clients today. So there you go, that was the European Outdoor Week 2026, quite an interesting mix of conversation that no doubt will have an impact on Australia very soon. As

Free Access To Key Standards

SPEAKER_01 11:49

we reported last week, the federal budget did announce support for free access to mandatory Australian standards that are referenced in legislation. So, this is not all the standards that are part of the outdoor industry, this is only those that are part of a referenced legislation. So, good news for businesses that don't have to pay now for those important standards, including uh product safety and relevant standards. But remember that we still do have the outdoor industry standards set available as a curated set on behalf of Standards Australia. So we've asked them to pull it all into one area for you and provide that member price. So that's all OCO members, which obviously Outdoors New South Wales and ACT is one, and its subsequent members have access now to that member price. So there you go, it's now on the out uh on the Standards Australia website.

AAAS Framework Domains And Skill Levels

SPEAKER_01 12:49

I want to take you through some significant changes that are coming out of the AAAS review. So for those that have been attending the monthly meetings, you would certainly be up to speed with this. If you've been part of any of the committees that have been meeting around the AAAS, you would also be up to date with this. But for everyone else, um, this might be a good opportunity to understand where the knowledge, skills, experience framework has come from. So a bit of background for everyone. Um, you might already be aware that uh the VET system, so the Certificate III and Certificate 4 in outdoor leadership is being reviewed at the same time as the AAAS. And uh I suppose an interesting dichotomy arose when one refers to the other and the other refers to the other when it comes to standards that we require of our leaders. Now, ironic considering actually no one really dictated what the requirements were of our leaders. So the vet system went into a little bit more depth, but as they reviewed it, obviously they're turning to the AAAS for that information, which it didn't have. So the AAAS then said, get a certificate for, and then it would be a relevant uh piece of qualification for you. So now we've pulled it apart, um, courtesy of Dave Marsden and his team at Aureus who've been doing the review, uh, he's pulled some skilled people together to come up with the knowledge skills experience framework. So what this looks at is one, the domains. So what is the knowledge skills experience the role requires? Um, the two is the capability level, so how much autonomy the role actually carries, and then support availability, what the environment actually offers. So I'm going to go through these in small depth today, but I encourage you to get involved in the monthly meetings that are being held right up to the launch at the end of June, and of course, the consultation in July will give your opportunity to have your say on all of this content. So the domains are risk and safety management, technical activity leadership, leadership and group management, decision making and judgment, planning and program management, knowledge and place-based knowledge, communication and interpersonal skills, self-management and professional practice, and the final one, outdoor living, activity and travel skills. So all of these domains have been identified as areas that certainly have been embedded into the likes of the vet qualifications and other areas, but it gives rise to a little bit more detail in each of the areas if you're making an assessment of particular skills that are required for your particular job. So you can have a look at all of this as it's released, or you can download this presentation off your member portal after the uh the Connect and Share today. So the second part of this framework is the level of skills. So is it foundational, is it intermediate, or is it advanced? So then it gives you a good description of what that could look like and the typical use for provider decisions. Now, of course, each not particular good practice guide, whether it be uh sea kayaking or climbing, is going to have various things that uh it will talk to in each of these areas. But this is the core knowledge, skills, experience framework. And then the final one is okay, where are we? Where's the place-based understanding? So is it in a center, is it urban-based, is it semi-remote or is it remote, or is it in wilderness? And then that gives another level of understanding and uh ability to assess uh what is required from your knowledge, skills, and experience of your leaders. So that is a major shift from what we have had before, but it provides a real navigatable uh framework for most organizations to be able to assess where their leaders need to be for their particular activities. So there you have it. You've got domains, capability level, and support availability. Okay, I'll leave it there. I'm sure that's a lot of content for those that haven't consumed that, and I'll let you look at that at your leisure. But yes, get involved in the AAAS meeting so you can get a lot more content.

Training Review Updates And New Benefits

SPEAKER_01 17:20

And just on the vet review, uh, we are definitely still underway with this with human ability, and uh they did publish that they will be delayed with the vet review uh due to the uh amount of feedback that they've had, which is all very positive. It gives us the opportunity to really ensure that that feedback is listened to and integrated into the framework. So you'll look at probably a January release and post-endorsement for that new vet framework. Okay, new member benefit. I think we spoke about this last week, but if you've got some equipment to sell, um certainly reach out because we will put it onto our socials as well as our different platforms for you and try to get a circular movement of uh talking to the England, the uh European week this week, outdoor week, very timely, but trying to get a bit of um yeah, understanding of how we can reuse some of our equipment and get it into other areas of the industry for their use. The snow activities guidance note is now available for all you snowgoers and leaders. Please have a look at this guidance note and make sure that you're looking at your standard operating procedures and your risk management tools, and uh yeah, do a bit of a check against the guidance note and make sure you are up to speed with probably what is expected for the Alpine activities. Next

Uploads Upgrade And Leadership Program Invite

SPEAKER_01 18:54

week, we will be seen at the destination of Visa Economy Conference for the local government of New South Wales. So, this is where we're going to be releasing our local government toolkit for trail bike riding. So, looking forward to lots of discussions with our local government friends, and um, as a result, I won't be here on Friday, but Kai will be. So, Kai will be your host next Friday as we introduce our friends from Uploads. So, for all those that don't know, Uploads is certainly been a tool that has provided great incident tracking data, and we encourage all our operators to use it. It is free to use and uh report their uh near misses and incidents through this system. Now, as you know, if you do use it, uh it can be a bit clunky and a bit hard to navigate. So there is an upgrade happening on this project, and uh they're going to come and update you on next Friday about where that is up to. So join us next Friday to hear more about uploads, and Kai will be your host. And speaking of Kai, we've got the Pinnacle Leadership Program Cohort 3 open now. We're inviting all our women that really want to discover a great leadership uh career in the outdoors to join the program. It is a nine-month program, it is heavily, heavily reduced. It's about a three and a half thousand dollar value that they get for just under $350. So if you are have got some women in your team that are aspiring for bigger and greater things, or maybe that's you, um please go onto the website and jump in and register today. The cohort starts in August, and you'll be finished by next June. So there you go.

Major Events Masterclass Awards Conferences

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Ecotourism Australia has their global sustainable tourism summit on the 2nd to the 5th of June. Uh, that will be held in uh in Queensland on the Gold Coast, I believe. Um, and they've reached out as friends of ours and have offered all Outdoor Council of Australia members to get a special rate off. So it's $75 off the total amount. So if you're interested in that, please email me and we will get the code to you so that you can nominate yourself to be part of that. Now keep in mind that uh I think registration is close either Monday or Tuesday. So if you can do that quickly, we'll get that code over to you so you can register to be part of the Global Sustainable Tourism Summit. So, what else is coming up? Certainly, as we said, we've got the local government destination and visitor economy conference next week. Um, the week after is the Eco Tourism Summit that we just mentioned. Um, the week after that, we have the Blue Mountains Local Active Partnership launch, uh partnering with Western Sydney Moving. And that's where we're really going to see how we can create the system in the Blue Mountains to get more people physically. Active and outdoors. So look forward to seeing some of you there. I know some of you have already registered. If you want to come along again, reach out to us and we'll get you the link to register. But that'll be a great conversation for particularly all of our people that are guiding in the Blue Mountains to be part of. And then we have our series of our own events. So the Outdoor Industry Masterclass on the 15th and 16th, the Industry Awards that night, and then we jump into the outdoor learning conference the following two days. The National Drowning Prevention Summit is on the 23rd and the 24th of July in Sydney. And then the 29th of July, we have the Bathurst Careers event. So certainly some jam-packed couple of months coming up. I'm feeling tired already. And here's our events. So just a quick focus on these for a moment. Please remember our masterclass is jam-packed full of content for small to medium businesses or organizations. So you can be not-for-profit or for profit in the outdoor industry. Now, this is two full days, as I said, it's $380 for members, and uh it gives you everything in all the topics, all your guest speakers, uh, all your food, and uh and the venue as well. And you can see here the program has really highlighted some of those things that we uh need to get on top of, including our industry trends, courtesy of our latest census results, um the AAAS review, where we're sitting right now with that, the e-safety um aspects of our work and what we need to consider, um, AI and systemized processing. Uh, we spoke about the sustainability and really making ourselves accountable to the environment. That's going to be more a requirement, um, as the government asks us to certainly report back to the government on our efforts there as well. So huge topics, and uh I can't go without saying we're also going to have a huge session on marketing. Our biggest challenge in today's world with everything uh very noisy in the marketplace is how do we get the best effect from our marketing? And Charlotte will be taking us through that. We have some wonderful guests uh coming as well. Uh, we have Destination Sydney Surround South coming and sponsoring your lunch on the Thursday. So thank you, Destination Sydney Surround South. And we also have Shoalhaven City Council supporting us being there and uh thank them for their partnership in this event. Destination New South Wales will be coming along. So if you're in the tourism area, you might want to jump into the tourism stream. But if you're in the education stream, I encourage you to jump into that because you'll hear direct from the Duke of Edinburgh International Award and all the changes that have taken place with that. Um, in the education stream, too, we will have some guests from the Department of Education themselves. So coming and uh connecting with our operators. So that's the masterclass. If you haven't got your tickets yet, please jump in and grab them. We do have a maximum number for this. Uh, we are getting close, so please jump in and grab your tickets to make sure you don't miss out on that. And as I say, that second day, that night, we have uh our awards. So this is where we'll be uh celebrating our pinnacle leaders in their graduation. This is cohort number two at the Huskison Hotel. It starts at 6:30. We'd love you to be there about six. But you can also vote in the People's Choice Awards, and certainly anyone who's a finalist is out there asking all of their friends, relatives, and everyone else, uh participants, hopefully, to vote for them. So if you want to vote yourself, you can certainly scan this QR code on screen now. Jump in and support those that you think deserve supporting in the People's Choice Awards for this year. So there's some great finalists in that list. The following two days, we have a big announcement. We have a guest coming along by the name of Maggie Dent. Now, if you know Maggie, you know her from all of her work with um raising boys, was one of her books, but she does some amazing work in connecting parents better with their children and education. So we're so excited. Maggie Dent will be there on the first day on Friday, the 17th of July, and uh certainly opening up the conference. Uh, we have again a jam-packed couple of days for all our educators, our facilitators that take kids outdoors, and hopefully the skills they learn from these couple of days are going to be able to provide more kids in getting outdoors more often. But great lineup there, and uh, thank you again to our outdoor learning community who've been really the push behind the content that we've got on here as well as the structuring of the program for you. NOEC is our final event that I have for you this morning, and that is on the 26th of September and finishes on the 1st of October. So NOIC being the National Outdoor Education Conference is where all of our national as well as international guests come in and uh talk about some of the things that might be trends or changes or studies that have happened in the outdoor education area. So I look forward to seeing whoever will be there then. And that's

Wrap Up And Next Week Preview

SPEAKER_01 27:28

all we have for you this morning. So thank you so much for joining for another Connect and Share. And uh we'll close off the recording, have a good chat to all of our friends here present today on maybe some things that they want to discuss about what's happening in the outdoors. So until next week, when you see Kai and the guys from Uploads, have a great week.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Thank you for joining the weekly Outdoor Industry Connect and Share Forum, brought to you by Outdoors, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, your peak body for the outdoor industry. Together with our members, we're shaping the future of the outdoors. See you next week for more insights and collaboration.