Australian Journal of Emergency Management6 Managing

change within the emergency services to ensure the long-term viability of volunteerism Context Securing a long-term future in the current climate of social and economic change is one of the most significant challenges confronting volunteer-based emergency service and support agencies in Australia and around the world. Factors such as population growth, rural and urban mobility, and increasing cultural diversity present challenges to service providers. These factors increase the demands for, and the complexities of, service delivery by volunteers, and create complex management issues. The significance of these challenges, and the need for strategies to assist emergency services across Australia in managing them effectively, has been widely recognised in recent years, both in terms of the critical role played by volunteers, and in terms of the extent to which the volunteer culture is under threat. There is now general acceptance that best management practices, standards and guidelines need to be developed, to assist emergency services across Australia in their effort to support the current and future generation of volunteers. Thus, the pursuit of best management practices has become a key agenda item both for specific agencies and the emergency services sector as a whole