# Community Participation — MacDonnell

How people contribute — volunteering, unpaid care and domestic work, and defence service.

Area: MacDonnell (Council (LGA))

A striking gap exists in community involvement across MacDonnell, where unpaid childcare is very common but formal volunteering is rare. While nearly 40% of people provide unpaid childcare, only 5.5% of the population volunteers, which is well below the national figure.

Only 5.5% of residents volunteer, one of the lowest rates for areas of this type. This is well below the Northern Territory and national figures of 14.1%, and the rate has fallen 2.0 percentage points since 2011.

Unpaid childcare is very common here, with 39.8% of people providing this care—far above the Australian average of 26.3%. Meanwhile, 12.0% of people provide other unpaid care, which is about the same as the national figure.

Very few people in MacDonnell have served in the Defence Force, at just 0.3%. This is among the lowest rates for similar areas and sits well below the Northern Territory figure of 5.2%.

## Statistics

| Statistic | Value | Change since |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Volunteers | 5.5% | -26.1% since 2011 |
| People providing unpaid care | 12.0% | +5.4% since 2011 |
| People caring for children unpaid | 39.8% | +22.7% since 2011 |
| People who served in the Defence Force | 0.3% | — |
| People doing 15+ hours of unpaid housework | 13.4% | +15.6% since 2011 |

Interactive: https://censusatlas.au/region/lga/LGA72330/macdonnell/topic/community