Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1)

note that:

(a)

ageing parents and carers of disabled children face a crisis of lack of accommodation options for disabled children;

(b)

any ageing parents and carers of disabled children are in need of aged care accommodation for themselves;

(c)

due to limited available accommodation options for disabled people, many aged carers of disabled people are significantly disadvantaged;

(d)

there is an urgent need to assist ageing parents and carers of disabled children to access quality accommodation and care for disabled people;

(e)

in October 2005 the Prime Minister announced a $200 million package to assist parents to establish private trusts for the future care of their disabled children; and

(f)

there is an expert advisory group established to advise on the implementation of the package; and

(2)

call on:

(a)

the Minister to instruct the advisory group to consult widely on the merits of establishing a new financial and insurance product that would assist all parents of disabled children to plan for their future care; and

(b)

both the State and Federal Governments to work together to urgently resolve this accommodation and care crisis.

I move this motion to again raise the plight of ageing carers of disabled children. In 2004, Kurrajong Waratah in my electorate conducted some research and a report was written. The results of the research indicate that there are many families suffering a crisis in care which would worsen in the next 10 years if planning and action were not to occur to better meet the needs of disabled people and their ageing parents and family carers. This study of carers by Kurrajong Waratah found that most parents with disabled sons or daughters have been in a caring role for the whole period of their children’s lives. Their period as carers is directly equated to the age of their sons or daughters. Many have been caring for over 50 years. The disability and aged care and community care sectors recognised within this report would be unable to take flexible, responsive and appropriate action to prevent a care crisis without the necessary cross-sector policies, procedures and funding to meet the changing needs of people with a longstanding disability who are ageing and their ageing carers.

This report made a number of recommendations. One was that case management be made available for families to help them with the task of futures planning and to provide advocacy and mentoring. Another was that there be increased flexible respite services, including in-home and out-of-home options when families and carers need them and for longer periods as required. A further recommendation was that forward planning be made available for sufficient accommodation places and/or support to meet the needs of all ageing people with a disability who require such a placement.

Further, the report recommended that the disability sector be funded and policies be put in place to allow for an increase in the number of older people with a longstanding disability who will need to access funded accommodation services for the first time in old age due to a loss of primary carers or an inability of primary carers to continue in their role due to their age. The report also indicated an immediate need for government funding for out-of-home respite to enable disability services to provide respite care for ageing people with a disability in group homes. Out-of-home respite will not only enable older parents and family carers to receive a break from caring but also enable these carers to remain in their family home for this break.

But above and beyond all those recommendations is the need for Commonwealth and state governments to urgently respond to and resolve the crisis of the shortage of suitable accommodation for disabled children of ageing carers. This suitable accommodation should not be in an aged care facility. Many carers in this crisis have no peace of mind and, as I have said before time and time again in this House, there are no answers for these people in life and there are certainly no answers for them in death.

The second part of my private members’ business motion is the desperate need to initiate a research proposal to explore the development in Australia of welfare syndicate structures for the sustainable financing of care for welfare dependent groups focusing on young people with lifelong disabilities. Australia lacks a reliable mechanism to effectively leverage private and community finances for welfare support. Mostly, people look to governments to provide welfare funds. Where such public funds are not available, the burden of all care generally falls to individual families or carers. Welfare syndicates could have a widespread application in Australian society. Not only could they encourage citizens to work cooperatively to meet agreed community needs through their own resources but they could dramatically change the demand for and the shape of recurrent direct public funding of welfare services. They also have the potential to improve the way people think about welfare, responsibility, relationships and accountability.

One ready application of a welfare syndicate concept is in family and community care of our disabled young people. There is an urgent need to find sustainable and affordable ways for local communities to care for those of their number who are disabled, particularly young people whose care requirements will continue beyond care by their families for decades into the future. I urge the House to recognise the plight of ageing carers of disabled children—those who are currently aged and those who will become aged in the future. (Time expired)

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