Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am also very pleased to be able to be here to support the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment (Child Disability Assistance) Bill 2007. Families caring for children with a disability do so caringly and ungrudgingly. However, they often face a disproportionate financial burden due to the many extra costs for healthcare and support for their children. As minister for women, I also learned that the responsibility for caring for children with a disability disproportionately falls on women.

Research into the cost of caring undertaken in a 2006 survey suggests that one-third of people providing primary care are living in households with incomes that place them in the poorest fifth of households in Australia. Who cares? The cost of caring in Australia 2002-2005, the AMP-NATSEM income and wealth report also found that carers are on average $5,600 worse off each year than people with no care responsibilities. That is a big additional burden to carry. Carers also pay a high price in terms of restricted job opportunities and reduced income. The labour force participation rate for primary carers, for example, is only 39 per cent, and it is obvious why this is so.

There are a number of additional challenges that parents undertake in the care of a child or children with a disability. These can range from aids such as wheelchairs and hoists to child care and special education needs. Often, equipment to support children with a disability needs to be changed frequently, either due to the growth of a child or because the equipment has worn out. Parents with a child or children with a disability are often on duty 24 hours a day, and this payment could assist with respite care to give families a well-earned break from their caring role. I often meet parents during my regular rounds in the community of Pearce, and I get to hear of the problems firsthand. For example, a woman who came to meet me recently had two children with autism, while another woman had two children with dyspraxia. Early intervention would benefit these children as this condition affects the child’s ability to speak—and speech therapy is not optional; it is absolutely essential.

It is not unusual to find families managing two children with a disability. I am therefore pleased to support this bill today which introduces a new payment—child disability assistance—into social security law. Child disability assistance will be available to carers of disabled children under the age of 16, in respect of whom the carer receives carer allowance for the relevant period. A total of $721.2 million over five years will be provided by the government, with an annual payment of $1,000 to each family to assist them with the purchase of equipment and necessary support for their child. As I said, this could be used to help purchase a wheelchair, install a hoist, replace equipment, modify the home, modify the family car or provide respite care or therapy. The first payment of child disability assistance will be made next month, October 2007, and payments in future years will be made in July. The payment will not be subject to income tax, nor will it count as income for social security or family assistance purposes.

There are approximately 130,000 children with a disability. Most of these children need lifelong support, and this additional financial support will be very welcome by the approximately 106,000 families who qualify for the carer allowance caring for these children today. As at 1 July 2006, there were 2,529 carer allowance customers in the electorate of Pearce. These included current and suspended customers and those with health care cards. I know these parents will welcome the additional support they are entitled to under this amended legislation.

We have improved the assistance to families as a government for those families caring for children with a disability since the introduction of the handicap child’s allowance in 1974. This was replaced with the carers allowance in cases where a child has a functional impairment. A carer can automatically receive the carers allowance in the case of certain disabilities, but other children have to be assessed to determine eligibility for their carer. Medical expenses, the tax rebate, the childcare Inclusion and Professional Support Program and, in certain cases, a carer adjustment payment all assist families to care for children with a disability. The childcare Inclusion and Professional Support Program help families to arrange affordable childcare services for children that have high support needs. This mostly assists families with children with, as I said, high support needs. The additional funding made available means that 3,000 extra children can benefit from the inclusion support subsidy.

The carer adjustment payment is an interim payment of $10,000 to help families with a child aged from birth to six years old who has been diagnosed with a serious disability or a severe illness. It is available for a two-year period, allowing an initial adjustment period until a review of eligibility for a carer payment can be determined. Support for families who are caring for children with a disability is typical of those important safety nets that underpin our system of government, which encourages those who can care for their families to do so but recognises the particular challenges and at times the grave hardship for many families undertaking those caring roles.

I fully support this amendment to legislation and I ask that the minister continues to regularly review the legislation with a view to ensuring that parents are always adequately supported in this role. The government funding of $721.2 million over five years to provide families already receiving carer allowance and an additional $1,000 annually, as I said, will be tax free, which I am sure will be welcome by all families.

The research, interestingly enough, taken into the cost of caring undertaken in 2006 suggests that one-third of people providing primary care for the elderly and disabled, including disabled children, live in households whose income places them in the poorest fifth of households in Australia. This has always been of great concern to me because I do see perhaps the areas of greatest hardship in our communities in those families where people are caring for a family member with a disability, whether it be children, the elderly, the chronically ill or adults. We certainly know that there are a large number of ageing parents still caring for their children in their fifties. I have seen some very sad cases. So I think it is important that we are constantly reviewing how we are managing this group of people in our community to ensure that they are always fully supported in their role of caring. With the assistance of the carers allowance and the proposed child disability assistance, a great deal of pressure will certainly be taken off parents, and hopefully it will also allow them to improve their care for the children or child with a disability. I fully support these measures.

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