Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise today to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This bill is aimed at making the lives of carers easier and goes some way towards acknowledging and recognising the integral role of carers who, because of their child’s disability or medical condition, commit themselves to the support of their child. The people who will benefit from this amendment are unable to maintain employment because the caring role they have is constant and continuous and therefore renders them unable to participate in most parts of the workforce. The individuals in this community who provide this type of care for their children have a role that is essentially the difference between life and death for their child. They often talk about the impact of their role on their lives. Parents in my electorate of Deakin have spoken about the highs and lows of caring for a disabled or seriously unwell child, especially the unremitting, exhausting nature of their responsibilities. My heart goes out in thanks to the many parents who find themselves in this situation.

I am proud of the added respect and recognition afforded to carers as demonstrated by this bill and other initiatives so far put in place by the Rudd Labor government. In 2008 the government paid a one-off $1,000 to all eligible carers and $600 for each person they cared for. Then, in late 2008, as part of the Economic Security Strategy, there was an additional $1,400 to carer payment recipients and generally $1,000 to carer allowance recipients for each person in their care. I know the extension of the utilities allowance to carer payment recipients, valued at $518 a year, was a welcome relief to those struggling with the bills that seem to be inundating us all. These payments came at a time when people were feeling the brunt of the rising cost of living and were having trouble making ends meet. I have had many letters from constituents in a caring role for which these payments made a huge difference to their daily lives.

This year’s budget has, through the secure and sustainable pension reforms, delivered increases to the carer payment of $32.49 a week for singles and over $10 a week combined for couples on the full rate. Further, the new annual supplement of $600 will be paid to recipients of the carer payment, carer allowance, DVA carer service pension and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs partner service pension and carer allowance. Carers who receive carer payments and carer allowance will receive at least two supplementary payments per year in addition to the increase in their pension. A single person who receives both the full-rate carer payment and carer allowance will get two supplementary payments totalling $1,200, plus an annual increase of $1,689, bringing additional permanent increases in this budget to $2,889 a year.

These reforms provide certainty for carers as the bonuses will now be legislated annual supplements and not subject to the whims of governments as they decide whether or not bonuses will be paid on an ad hoc basis from one year to the next. This guarantee is recognition of the need for carers to have certainty and better financial security. This improved support for carers bill before us today takes further the recognition of the caring role of parents whose children are disabled or suffer from a severe medical condition. It streamlines the process people must go through at a time that is already tremendously stressful. This recognition comes from the recommendation of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, whose role was to analyse the operation of the carer support system.

The taskforce undertook an extensive consultation phase and received over 4,000 submissions. I would like to particularly thank the many people who took the time to respond to the government’s request for feedback. The sentiments expressed and articulated in the report mirror the concerns that I hear from carers when I speak to them in my electorate office or when they ring up and just need to have a talk.

Those concerns are so common. A short list of them includes the following. The care of the severely ill or disabled child means being on call for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not only is the role of a carer an intensive one, but it also affects other relationships and family members. In many cases, it is all-consuming. People who are carers sometimes feel they are locked in their homes and hidden from view because the task is so great. They feel the lack of recognition, and some battle chronic grief and anger because of the role that they have taken up. Carers themselves often suffer lower levels of health and wellbeing whilst performing their task. Apart from the emotional aspect of the caring role, the taskforce also sought to examine the eligibility criteria and assessment processes for access to carer payments, and the complexity of the application process.

While there are two streams of carer payment, an adult stream and a child stream, the bill before us is related to the carer payment (child) segment of the social security legislation. In the past, there was an inflexible criterion for the qualification for carer payment (child). Eligibility is determined by the need for a person to care for a child with a profound disability or severe illness and is therefore unable to work. It is paid at the same rate as the age pension and is available to parents unable to participate in the workforce because of their caring role. By way of clarification, this payment is different to the carer allowance, which also recognises the role of carers. However, the carer allowance is an income supplement that is often paid in addition to the carer payment. It is also for people who have responsibility for the daily care and attention of a person with a disability or serious medical condition.

The substantive changes outlined in this bill are to be implemented from 1 July 2009, and it is just one of several measures recognising and dignifying carers with an improvement to the system under which they must qualify. This measure is part of a raft of measures that have formed the $822 million package from the 2008 federal budget to support and recognise carers. The previous rigid medical criteria used to assess eligibility for the carer payment will be replaced with a disability care load assessment (child). This assessment will employ a test comprising a questionnaire for the carer and the treating health practitioner, focusing on functional ability, behaviour and the special needs of the child or children with a disability or severe medical condition and the level of care provided by their carers.

This change focuses on what actually happens in the home and the work undertaken by the carer. This is recognition that the carer is the person who knows best about what their child needs, and it is in contrast to the previous concentration on rigid medical criteria. This change recognises the unique knowledge of the carer, whose role is focused on their child. This change is recognition of the complexity of this most intensive parenting role, which is unique to every family.

As a further response to the feedback from the report of the taskforce, the carer payment will now be available to people on a short-term or episodic basis. This element of the amendment relates to care of a child where the recipient has an episode expected to last between three months and six months. There is a recognition that, in these instances, parents may be unable to sustain full-time work whilst simultaneously providing the care needed by their child. This change is designed for times when a child is receiving medical treatment for conditions such as cancer, brain injury or a mental illness. It is during these periods of extreme stress that parents need a more flexible system of payments to see them through these tremendously difficult circumstances.

Another improvement to the carer payment (child) system is the elimination of the 63-day limit where a child is in hospital. This will be replaced by a more manageable 12-week review cycle, hence making it easier for parents to maintain their carer payment and care allowance whilst their child is in hospital. At this time, a family’s focus is rightly on their child’s wellbeing. The thought that parents were somehow expected to look for work or sustain employment while the child is in hospital does not recognise the central role of parents in their child’s life.

When carers come to see me in my electorate office they often highlight the onerous administrative burden before them as they struggle with all the emotional and physical challenges unique to the care of a disabled or very sick child. I am particularly pleased to see that the qualification for carer payment will now automatically render a person eligible for a carer allowance. This measure provides one less task for the carer and is intrinsically a cost-effective saving for the Centrelink system.

When a child is diagnosed with a terminal illness we need to limit the burden placed on families at this most difficult and stressful time. In the past the criteria for eligibility was the life expectancy of the particular child being assessed. Furthermore, there was a need for a clinician to certify that the child was not likely to live substantially longer than 12 months. This has been replaced with a simpler, less intrusive process that assesses the life expectancy of a child with the same or similar condition.

These new fairer sets of criteria that make up the amendment before us and that come from the recommendations of the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce are expected to make life easier, not just for the 7,000 or so parents who are currently on carer payments but also the 19,000 more carers whom the government estimates will have access to this payment. This change is one of many measures already introduced that recognises the unique role of carers in our community and their need for a safety-net payment. It moves away from rigid medical criteria toward recognition that the home where the child is being cared for should be the focus. It seeks to redress the onerous and overly rigid assessment processes that carers must undertake. These substantive changes will make life easier for those amazing individuals who take on the role of caring for their sick or disabled children. I commend this bill to the House.

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