Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to add to the words of the previous speaker, the member for Franklin, who, as a member of the committee, had a huge role to play in looking at the data and information that we collected during the inquiry. In rising to speak on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth report Who cares …?, I should say that I regard myself as being privileged to be a member of that committee during its inquiry into the issues of carers. For someone like me, who, as an elected representative, has a lot of involvement with the community, until you start to dig into the issues surrounding carers in our community and until you have heard their stories you do not really understand exactly what people are dealing with day by day as carers. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the chair of our committee, the member for Canberra, and the deputy chair, the member for Pearce, who spoke earlier today. From her role in the previous government, she certainly had a wider view and a much closer understanding of the issues affecting carers. Her participation in the inquiry added a lot to our understanding as new members.

We understand that carers have a tough job. If you are caring for a family member, it is even tougher. Many people who care for their children do it voluntarily. There are also a substantial number of people who care for many other family members or friends of family. Last week, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs visited my electorate to speak to pensioners and carers about changes in the budget. I will talk briefly about some of the recommendations as we go through, and I will look at some of the early responses that we as a government have made to this report. The Rudd government have made a commitment to carers that we will review the current system. This report is certainly a first step in doing that.

The report speaks about many of the issues that concern people day by day. There are about 50 recommendations that I urge those who may not have the time to go through the detail of the report to read. The recommendations inform the reader about some of the issues that underlie them. I know that for both sides of the House this report will be a very good source of information and reference document for future years. It will also inform the budgetary decisions that need to be made on how we can provide better support.

This morning I want to share with the chamber a couple of the recommendations. Recommendation 2 says:

That the Australian Government, through the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Department of Health and Ageing support a national community education campaign to promote a better understanding of the role and needs of carers, and an appreciation of the contribution that carers make to society.

The recommendation goes on to say:

The campaign should also include components to promote increased awareness of their role among ‘hidden’ carers who may not readily self-identify and to address the concerns of carers who may be reluctant to disclose their role to others.

Carers wear many hats. Some are mothers. Some have full-time or part-time work. Some are young people who are still at high school. As a member of the committee it was a privilege to hear the evidence given by those different groups and to be able to share the very personal details of those who gave evidence at the roundtables. A tissue box was well used amongst not only people giving evidence but also members of the committee. To hear some of the heart-rending stories was quite amazing. For me, to be a participant and hear those stories firsthand was very, very important.

A carer is not a typical person. The recommendation for an awareness campaign to promote the differing roles of carers and their needs to a wider audience would be welcome by carers and carer groups. When you find yourself in a caring role it is not something you necessarily publicise to the outside world. There are a whole range of issues surrounding that, including the privacy of the person being cared for and the emotional torment those being cared for and those who are giving their care have to deal with. There are also the financial constraints that people find themselves dealing with in the role of being a carer.

The frustration was clear from the carers that people really do not understand. The presentation of this report is one step, but certainly as elected members our role is to go back to our communities and raise these issues when we are talking to various groups. All groups one way or another are affected by the caring role that people provide. If we talk about groups like Parliamentary Friends of People with a Disability, within all those groups there are people who find themselves in a caring role. It is a much wider issue than certainly I as an elected representative understood until I was involved in this committee.

The problem, of course, is that until we can get a report like this tabled, which we are doing, and get people more informed with that campaign to make other people in our community more aware of the role that carers provide, which is very important, carers need immediate support. In that context, recommendation 18 is also worth noting. Recommendation 18 says:

That the Australian government significantly increase the base rate of carer payments.

The budget this year was in fact able to recognise that as an immediate issue. We were able as a government to provide the increase in the budget. The Rudd government is committed to providing support for carers, as they are the unsung heroes. The government acted very quickly on that particular recommendation. In the budget the Treasurer announced an annual supplement of $600 for carer payment recipients. Recipients of the carer allowance will also receive $600 per person that they are caring for. Carers Australia CEO Joan Hughes said the $600 per year supplement for those receiving carer payment and the $600 per year in carer allowances per eligible recipient were ‘very welcome’, because their status was assured in future budgets. Joan Hughes said:

Planning for the future will be a little bit easier now they know they will get this supplement each year.

This payment and the increases in carer payments for both the singles and couples will go some way to helping those carers on Centrelink payments better manage their finances.

In Australia there are approximately 380,000 young carers under the age of 26. Out of these it is estimated that 170,600 are under the age of 18. We heard evidence directly from some as young as 15 providing direct care to a family member or loved one. Currently, 433,000 people receive carer payments, but we know that there are many who do not receive payments. This legislation is about being able to reach out to those who have not previously been able to receive payment because of the loophole. The commitment we have made in the budget is to help identify those people who should be carer payment recipients.

One of the interesting things in the evidence given by many at the hearings was their lack of understanding of what the government could provide to them. Many have found themselves in the role of carer suddenly, sometimes overnight. Through an accident or a medical emergency, they find themselves directly in a caring role. There are support mechanisms and many carer organisations—too many to mention them all—like Carers Australia and Carers Queensland who provide some of that on-the-ground support. As elected representatives our role back in our communities—across both sides of the House—is to not only let people self-identify as carers but also provide them an understanding of how the government can provide support to them. In my electorate of Forde we have identified nearly 3,500 carers. They are those who are identified and probably receiving at this stage some form of benefit. But we do know that there are some people who do not even know that the role they perform every day is a caring one. Education directed to those people and those who support them is also very important.

There are a number of people in my electorate whom I would like to recognise and acknowledge for their work in the area of disabilities, because disabilities obviously make up a major part of the caring responsibility. I would like to mention Roger Taufel, a man who has concerns for his disabled son. It was identified in the report that people like Roger are very much aware of what happens when they get to the point of not being able to care for their children. When they pass on, what then? One of the discussions in the report was about supported accommodation. It is probably a future role for the committee to hopefully investigate issues along the lines of how we may provide better supported accommodation for those young people who find themselves in nursing homes and how we can find a comfortable situation for families where the parents and the carers are getting too old—a comfortable situation not only for the carers but also for the person who is being cared for. Roger Taufel is pushing hard with a proposal and what I believe may be a model for that sort of approach. It is something the government should hear more about.

On a previous occasion, I mentioned Graham Popple in this House and his caring role for his wife. For some eight years, Graham has cared for his wife, whose debilitating disease is worsening. Graham had to give up his work and a whole lot of other commitments to support his wife. Graham does it in a way that is not only providing support for his wife but also educating the community about the role that carers have to play. I certainly commend Graham for the work that he does—not only for his direct caring role but also for the way he is informing the rest of the community.

Helen Steinhardt heads up the Gold Coast autism group. Autism is one area of an identified disability. Groups like the autism groups deal daily with a whole range of other issues and this report identifies some of the concerns and issues that we have to deal with. Wendy McFazden, who is part of the Logan autistic spectrum disorder group, has two children for whom she has direct responsibility and care. This support group helps with issues surrounding the family dynamics when you have young people with autism and helps ensure that the children who have this disability have an education and some reasonable future.

There is an emerging group that should be recognised. The caring role goes in many directions, and there is a particular group that identifies itself as the council for grandparents and kin carers. There are lots of responsibilities that are taken on by grandparents, and they are not necessarily recognised or given any rights while playing a direct caring role. While our report does not specifically make recommendations on this issue, it is a group that needs to be acknowledged and recognised. Today I would like to mention Maree Lubach and Tracey Douglas for their work in providing support for grandparents and the group they are calling the kin carers. They certainly have issues that need to be raised and taken to a higher level. In fact, they are planning a national congress in November this year to bring together the many people who are in some way affected by their role as carers to grandchildren.

We have called the report Who cares…? It does pose that question. As I mentioned earlier, I encourage people to at least have a look at the recommendations, which will inform them about the range of issues that we need to deal with. I would like to thank the committee secretariat, who put in a huge effort. This inquiry went on for a period approaching a year, and while I know that is not necessarily unusual for inquiries, the number of submissions—1,200 submissions—that were provided to the committee meant a major amount of detail that had to be sifted through and worked through by the secretariat and, from that, the recommendations had to be made.

The committee secretariat staff put in a major effort to provide support to the committee. About 1,000 of the 1,200 submissions were personal submissions. The stories that we heard directly from the people who gave evidence at the inquiry certainly reflected the 1,000 personal submissions that were made—heart-wrenching stories from those who find themselves in a caring role. I recommend to the members in the chamber today that they look at the submissions. Another member of the committee is sitting across from us today. I am sure that his comments today will add to the discussion and the recommendations that I have spoken about. It was a great privilege to be a part of the committee. I commend the report to the House.

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