Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about mental health. The member for Kingston and I cohosted a Parliamentary Friends of Mental Illness meeting on 19 June. We listened to two young people who were incredible. One had started to care for her mother at the age of five. Her mother and her father both suffer from mental illnesses. The mental illness is trauma related from their time in military service. She became the principal carer for both her mother and her father for the period of her life until 18. In that time she continued to be there for them in their caring and GP treatment. There are challenges with that, but ARAFMI has worked in conjunction with them and now provides a support program for young carers. We often take life for granted. They explained that, for the first time in a long period, Johanna and James, who was the other speaker, went to see the Lion King. It is something we take for granted every day, but these kids cannot because they care for a mother or father who has a mental illness and they take on the burden at a very young age that interferes with their schooling and their social life and often leaves them isolated. Johanna talked about the impact of that care and she now suffers from depression, but ARAFMI and other groups in the area now provide the level of support that helps her cope. (Time expired)

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