Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too thank the member for Newcastle for bringing this motion before us and reminding us of the important role carers play in our community. The role they play often involves great personal sacrifice. People who provide care—whether it be occasional care or full-time care—to people with disabilities or to people with long-term illnesses are putting their community, or that other person, above themselves. In our ageing community, caring for the elderly is progressively becoming more important, whether it is caring for one's own parents specifically or caring for elderly people more generally. It is symptomatic of an ageing community, but nevertheless something of great importance to the community at large.

Carers make a huge sacrifice, often putting their own lives on hold and often unable to undertake paid employment simply because they dedicate themselves to providing care to loved ones, either on a temporary or permanent basis, who cannot care for themselves. There are many categories of carers in our community. Regrettably, some of their activities go unnoticed other than by family members and people who have direct knowledge of the household. There are now, as I understand it, 2.8 million people across Australia who provide unpaid care and support to family members, friends and people with disabilities, mental illnesses, chronic conditions or terminal illness, as well as to drug and alcohol impacted people or, more generally, to people who are just frail. There is no doubt they are the unsung heroes in our community. It is only right that their service, their hard work, should be recognised. More importantly, it should be valued.

Not only is the personalised in-home care—and sometimes that care is almost 24-hour care—these people provide something which people need, it also provides great relief to the economic strains on our health industry and our economy generally. Through the member for Newcastle, I learnt that informal care at the moment is worth $60.3 billion, which is the equivalent of 3.8 per cent of our GDP or 60 per cent of our health and social work industry budget. That is an extraordinary amount that they are contributing to the community by looking after people. Caring for Australians with an illness or a disability should be a shared responsibility between the carer, family, community and government. I have often said, when talking about disabilities, that our generation will, I believe, be judged on how we look after the most vulnerable members of our community. Caring creates opportunities for all to lead healthy, successful and productive lives—and that should be the hallmark of what it is to be a prosperous nation and an inclusive society.

Due to the high costs associated with looking after loved ones with an illness or a disability, many families choose to settle in areas with lower living costs and with lower land values, including in my area in the south-west of Sydney. It is because of that that, in my electorate of Fowler, we have a disproportionately high number of people living with disability. Taking just one disability as an example, more than half of all New South Wales families living with autism live within a 25-kilometre radius of the Liverpool CBD. As of the last census, there were more than 13,000 people in my electorate who were reported to be providing unpaid assistance or care to persons with a disability. This is something that we as a society should not only be proud of—that people are out there to help—and we should acknowledge the work that they do, but, on behalf of a very grateful community, we also should thank them for what they contribute, not only the person they are giving care to but to our community itself. This is a positive reflection of our society.

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