Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about National Carers Week, which actually ran last week from 11 to 17 October.

National Carers Week is about recognising and celebrating the outstanding contribution that unpaid carers make to our nation. Anyone at any time can become a carer, and National Carers Week is an important opportunity to raise community awareness among all Australians about the diversity of carers and their caring roles. To celebrate National Carers Week I attended the launch of National Carers Week here in Parliament House, and on Friday I held a morning tea in my electorate with some invited guests to say thank you to them for the work that they do.

I would also like to place on record my thanks to John Trezise from National Disability Services, Cerise Sherwell and Margaret Moore from carer support and respite services and Sheena Baillie from Carers NT, to say thank you to them for their involvement and for the extraordinary number of events that we actually had in the electorate.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I have taken the pledge and I encourage you and every other colleague in here to make the pledge at www.carersweek.com.au—to acknowledge the ongoing contribution of Australia's 2.7 million unpaid carers and to pledge help to build a carer-friendly Australia. This issue is important to me, and one that I will continue to advocate for, particularly in my electorate of Solomon.

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