Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week we celebrated Carers Week between 15 and 21 October. The theme for this year was Carers Count. The statistics certainly support that theme. There are 2.7 million carers in Australia and they provide unpaid care and support to family members and friends with disabilities, mental illness, chronic conditions and terminal illness or who are frail aged. One in eight Australians provide unpaid care and support to a family member or friend with a disability. There are 272,000 carers under the age of 25. This equates to around one in 10. Around 856,000 carers—that is, 32 per cent—are primary carers, those who provide the most informal assistance to another individual. The annual replacement value of this care—the cost were it to be provided by paid workers—is estimated at $60.3 billion. That's more than $1 billion per week.

We've heard a lot of statistics today. It's important that we raise those statistics and talk about those statistics, but behind every statistic is a personal story. Carers give up so much of their time and give so much effort. In caring for a loved one or a friend, these carers are emotionally, physically and financially drained, but they do it out of the love for their friend or family member. They really ought to be commended for putting their own lives often on hold so that they can help that person.

The statistics also show the disadvantage that carers suffer as a result of that love that they show. Their income suffers. In fact, the weekly median income of primary carers aged between 15 and 64 was 42 per cent lower than that of noncarers. Carers provide 1.9 billion hours of unpaid care annually in Australia. That's 36 million hours each week. Their work participation rate is significantly lower. Only 56 per cent of primary carers aged between 15 and 64 participate in the workforce, compared with 80 per cent of noncarers.

The government recognises the importance of what these carers provide to our fellow Australians. The government provides $8 billion in direct support for carers through carer payments for 250,000 people who are unable to support themselves due to caring for and loving a close friend or family member. The Turnbull government established the National Disability and Carers Advisory Council, which brings together leaders from business and the disability and carer sectors to provide advice on proposed policies and legislation affecting people with disability.

The government is currently developing a new integrated plan for carer support services, announced in the 2015-16 budget. As the first stage of this plan, we established the Carer Gateway, with an investment of $33 million, which provides carers with comprehensive information about the support available to them through a website, a national phone service and an interactive service finder. That gateway takes around 500 calls and receives over 15,000 website visits each month. The government's reforms to superannuation opposed last year by Labor allowed carers who have had interrupted work arrangements to make catch-up contributions when they are able to go back to work and allowed the spouses of carers who have an income less than $40,000 to make contributions to their partner's super. But I don't want to turn this into a partisan speech.

There wouldn't be a person in this building who does not recognise the important role that carers play in our society. Government could simply not function if we had to pay carers for the work that they do. I want to express my gratitude to all the carers in Fisher and throughout Australia for the fantastic work that they do. They ought to be congratulated.

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