Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

May I commence by firstly commending the senators who participated in the committee to review this important and timely legislation. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the organisations and individuals who contributed a submission. Whilst these are most welcome, I would have liked to have seen a better opportunity offered to individuals to tell their own unique story because I suspect that what they would have said in their own right would have been far more telling and passionate. Perhaps in doing so we may all have gained a greater understanding of the torment and stress that many carers face each day. Of course, I welcome the legislation. Anything that improves the lot of this very dedicated group of people, no matter how small, has to be welcomed. There is always more that can be done and that is also true. The Australian, in its edition of 7 May, said:

However, in looking for new policy ideas from among the many heartfelt submissions, it is essential to seek sustainable long-term solutions; to distinguish between symptoms and causes of the dysfunction in the present system.

It is therefore disappointing that the latest inquiry has chosen to weight its recommendations towards short-term adjustments and amendments to the existing policy framework.

When Australian governments took the enlightened step of closing the Dickensian institutions in which people with disabilities had been locked away, they failed to design, let alone establish, a modern support system that was sufficiently comprehensive and forward thinking.

The minority report by the Greens also suggest this, and I have no dispute with their view, except to say that any government of the day works within impositions, often beyond their control. What needs to be recognised, though, is the common will to help those who selflessly help others. Perhaps this bill should be viewed as an incremental approach towards what is probably an unachievable ambition where everyone is satisfied with the status quo.

No-one wants to see someone else in such a state of servitude that it borders on repression. A carer’s role should be more dignified. Yet, over the years, I have constantly heard very sad tales of individuals virtually giving up their life to care for someone else.  I have the deepest admiration for carers of all ages but, until I walk in their shoes, I will never know the extent of what they are feeling. It is difficult to appreciate what should be described as the hardest role for carers as though there is some sort of hierarchy of pain. To my mind, looking after someone near and dear to you with a terminal disease would be mentally excruciating but, then again, coping with someone with the irrationality from a mental disease would also be taxing on the soul.

I have had some experience with working with grandparents who have taken over the care of their children’s children. Whilst some reforms have been introduced over recent years I can well remember some grandparents coming to me originally in dire straights. They had assumed responsibility for their daughter’s children. Their daughter was a drug addict and, for all intents and purposes, had abandoned her children. The grandparents were both pensioners and, because they were not recognised as the legal custodians, they had to care not only for themselves but also for the children in their care from their meagre pension. The stress of stretching funds was bad enough but not as stressful as not being able to give the children the things they needed. The children—children being children—had no idea of the strain on the grandparents, who stayed outwardly loving and considerate. It was a huge burden at such a late stage in their lives. There was no respite for them, no break from the relentless daily grind. Happily, things are improving but it is still not what you and I would consider an ideal situation, but what can you do?

Politicians are inclined to argue that any largesse from the government comes from the taxpayer. How far can you ask the taxpayer to subsidise another person?  But let me say this: carers save the government money. If no-one voluntarily took on the responsibility of caring, who would look after our infirmed? If suddenly all our carers said: ‘No more,’ what would the government do?  It is a measure of our society as to how we care for each other. Are we a compassionate society? Are we a caring society? Have we evolved to a point where we can shoulder the responsibility of supporting those least able to do so?

The fact that this legislation is being debated today raises some doubts as to our own beliefs. But, getting back to the point I want to make—how much does it cost for a professional full-time carer? And contrast that with what we are paying a voluntary carer. I think you will find there is a very huge gap. I understand that there are occasions where residential care has been rejected because the aged parents want to stay home—understandably so, but it is their children who have to pick up the slack. The values of their children mean they will try to accommodate their wishes as best they can, even though that will impose a huge impost on their personal lives.

This legislation, however, is targeted at the carers of children aged under 16 years with a severe disability, physical or mental. I know of quite a few people in that category, and I do not begrudge them one iota—not even for a minute. I can only admire their tenacity, their total commitment and their endless patience. No two situations are the same, no two carers are the same and no two charges are the same. All come from a diversity of lifestyles and circumstances and all will deal with the situation in their own way. Despite the strength of their character, and their motivation, everyone has an end point. It is our responsibility to ensure that we contribute to easing some of the burdens that carers face. We need to assist in ensuring they do not burn out and then themselves become needy cases. And it is not necessarily a family member who may rise to the occasion. Indeed, I know of many carers who are not a family member but, through their heightened personal values, and a sense of compassion, turn their backs on living  their own lives to help another less fortunate individual. These people have my undying admiration. I doubt whether I could do the job—but, I suppose that, until I am called upon, I will never know.

I have no argument with the provisions of this bill—they value add to the current situation. But the bill should not signal the end of the matter. I would join in the sentiment expressed by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, who seeks to amend this bill. What she is seeking is essentially a more flexible approach, and I cannot agree more. As I said, every situation will be unique, and I feel that some flexibility needs to be built in, to address each case on its merits. In fact, that was a matter identified by the carer payment review task force, which said that the system was overly complex and restrictive. The ‘cookie cutter’ approach might be all well for a dispassionate bureaucracy, but not for the people at the coal face—and certainly not for a community that likes to see itself as an advanced society. But I do believe the provisions are a step in the right direction.

I would like to touch on a contributory comment by Carers Australia, quoted in the committee report, in relation to aspects of the psychological impact of being a carer. As I said earlier, caring for someone with extreme disabilities is very stressful, and we must be conscious that in some individuals there will be an emotional price to pay. It is a matter of caring about the carer. So I would have liked to see some provision whereby carers had access to psychological support in times of dire need. This has to be coupled with reasonable access to respite services, and it may not necessarily be addressed through a direct payment of benefits. Rather, there needs to be provided a system of support services to alleviate the psychological pressures that will inevitably arise during the term of care. Alzheimers Australia, in their report released on 5 May this year, described an alarming toll of caring for a loved one. More than 40 per cent of informal carers reported high levels of stress, 65 per cent missed work as a result of their duties and 50 per cent reported a negative impact on their lifestyle. Alzheimers Australia are also calling for improved access to long-day respite care and more flexible workplace conditions for carers, along with training and support.

It is interesting to learn that, in the United Kingdom, the National Carers Strategy, which was published in June 2008, included £265 million of new funding, mainly for more breaks for carers, but unfortunately did not address the financial hardship faced by many carers. According to Carers United Kingdom, the government has accepted that Carer’s Allowance is not fit for its purpose, and has set out its intention to put in place measures by 2018 so that carers will not be forced into financial hardship by their caring role.

It needs to be remembered that carers, impoverished as they are, have to confront the day-to-day expenses of life, on top of their other worries. Like every other member of the House, I have people who, without the burden of caring for an incapacitated person, come into the office every day, telling me how tough things are and the worry of getting through each day; yet carers have that and more. These people definitely need a break. I am glad that we are taking steps to ease some of these pressures, but it is certainly not enough.

My colleague Annette Ellis, the member for Canberra, was reported on the ABC as saying:

… the system is in ‘crisis’ and many carers are under serious financial stress because payments are too low.

I could not agree more and I would hope that more can and will be done. In the policy we took to the 2007 election we on this side of the House said that the coalition recognised the vital role that carers play in our society and the tremendous financial and emotional burden they carry. We said that the vital caring responsibilities of Australia’s carers mean that they miss out on the opportunities offered by a strong economy and labour market. This may mean that they face difficulty in saving for regular household expenses. We committed to ensuring that they are able to maintain the lifestyle they deserve. That is why I support any additional benefits that this legislation brings. There is a government of a different colour in Australia today, and it is solely its responsibility to add credence to its word. With the deterioration in the economy, the situation for carers has become worse, and this government should do all it can to ensure that those least able to protect themselves will be protected.

It is timely to revisit last year, when this government decided to cut the annual bonus payments to carers. After the uproar, they recanted, but that was a political decision, not a humanitarian one. The 2007 ALP election policy is awash with fuzzy, vague statements. It is quite an extensive policy statement, yet there is no time line. I suppose it is open to semantic interpretation. Given the rather derogatory statements directed at the coalition government contained in the statement, I will be watching with some interest to tick off the boxes as the government takes the disabled and their carers to the promised nirvana.

The issue of providing adequate and functional support to carers and their charges is not restricted to Australia. Many of the advanced economies of the world are struggling with the challenge. According to the United States National Family Caregivers Association, more than 50 million people provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year. In the United Kingdom that figure is six million. I hark back to the Australian, which I quoted in my opening remarks. The article’s opening line was:

Australia’s disability support system is inequitable, fractured, under-resourced and slowly collapsing under the weight of its own inadequacies, while sub-optimally consuming billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money each year.

That is after 18 months of the alleged new and improved neoconservative government. I think that describes adequately what needs to be addressed. This bill is helpful but inadequate. But we can use it as a starting point to help those who help others who cannot help themselves. The challenge for the government is to respond to the urgency that they have identified. If indeed it is urgent then it should not be sacrificed on the altar of economic expediency. But after the experience of seeing the attempted slashing of the annual carers bonus last year it is difficult to believe that this promise will be kept in this term, especially in an environment of a severely deteriorating national economy under a government that has converted the legacy of a $21 billion surplus into potentially a $200 billion millstone.

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in favour of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. I do so—and I concur with some of the comments of the member for Gilmore—because I have immense respect for the men and women across Australia who dedicate so much of their lives to caring for their loved ones. In my electorate of Kingston I have met many carers and they have sat down with me and told me about their experiences. They have had some hard experiences but they have also reported to me some very rewarding experiences that caring for their loved ones has provided them. They have talked to me often about the patience they have learned and the love they feel for their loved ones, which transcends what they previously experienced. I have heard some wonderful stories but of course, as we heard from previous speakers, carers also experience difficulties. This bill, appropriately, recognises and supports the contribution that carers make to our society.

The bill before us today recognises the difficult position that many carers find themselves in. The Rudd government made it very clear that they were committed to responding to the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce recommendations and, indeed, that is what this bill does. A particularly striking quote from the review, which reinforces the importance of carers in our society today, reads:

The Taskforce has accepted that the payment of Carer Payment (child) is recognition that caring for a ‘profoundly disabled child’ is a full-time, multiskilled and very demanding job that leaves little or no time for other activities. It is … unquestionably a role of immense social and economic value. The care provided often means the difference between life and death for the care receiver.

That is certainly how it has been described to me by many of my constituents, especially those who are caring for children. The bill before us will see many of the recommendations which have arisen from the review, commissioned by the previous government, implemented in time for the new financial year.

I want to take this opportunity to talk a little about the experience of one of my constituents, Wendy. She spoke to me about the carer payment as it applied before these amendments. She was not eligible for it because her six-year-old son, who suffered from a permanent disability, did not meet the specified criteria. Instead, she and her husband relied on the carer allowance. She complained to me about the incredible strictness of the eligibility for the carer payment, and she told me about how difficult it had been. She had welcomed the carer allowance when she was encouraged to apply for it, and when she originally applied she thought that she would be able to put it away for the expensive therapy that her son needed. She set up a bank account for the allowance to go into but, unfortunately, that bank balance has never been in the black. She has been spending huge amounts of money—not only to support her going to work, because of the full-time care that her son needs, but also to pay the extra costs incurred from the provision of intensive therapy. However, Wendy did say to me that she did not regret spending one cent on her child for that therapy; whilst they had had to make a lot of sacrifices, they would do it all again. She also said that while the carer allowance was welcome she is hoping that the changes will ensure that she and her son are eligible for the carer payment (child).

I also talked to Wendy about issues that were a little bit broader than just the carer payment. I think the things we spoke about are very true of many other mums and dads in my electorate that have children with a disability. She told me that she has found a good network of special needs mums, as she put it, who stick together and have become very good advocates for their children. They try to get together and lobby for extra SSOs or greater funding, and I have seen that in my own electorate in providing support to mums and dads who advocate for their children that are in need. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Wendy and the other mums for the great advocacy and caring work that they do.

These measures are much needed. The previous method of assessment for eligibility for the carer payment created a situation that precluded many people—who had to forgo full-time employment to care for their loved ones—from receiving support from the rest of society. As the task force review clearly states, that type of assessment does not identify the actual level of care required or the level of care provided. Rather, it assumes that a particular condition or circumstance implies a level of care and need that is being met by the applicant. I and this government do not consider such an assessment scheme to be appropriate, effective or fair. Put simply, the results of such an assessment scheme are incredibly inequitable to both the carers and the cared. Such a scheme does not consider any qualitative assessment of the real needs of the child being cared for.

The bill before us today changes that and delivers a new, fairer set of criteria that are much more similar to the carer payment (adult) criteria. They are based on the care required and reflect the functional ability of the care receiver rather than rigid medical standards. In addition to introducing flexibility and fairness to the assessment method, this bill provides for access to the carer payment for short-term or episodic needs—a key recommendation of the task force review.

Currently, both carer payment (child) and carer allowance (child) provide for situations where it is anticipated that the need for care will be ongoing. Neither is designed to meet a sudden need for financial assistance to cope with emergencies. This bill changes that. I know that this will be widely welcomed by constituents who may not have experienced this but may experience it in the future and benefit from it. Similarly, there will now be more generous arrangements for carers who have children in hospital, and the qualification rules for the tragic situation of a person caring for a child with a terminal illness will also be relaxed.

The implementation of the task force review recommendations represents just one part of this government’s commitment to supporting carers. In 2008 the Rudd government delivered a $1,000 carer payment recipient bonus, and carer allowance recipients also received $600 for each person in their care. This was followed by the Economic Security Strategy, which recognised that the role of carers provided $1,400 of support for carer payment recipients and $1,000 for carer allowance recipients—for each person in their care. In the budget that was announced last night, once again we have seen financial payments to further help those who are caring in our community. The government realises that supporting carers means providing infrastructure support for Australians with different needs, and so it has also set aside $100 million for supported accommodation facilities.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Autism SA, which has recently opened a respite service in my electorate for children with autism. Autism is a growing issue that parents come to talk to me about, and the respite facility will be a very welcome addition to respite services in the area. I was very pleased to see that, and I know that a lot of parents in my electorate were also pleased to see that.

The facilities that the government will be contributing to will be available to people whose ageing parents can no longer care for them at home. This point is very important, because a lot of parents have come to me and said that they are concerned that they are ageing and they are not sure what is going to happen to their children once they are no longer there to care for them. Hopefully, this will give parents some sense of security that their children will be cared for when they are no longer able to care for them.

All of the measures that I have mentioned represent the Rudd government’s commitment to supporting carers and their families. The $273 million of measures included in the bill before the House today are just one part of the government’s plan, but they are a very important part. By changing the eligibility criteria for the carer payment, this government is clearly saying that support for carers must be realistic, flexible and fair. In providing short-term access to the carer payment, we are saying that we understand the real-world situation that parents can find themselves in. By considering the needs of parents with special needs children in hospital or those with terminally ill children, we are displaying the quintessential Australian value of compassion for those who are doing it tough but are still holding their heads up high. I commend the bill to the House.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a member of this parliament, it is a privilege to meet Australians from all walks of life, and I am sure that we would all agree that the courage that we see in the faces and in the lives of carers is no exception. It is often said in this place that whatever we do, it will never be enough. In the case of carers, that will always be true. Sometimes we use that phrase thinking that those groups that we seek to support will never be satisfied; but, in the case of carers, the need for satisfaction is so great that I hope at some stage our parliament will be able to meet that need. Measures like those contained in the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009 go down the path towards meeting it. I think that any time we talk about these measures, or any measures for carers, it is important to recognise the plight of carers and the fact that the measures go only a very small way towards relieving their burden. It is a burden that they bear out of love. Some will sometimes unkindly say that governments will unfairly take advantage of that affection. But the truth is that these carers who care for those they love will always do it, and we should seek to relieve their burden in any way we can. We should never seek to take advantage of the affection and love that they have for those whom they care for and, in doing so, we should never seek to diminish it.

This bill represents the government’s response to the recommendations of the carer payment task force. I am pleased to say that this task force was set up under the previous government, in March 2007, to conduct an investigation into eligibility criteria for the carer payment (child). The report of the task force was given to the Rudd government on 30 November 2007. The carer payment provides income support to people who are unable to support themselves through employment, due to the demands of their carer responsibilities—which is a very common circumstance for people in these situations. In addition to the carer payment, there is also the carer allowance, which is an income supplement that is available to people who provide daily care to an adult or a child who has a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability which is permanent and is likely to affect the person for an extended period.

It should be recognised that the carer payment and the carer allowance are not intended to compensate carers for providing care. Nor are they designed to cover the costs of caring for someone with a disability. If we suggested they did, I think that would be an insult to those who seek to provide that care. It is, however—and it is acknowledged by carers—an important acknowledgement of the sacrifice they make and the care that they provide.

Currently the eligibility criteria for the carer payment (child) requires demonstrating that the child requires continuous care for six months or more because of a disability or medical condition, and the care receiver must meet the legislated definition of ‘profoundly disabled child’. This determination is normally made by a medical practitioner who must certify the disability and the level of care required by the child.

A carer may also be eligible to receive the carer payment if they provide care to two or more children with severe disabilities whose combined care needs are equivalent to those of a profoundly disabled child. The task force received many submissions, which does not surprise me, having been a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth which has recently been involved in an inquiry into carers. There were more than 4,000 submissions received, many of which came from individual carers. More than 20 organisations made submissions to the task force, and a major issue that was raised was the inflexible eligibility criteria that unfairly denied financial assistance to a number of carers because certain criteria were not met. For a considerable period of time, the carer payment (child) eligibility criteria was regarded as being too restrictive, and the task force report found that in 2005-06 only 12 per cent of applications for the payment were successful. Eighty-seven per cent of applications for the payment were rejected because they did not meet the stringent criteria.

Let us pause and reflect on those 87 per cent who were told they were not eligible. For them a lot of it would not have been about the money. The money would have been gratefully received—and that was one reason why they applied—but for 87 per cent we considered their cases not worthy of acknowledgement or support. Many cases will fall into that category even with this legislation. I think we should think of these rejections not as simply a cross marked on a form but rather as sending a message to someone who is involved 24/7 in living this experience—whether that is in direct caring responsibilities or in otherwise carrying the burden of that care throughout their normal day. It is an emotional message, not just an administrative message, that is sent. I would encourage those who serve in the front line of our Public Service to continue to be very sensitive in the way that they deal with these matters. This is not just about saying no on a form; it is in many cases a form of acknowledgement of the circumstances these carers face every day.

Many carers were denied access to the carer payment even though their caring responsibilities were similar to those of carers who did qualify for the payment. In the opinion of the task force the current eligibility criteria were too restrictive and as a consequence the payment was not effective in achieving its intended purpose. The task force was requested to determine the most appropriate mechanism for accessing the care requirements of children aged 16 years and under with severe illness and/or disability. At no point did the current assessment system identify the actual level of care required by the child. The task force took the view that a new approach to the assessment of claims for the carer payment (child) was urgently needed and should be based on an assessment of the actual care needs of the child.

The task force recommended changes to the current eligibility criteria to recognise the level of care required by and provided to children with severe disability or medical condition. In 2003 a bulletin published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that there were an estimated 317,900 children with a disability aged under 15 years. That represented about 8.3 per cent of all children under 15 years. Within that group 220,300 children or 5.7 per cent had a core activity limitation. Of that group about 165,300 children or 4.3 per cent had a severe or profound core activity limitation. Figures of that order suggest and demonstrate the all-pervasive presence of this situation in our community. We all either directly or through our relationships and friendships know and are touched by people in this situation.

As a parent, I know that those of us who are blessed with children who do not suffer from these conditions and are not in this situation read those statistics can only thank God. This highlights the need for us to have profound compassion for those who do deal with this situation. We all know of the love that comes when your child is born. I can only imagine the extra love that comes to a parent of a child with a disability. We see it demonstrated. The greatest thing about love is when you see it demonstrated in these acts of care. These parents are blessed in their ability to show what I would call superhuman forms of love to their children.

In 2003 the most prevalent disabilities among children were intellectual and learning disabilities. There were around 166,000. There were 162,000 children with physical disabilities, around 130,000 children with sensory or speech disabilities and around 81,000 children with psychiatric disabilities. Much of the recent data available in relation to disabilities and carers comes from the ABS publication Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2003. It found that in 2003 there were 2.5 million carers in Australia, of which 475,000 were primary carers. The report also stated that 57,800 people were classed as the primary carers of people with disabilities—that is, 12 per cent of Australia’s carers were the carers of children. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said that most carers of children with a severe or profound disability were the mothers of these children. As of June 2007 there were 3,570 recipients of the carer payment. This figure represents just 3.1 per cent of all recipients of the carer payment (adult) and (child). In the same year there were 109,100 recipients of the carer allowance (child), which accounted for 28 per cent of all recipients of the carers allowance. Some 91 per cent of recipients of the carer payment (child) also received the carer allowance (child).

The bill currently before the House proposes to provide a new, fairer set of criteria to be applied to qualify for the carer payment. We should all be very pleased to support a bill that does this. It is proposed that a further 19,000 carers—19,000 families are affected—will become eligible for the payment after the changes are introduced on 1 July this year. The proposed assessment process for the carer payment will be known as the disability care load assessment (child). Section 38E of the amended act will provide that the disability care load assessment (child) will be contained within a legislative instrument to be made by the secretary of the department. The purpose of this instrument will be to devise a test for assessing the functionality, behaviour and special care needs of a person aged under 16. That includes an assessment that must be completed by a treating health professional. It must provide a method for rating the care needs of the child and provide a method for giving a qualifying rating to the carer who is caring for the child that takes into account the care provided for the child by the carer and the assessment completed by the treating health professional.

Other changes include expanding the circumstances under which the carer payment is payable to include the short-term or episodic care of children. In this instance, short-term care includes care that is provided to a child following a one-off incident, such as an accident, when the care is required for a period ranging between three and six months. More relaxed qualification criteria are proposed in relation to children who have a terminal condition. Unlike the current situation, in which a medical practitioner must certify that a child has a terminal condition and will not live for substantially longer than 12 months, the proposed changes take a less intrusive approach. That is welcome. A medical practitioner must still certify that the child has a terminal condition. Payment to the carer will be based on the average life expectancy of children with the same or a similar condition.

This bill also provides reforms that will address circumstances in which a carer shares the caring responsibility for a child with a disability. It will apply to a child who normally spends some time with one parent and some time with another parent under a registered parenting plan or parenting order. A second disabled child requiring care from the carer will mean that the carer continues to receive the carer payment while the first child is with the other parent.

Other important aspects of this bill are the changes that will streamline the transition between carer payments made in respect of a child with a disability to payments in respect of an adult with a disability. The new section 197K2 of the legislation will provide an existing recipient of the carer payment (child) with a period not exceeding three months in which to make the arrangements for the care receiver to undergo an assessment and a rating under the adult disability assessment tool. This will make the transition between two carer payments less stressful and less complex, which I believe is also welcome.

This is a bill which enjoys the support of the coalition. It is one of those matters which I believe unites both sides of the parliament in our appreciation as parliamentarians of the plight of and the role played by carers. The price of their work, if we had to replace it, would be a bill which we could never pay. We know that it will never come to that. But let us not presume upon that. Let us continue to make efforts to improve the plight of carers. The recent Who cares? report released by the House of Representatives committee contains some excellent recommendations, which I hope will receive very favourable treatment from the government. I have great pleasure in supporting the bill.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise today to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This bill is to implement the government’s commitment, following the report of the task force, to reviewing the carer payment. The review task force was established in March 2007 to examine the eligibility criteria for the carer payment. It considered the effectiveness of the payment in providing a safety net for children with a profound disability or severe medical condition.

Carer payment is an income support payment for people who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves through substantial participation in the workforce. For example, in the electorate that I represent, Hindmarsh in Adelaide’s western suburbs, there are about 12,500 carers of people with a disability. I have met many of them when they have come to see me with issues that need attention. From my discussion with them I must say that they have an enormously hard job in caring for disabled members of their families.

Carers shoulder an enormous responsibility for their loved ones and they deserve every single bit of support government can provide. In fact, it is our duty to provide them with every bit of support that we possibly can. The Australian government recognises this and it values their incredible devotion and the incredible hard work that they do. Australia as a whole has about 2.6 million carers and nearly 500,000 of them are primary carers—in other words, those who provide the majority of the care required by another person.

Caring responsibilities can include many things: bathing, toileting, administering medication, providing nutrition and meals, dressing wounds and managing many other things as part of their responsibilities. Emotional support is also important and a very significant part of caring work. According to Carers Australia, currently 79 per cent of assistance required by Australians due to disability or illness is provided by family carers—that is, someone within the family household.

Every year carers provide over 1.2 billion hours of care. At some stage in our lives all of us will receive care and we will all probably provide care in one form or another. It may not only involve caring for aged parents; it may, for example, be because of sheer twists of fate, such as finding yourself in the situation of having a child born with a disability or having a loved one who acquires a disability later on in life through an accident or some other means. You can imagine how the world would suddenly be turned upside down.

In 2007 the review into the effectiveness of carer payment found that the overly restrictive and complex eligibility requirements meant that thousands and thousands of parents who were providing intensive care for their children were ineligible for the payment. At the time of the review, only 3,500 carers received that particular payment. With the introduction of this legislation, it is estimated that up to 19,000 carers will now be eligible for carer payment from 1 July this year. Following the passage of this legislation, the eligibility for the payment will depend on the level of care required rather than on a narrow set of medical and behavioural criteria. The bill will introduce a much fairer assessment process based on the level of care required by the child and provided by the carer rather than a strict medical definition of ‘profound disability’.

The government is also cutting red tape—and we have seen so much red tape in this area previously—so that parents who qualify for carer payment will automatically qualify for carer allowance. That will remove the requirement for more forms and medical examinations. Believe me, those of us in this place who deal with parents of children with profound disabilities have seen the enormous onus on the parents to be constantly producing paperwork to qualify for carer allowance. While carer payment is an income support payment that is paid at pension rates, carer allowance is a supplementary payment of $98.50 each fortnight, which is described as being paid in recognition of the caring role.

The changes will also allow a range of health professionals—including physiotherapists, registered nurses and Aboriginal health workers in remote areas—to provide assessments, not just doctors and specialists. There will also be support available for parents at those times when their child needs intensive care—for example, when a child is undergoing treatment for a condition such as cancer or for trauma.

The response to the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce was overwhelming. It received over 4,000 submissions, and over 25 focus groups were held with stakeholders and self-selected carers over an eight-week period. The task force recognised the vitally important role of carers, and it also acknowledged that the willingness and ability of carers to provide care are integral components of the broader care system. Their contribution, as I said, is essential to sustain the current system of community based person-centred care. The evidence available to the task force established that carers faced particular challenges in the form of financial hardship and severely reduced educational and employment prospects. As we said, their primary task is looking after their loved one who is profoundly disabled. Carers have lower levels of health and wellbeing, chronic grief, and limited opportunities to participate in community life and build and maintain the social networks that all of us take for granted.

The amendments in this bill will deliver a new, fairer set of qualification criteria for carer payments in respect of a child based on the level of care required rather than on the rigid medical criteria that is currently being used to assess qualification for the payment. I will give you a very brief example of a phone call I received in the office a couple of years ago from the family of a very profoundly disabled child. The child was not going to get better, yet the red tape and the requirements placed on these people to qualify for the payment were enormous, to the point where my office had to ask the then minister in the former government to intervene and ensure that the family did receive this payment, which was so important to them. Seeing the family go through that process was extremely disheartening. This was all information that Centrelink actually had. This child was born with a profound disability, and the information was with them. Every so often the family would face more red tape and get more forms to fill in. I am glad that we were able to assist them. I am sure this particular bill will deliver a new and fairer set of qualification criteria for the carer payment. Administration of claims will also be improved, with better claims processing and capacity for more complex claims to be handled by a dedicated complex claims assessment team.

The recent report of the inquiry of the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs also recommended that this bill be passed. The committee recognised that these arrangements will ensure that more carers who are unable to support themselves because of the demands of caring for children with a disability or a medical condition will receive the financial support that they require to ensure that they can carry on supporting themselves.

The government is very aware that we need to address the needs of those who care for others within our society. I have met, as many have in this place, with many carers in my electorate and have seen the significant work that they undertake. This government has an absolute commitment to assist those in need and to support them in their very important role of caring. We need to simplify access to government support without making carers jump through hoops to access support. As I said, there was the example of that particular family in my electorate who were made to jump through hoops constantly to ensure that they received their carer payments. It was so disheartening and depressing to see this family, who for years have been continuously looking after a child with a profound disability, with all the stresses of having a disabled child, on top of that facing the added burden of getting calls from Centrelink, getting forms to fill in and being told that they had to go through more hoops before they could actually give the support that was much needed. It is very important that we support this bill. We certainly need to simplify this process so that carers are not made to jump through hoops. I commend this bill to the House.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to record my support for this important legislation, the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. I want to add my voice today by way of some short remarks. This is an important area of endeavour for Australians and it is important that as a government we take measures to ensure that caring is recognised and that carers get the support they deserve with minimum fuss and trouble from government.

Within my own electorate I have become aware, anecdotally, of the important work that carers do. It is work that the government could never do or fund people to do in their place. In recognition of that it is very important that we understand that we could never afford to replace the effort and endeavour of this core of people who are looking after their family members and profoundly disabled people within our society. Therefore as a parliament we need to examine ways that we can improve carers’ access to benefits and provide them with the relief that they need to continue their vital work. Carers are often stretched to the limit or to breaking point. By its nature, the work involved in helping a person with a disability can be quite profound in its emotional intensity and it can take its toll. We need to find mechanisms to help carers to get some relief and to have time off.  That is a particularly important government endeavour. Where we cannot afford to subsidise or provide an income for carers because of the enormous cost involved, we ought to be able to ensure they get adequate relief and that they are supported in their work.

It is good to note from the provisions of this legislation and from many of the amendments that some of the rigid medical criteria will be abolished. I think that is a recognition of the very real, human circumstances that people find themselves in, which cannot be defined by government legislation or by criteria. This is an area where common sense needs to be applied. Red tape and bureaucracy have their place in various areas of federal government endeavour, but in these very real, human situations we do need to take a step down and consider the impact upon the carer and the profoundly disabled people and others in need of care. I think this legislation is an improvement on the current arrangements.

The committee is to be congratulated on its endeavours in conducting its inquiry and handing down its report. There is much more that could be said about this legislation. The simplification of access to support is a particularly worthwhile endeavour which I think all members in this place would support.

We have heard many speakers here today record their overwhelming recognition of the fact that carers do so much important work in our community. We recognise that carers provide the Commonwealth and our society with a service that government could not provide, and we need to assist them and make things easier for them. No government could afford to pay for the work that is done by these carers.

I conclude by saying that as a member in this place I am very grateful that all governments are taking measures to ensure that the work of carers is recognised. For many years in this country this area of endeavour either was not recognised or saw little active consideration, and this is a major improvement. We now understand the work that carers do, we understand its importance, we understand the cost implications for the Commonwealth and we are taking active measures to make it simpler for carers to access support. This legislation has the full support of the opposition. We look forward to seeing a simpler and better system in place for carers to access support from the government.

Jon Sullivan (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. I am pleased to say that this is a bill in which we are more united by our joint concerns. In fact, carers payment was introduced by a Labor government in 1983 as a new welfare measure, but I note that carers payment (child) was introduced by a former coalition government in 1998 and that that same coalition government put in place the review that has led to the amendments that are being made here today. I think it is important that we recognise that not one side of politics has a mortgage on caring for people in this situation.  The changes that we are making to this legislation were recommended in a report Carer payment (child): a new approach by the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, which was, as I said, set up in 2007 by the coalition government. I think we would agree that they are important changes.

Each of us as a member of this parliament does have interaction with families who are in this situation. Each of us understands that the difficulties that are faced by these families vary. I, for example, have had very close contact with one family caring, for over 20 years, for a young man with a disability. I have watched as his parents have worked hard to create for him an independent adult life. I also know of one teenage girl who was essentially abandoned by her mother at a day respite centre because her mother had been unable to adequately care for her whilst working. Whilst this was a very distressing circumstance for them both it was the only way in which she could see that her daughter would be well catered for in the future. It is the future of many of these people that is very much at the forefront of the minds of those providing care: their parents, who wonder what will become of their child once they themselves have passed on, and you see this situation a lot in later life. It is a substantial worry and we need to continually look at it into the future.

The report of the task force threw up, at least to me, one odd imbalance—that is, the percentage of recipients of carers payment (child) was about three per cent, or 3,600 recipients, of the total 116,600 recipients of carers payment overall, yet the lesser sum, the carers allowance (child), actually accounted for 28 per cent of all of those on carers allowance. This has an interesting implication in relation to the changes we are talking about making today in that the carers allowance (child) was paid to people based on the amount of care that the child needed. The carers payment was, in these circumstances that we are seeking to change, based on the actual disability or illness suffered by the child.

It could be said, I think with some veracity, that a number of people whose children needed care, for which they were being paid carer allowance, ought to have been receiving the carer payment. The change that we are making, as I have said and as was pointed out in a document issued by the Parliamentary Library, is now consistent with the application of the requirements for the carer allowance. The Parliamentary Library document went on to say—and we should be aware of this—that one of the problems with the assessment tool which we used in the past was that no two care situations are the same and that the same medical condition or disability affects individuals differently. The capacity of a person to cope with a disability or a medical condition varies between individuals and, therefore, the care needs vary. I could say, too, that there has been some discussion on taking the assessment tool that is about to be used for children and transferring it directly to assess people of 16 and above for the carer payment for adults. One of the points that is made quite strongly is that a child requires a degree of care from a parent simply by being a child. The disability degree will add to that level of care. It may or may not be a degree of disability or illness that will entitle them to have a carer in adult life. With a number of these things, adults are better able to cope.

I think that there have been some suggestions emanating from the Greens that an amendment to this legislation might be moved to reflect that transition, but I would say that, in a genuine consideration of the issue, we would need to take into account the parental care that is given to a child anyway and that the new arrangements, which we do introduce through this legislation, should be determined based on the additional care that is required.

There are a number of changes in the legislation. Obviously, the methodology of determining who is eligible is the centrepiece of the legislation. As a number of speakers have said, it adds 19,000 people to those who are likely to receive the carer allowance. I think that is a wonderful thing we as a parliament do. If there are people who deserve our help, it is those who are struggling to raise children with serious illness or disability and particularly—and I have not seen much written about it in relation to this bill, although there were some examples given in the task force review—families where there is one child with a severe or profound disability and other children in the household as well, recognising the actual difficulties of treating all your children fairly when one requires so much of your time.

These are difficult jobs and for people to be required, as they were simply by the fact that their payment was in the area of $52 per week as a carer, to go out and find work to raise children—one or more with a disability—is I think really flying in the face of what we are about as a country that does have a welfare system in place to assist people in difficult circumstances.

The clause relating to episodic care will, for the first time, enable people to be paid a carers payment for a short period while a child for whom they care receives treatment. The example given in the explanatory memorandum is of somebody receiving periodic treatment for leukaemia. It is very important that there is an adult carer available if there is a child in that circumstance—I suppose it is also important that an adult in that circumstance has support available—and this legislation allows for adult carers to receive carers payment for the period of that treatment if it is from three to six months. During the inquiry into the legislation by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs there was some discussion about whether that should not need to be renewed for each period of treatment but remain open for two years. There may be some merit in that but there is also some merit in the answer that was given by FaHCSIA, which suggested that an application for a second round of treatment would be a very simple matter. I do not know but I think it could be as simple as a phone call, given that the parameters have been met for the first round of treatment.

The exchanged care provisions will be welcomed. The previous speaker raised a view I share with him with respect to modern family circumstances where families separate and where increasingly—and thankfully—rather than there being a lot of fights there is shared care of children. If the care of a child with a disability were being shared 50 per cent by each parent then neither of them would qualify for an allowance, yet each of them would have been restricted in the income that they could earn. I think that as we progress this legislation we will be able to look at making arrangements to assist those kinds of people.

I have spoken a little about transitional arrangements. We have improved those to a three-month time frame in which the assessment for transitioning from carer payment (child) to carer payment (adult) can be done. That has been welcomed by the organisations involved. Apart from the idea that if you qualify for a carer payment (child) then you should automatically qualify for a carer payment (adult), which I think is problematic, these provisions have been well received.

There are also changes to provisions regarding hospitalisation. Previously, if a child in someone’s care spent more than 63 days in hospital then that person lost their entitlement to carer payment (child). They will now retain that, subject to a 12-weekly review. The person would need to submit, through Centrelink, to FaHCSIA the need for ongoing care for their child. Any of us who, for any reason, have had a child in hospital for an extended period know that it is very important that the adult be available to the child through that time.

With the Disability Care Load Assessment (Child) Determination, the new document that people will fill out is one that, I understand, has been developed in association with the University of Wollongong. It was only made available in recent days. I would indicate that I have discussed with the minister’s office the matter of concerns about the document being discussed with organisations that are active in this area, whether it be Carers Australia or the association that was established for parents of children with disabilities, prior to the document’s implementation. I have been told that those discussions are actually taking place and that some recommendations have been made to government. It is a bit early in the decision-making process to decide whether or not we take them on board. What needs to happen here is, of course, for there to be a document that simplifies the process as much as possible.

I imagine that other members of the parliament have had occurrences of a situation that has happened a number of times in my office, namely, instances of medical practitioners, for example, ticking the wrong box when they are doing an assessment of a constituent who is seeking to apply for the disability support pension and, as a consequence of the mistake on the form—rather than it being a matter of the person not qualifying for the disability support pension—the pension has not been provided to the person concerned. This particular document is enormously important in relation to what we are trying to do. Never let it be said of course that what is happening is a simplification. This is still a very complex area of welfare legislation but the interaction with people and the issue of their entitlements need to be simplified as much as possible.

I want to deal with a couple of the issues that were raised by the Australian Greens in the minority report to the Senate committee inquiry. Five changes were suggested. I have already dealt with the first of those—that is, aligning the carer payment (adult) assessment with the carer payment (child) assessment. I do not think that that is a reasonable thing to do. The second and the fifth of the issues raised in this context by the Greens were to do with the extension of provisions of this legislation to adults. Whilst I would not say that the Greens were wrong, I would say that this is the wrong piece of legislation in which to do that. This legislation does not deal with that; maybe they should seek another vehicle. Two years for episodic care, something I mentioned earlier, could reasonably happen.

This government is serious about making sure that there are adequate provisions for carers as we move our society forward to become much more caring for the people within it. In the recently delivered federal budget there are provisions in relation to extra support for carers. Through the mechanism we are debating today it will open up to 19,000 additional recipients of carer payment (child). That is 19,000 additional people receiving the equivalent of the pension. They will of course be pleased by the additional amount of pension but also by the carer supplement and the carer payment. The carer supplement will go to people who receive both carer payment and carer allowance. It is set at $600 per annum. A person on carer payment (child) will automatically qualify for the carer allowance because of the alignment of the two qualifications and also the annual child disability assistance payment of $1,000. So on top of the carer payment (child) there is an amount of about $2,200 a year that will be paid to them. I commend the bill to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. It struck me as I was preparing to make this speech that it was more than eight decades after the Australian Federation that we eventually brought in a payment that we called the carers payment. It was first introduced in December 1983. What struck me when I thought about the history of the Australian Federation is that we had World War I, where we had many people who fought on the Western Front, Gallipoli and other places in defence of this country and more people died or were injured in that war than in World War II. We had the travails of what was happening for widows and those men—mainly men—who sadly came back from the Great War and were greatly injured and were not able to care for themselves because of their disability—mental, physical, psychological and psychiatric.

Then we had the Great Depression and all the challenges that brought to us as a country and the millions of people who were affected by it. Then we had World War II with our involvement in North Africa, in Europe and in the Pacific in the defence of our country and then in subsequent wars. And still as a country—a country that really believes in a fair go and being fair dinkum—we had not really thought enough to provide a payment which we would call the carers payment or the carers allowance. It struck me that, as a country which has venerated—and rightly so—the heroic deeds of our Anzacs and other men and women who have fought valiantly to protect the liberties and the democracy which we take for granted so often, we have not thought of the heroes in our society. That word ‘heroes’ is bandied around with abandon in relation to all kinds of sporting heroes, many of whom really do not deserve the accolade. Our real heroes are those who care for those with disabilities, those who care for people who are vulnerable and who are challenged in terms of their physical activities and those who are suffering, not just young but middle-aged and older, from mental problems and difficulties. It would be rare that a family represented here would not have been touched by people who have suffered from a disability. I am sure many of us have had friends who are suffering from a disability, and we look at the lives of the carers and marvel at what they do and wonder just how they get by 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, year after year caring for those whom they love.

I will provide a bit of history in relation to the carer payment. It was extended from a very narrow base for people caring for adults after July 1998. It was extended to people to a category of those people who were caring for profoundly disabled children under the age of 16 years. Eligibility and was broadened in July 2006 to carers of children with severe intellectual, psychiatric or behavioural disabilities. But even then there were only about 7,000 children being cared for, as many people have said, by carer payment recipients.

It really is quite extraordinary that we say we are a humane and compassionate society but we have not had the will and the wisdom to do what we are doing in relation to the carer payment supplement and also this improved support for carers in this particular legislation. It is quite astonishing that we have not had the determination and the fortitude to do what we needed to do—to display the courage politically that is displayed every day in the homes, in the community centres, in the schools and in the workplaces of those who are carers in our community.

The changes in this bill are a legislative response and commitment to a report by the review task force headed by Anthony Blunn. It was established in March 2007 to establish the effectiveness of the carer payment as a safety net for carers of children with profound disabilities and severe medical disabilities. As a result of that report and the review, which was released in early 2008, there was the conclusion—and I had a look at it—that the carer payment did not fulfil everything that it was aspiring to do. The safety net just was not adequate and there needed to be some changes. I am sure that every member of this House has had people come into their offices and talk with them about the fact that there have been problems in relation to this sort of thing.

The legislative changes that are proposed here broaden the qualification definition and base them on the level of care required. The new disability care load assessment introduced in this bill will provide an objective tool for determining the requirements of care recipients. I think it is a sensible proposal in the circumstances and I am amazed it has not been done earlier. An objective basis is important to ensure that there are no people who rort the system but also to ensure that we have the kind of questionnaire that carers can actually understand, that is in readable English and simple language that people can come to grips with. Treating professionals and doctors also need to be able to assess the functionality, behaviour and special care needs of children under 16 years of age and provide in clear, simple and easy to understand terms the level of care which is necessary to be provided by carers.

The process will accommodate a relaxation of the entitlement and also an assessment of eligibility across a range of households across the country. It will provide a better method to determine the qualifications in all the circumstances. As has been said before, provision of payment to a child on a short-term or episodic basis is a necessary reform and I think welcomed in all the circumstances.

I commend the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for what she has done. I said this morning in a speech in relation to carers that 23,500 people will benefit in this budget in terms of the pension increase and the care payment supplement as well. That builds on the 43,701 people who received payments, many of them carers, in the Economic Security Strategy we handed down last year. Many of them receive the $1,400 increase or the $2,100 increase for couples. We are providing substantial assistance in the budget and also through the two pieces of social security legislation that are before the House today in relation to these matters.

In all the circumstances this is a bold initiative, a timely initiative that is really long overdue. It is really quite amazing in the circumstances that we have not done it before. I am very much appreciative of the federal government’s assistance and of the minister’s commitment to those who are carers—the real unsung heroes in our community. My community will benefit enormously. I am sure across the whole country carers will also benefit as well. I am very happy that we have done what we have done in this initiative. For us it is political but for many it is personal. In my own family, my great-uncle and great-aunty cared for their profoundly mentally disabled son for many years—well into their senior years. I think of them and I think of the physical challenges and the intellectual and financial challenges they faced. I honour them today. I think we should do that every day. Politics is difficult but this legislation shows our compassion to those sorts of people.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 1 pm, the debate is interrupted. The honourable member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This bill provides part of the government’s response to a report of an inquiry initiated by the former Howard government into the carer payment for those who care for children, and gives effect to a number of measures aimed at improving assistance to carers from 1 July 2009. The main measures include relaxing child disability and care requirements for the child, to allow more carers of children to access carer payments; allowing carer payment where the care required is short term; allowing continued payment of carer payments where the child goes into hospital; allowing carer payments where the child has a terminal illness and the anticipated life expectancy is short; and allowing automatic qualification for the carer allowance where the carer is qualified for carer payment.

Obviously, carers are amazing Australians. Often through no fault or predisposition on their part a carer, whether it is a parent, an older sibling, a foster parent or some other person in the community, when they have a very sick or disabled child they often dedicate their lives to making sure that that dependent child or person being cared for has a good life, a life that is as far as possible comfortable, pain free and loving, despite their particular condition.

There are carers in Australia, however, who are most concerned that as they grow older they may not be able to care for their children, who may still only be teenagers, in the future in the way they have always wanted to. It is extremely important that, as a caring nation and as a nation that, despite its troubles, still has resources, we put proper support into the carers’ pockets to make sure that, at least financially, they are given some reimbursement for the often 24-hour, seven-day-a-week support they give to their loved ones. The carer payment is an income support payment for carers who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves through substantial participation in the workforce. This bill will cost some $271 million over four years.

The report entitled Carer payment (child): a new approachwas released last year. It found that the qualification criteria for carer payment in respect of a child were too restrictive and the assessment process overly rigid, often producing inequitable outcomes. The coalition is pleased that the reports and the Howard government emphasis on solving this problem are being followed through with this bill. Due to the narrow set of medical and behavioural criteria currently determining eligibility for the payment, it is currently received by the parents of just under 7,000 children. There is an expectation that this bill will increase the number of carers eligible for carer payment to around 19,000. This bill is about a very important sector of our community—that is, the carers of children who have a serious short-term or longer-term condition.

But there are still real gaps in what is delivered as an equitable outcome to carers who, for example, might be from an ethnic minority non-English-speaking background. Those carers often are not familiar with all of the resources that are available in the community. They may not have a driving licence, particularly if they are women from cultural backgrounds where women traditionally are not expected to drive or be independent outside the home. Often these carers do not know where to go and they are not contacted or even sought out by agencies that should be making it their business to make sure that carers of children across our society are fully resourced and understand what support there is in the community for them. I have had representation from ethnic minorities—particularly from non-English speaking background ethnic minorities—that material is not translated into enough of the home languages of parents with responsibilities for care. They are unfamiliar with how to go about contacting Centrelink, and very often our medical system is a mystery to them. I urge this government to look very carefully at the needs of carers from ethnic minorities—whether they are responsible for children or adults—and to take special measures including translating information and making sure carers understand what support there is in the Australian community, have respite that is culturally appropriate and are given a great deal more support than they currently are.

Let me also say that there is a real problem with carers in rural and regional communities. We are quite often talking about bigger distances for carers to travel to take children to medical appointments or to hospitals. There is often a real difficulty if a child is hospitalised. I know of a family in my electorate of Murray who literally had to sleep in their car while their child was attended to in a hospital in Melbourne. There was not enough income in the family to pay for accommodation and they were not aware of or were not told about the hospital’s family accommodation or it was not available to help them at a time when it was very much needed. I think it is quite disgraceful that parents should have to sleep in a car in order to be with their children at a time of extreme stress, when a child is hospitalised.

There are also real issues associated with when a chronically disabled child reaches the official age of adulthood. They transfer then from the responsibility of one program to another or from state to federal government funding. Often, by the time the very disabled child reaches the age of 17 or 18, they are physically very big and their parent requires a lot of skill to lift them and help them to be mobile. Sometimes these children are bedridden and have been since birth. I heard recently about a very sad case. It really brought home to me the significant gap in our caring for disabled Australians, particularly those who have been disabled in a very significant and serious way. This young man, whose name is Zac, was severely injured a few days after his birth when he was thrown against a wall by his parent. As a tiny baby he was not expected to survive the injuries, particularly the head injuries, but in fact the child has grown up into a very loving young man. He has been in the care of a foster family who have dedicated their lives to making sure this young man has all the love and care that he needs. But he is bedridden. He requires feeding and every other sort of physical support that a young baby might need.

When Zac had his 18th birthday and had to move out of the state supported system, which was giving him some daily activities in Shepparton, his foster parents came to realise that they could not continue to care for and love Zac in their home 24 hours, seven days a week. It was physically beyond their ability to continue to do that, especially given they were also fostering other children in their family. So we looked around for accommodation for this young man. Of course, it will be no surprise to many people, particularly my rural colleagues, that there was absolutely no accommodation available for this young man, with his disabilities requiring 24-hour care.

The state system and, unfortunately, the federal system said, ‘We acknowledge the problem, but we can do nothing for you. You’ll just have to wait until perhaps a bed becomes available, but we don’t know when that might be. We don’t anticipate a vacancy soon.’ So we went to our local aged-care facilities. Of course, we are very fortunate, after 11 years of the coalition government, to have good aged-care facilities in many of our very small country towns, including in towns close to where this young man was living. We approached some of those aged-care facilities, which were more than pleased to look after Zac and have him make a new home in their facilities with 24-hour care, seven days a week. The agency assessed him as appropriate for that sort of support but said, ‘You can’t have a young man in an aged-care facility; it would not be fair to him or to the other residents.’ The young man in fact was perfectly happy to be in a facility where he had his music, where he was close to his foster family and their home, where all of his physical and emotional needs would be met. We had to fight and argue and, finally, the federal authorities relented and allowed this young man to take up a bed in a local aged-care facility where, I am very happy to say, he lives very peacefully and happily and is loved and cared for.

This is a very serious situation for small rural communities, for country communities, where often there are not a large number of people needing this sort of care, but those who do need the attention are chronically in need. We have to be more flexible in the way we determine who may live where in state funded, private sector funded or even not-for-profit homes. In this case it was extremely stressful and it took nearly six months for that foster family to be assured that we had found a home for young Zac. I do not think that sort of stress should be visited upon any family who have done their best for a young person but who, are physically beyond being able to care for a person 24 hours, seven days a week in the way they were able to many years before.

We have to address this problem most urgently. This is an ongoing issue, particularly as more of our disabled young people can look forward to a longer life, who will survive their early childhood.

This extra carers support is also very important for our Indigenous communities. Very often they are not informed and not engaged in the sort of support that is available. Again, I urge this government to reach out into Indigenous communities to ensure that, whether it is the grandparent, which it often is, looking after a disabled younger person, or someone who is chronically ill, they are very aware of the support that is available from government agencies and these payments, which will help them meet their day-to-day costs.

My remarks are to do with equity, social inclusion, the rights of individuals to live their lives as best they can and to share in the good things of this country, despite circumstances which are often not of their choosing but which make them have to live from day to day in ways where they themselves are denied time to relax, to work and to visit others in the community. This is a very important area of concern for an Australian population that prides itself on being caring.

I believe this bill is important but it is unfinished business. We have to make sure that it is not simply a case of those who are already familiar with the system being better remunerated, which is very important, we must reach out and ensure that people from all communities—whether they are from rural or regional areas, are non-English-speaking ethnic minorities or Indigenous Australian—get the same level of support. We must then look very carefully at what sort of residential accommodation is available for disabled Australians when the caring task literally gets beyond their carers in terms of their physical capacity or age or when their exhaustion is such that they cannot continue in the way they have done for 15 or 20 years.

It is great to see the former Howard government’s report move towards implementation, but we look forward to seeing this particular area of support for carers in Australia continue to be a focus of attention for this government. Certainly the coalition will support any moves to make the lives of carers better and which acknowledges the huge amount of care that they give to their loved ones and, indeed, the amazing contribution they make to broader Australian society by teaching all of us what it is like to love unconditionally. I commend the bill to the House.

Jim Turnour (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support this very important legislation. The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009 is primarily focused on increasing support and recognising the vital role of carers in society. Specifically, it aims to improve assistance to carers of children with profound disabilities. I want to start my remarks by making some general comments about carers and the need for us to provide support for them. Whether it is caring for elderly parents, children with illnesses or someone with a disability—whether that is psychological or physical—carers work behind the scenes. They do not always get the credit they deserve and they make incredible sacrifices.

As somebody who has only in the last couple of years had a child and has learnt the unconditional love that is involved in that relationship and as someone who has friends with children, including children with disabilities, I know the efforts and the unconditional love that is involved in providing that support in that relationship. This legislation is particularly important in providing support to families and parents who are carers for young children with profound disabilities. It is particularly important legislation because those people are very much the unsung heroes of this community. They not only provide the love and support to their children that we all give our children; they also, well beyond the time when their children are babies, in many instances have to help them with bodily functions and other things that are not so pretty, but that is a normal part of their lives. They are tremendous Australians; they are tremendous citizens. It is great to be here in parliament to support legislation that is hopefully going to improve their lives.

The Rudd government recognise the important role that carers play. We have sought, including with this legislation, to support them where we can. In the first stimulus package that we brought down last year we delivered stimulus payments to carers. The economic stimulus package provided $1,400 to carer payment recipients in general and $1,000 to carer allowance recipients for each person cared for under that program. The carer payment provides income support to people who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves through substantial workforce participation. Carer payment is subject to an income and assets test and is paid at the same rate as the social security pension. Carer allowance is an income supplement available to people who provide daily care and attention to an adult or a child who has a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability which is permanent and likely to affect the person for an extended period. Both of those groups, whether they give full-time support or receive an allowance, received support through the first stimulus package.

Last year we also extended the utilities allowance for the first time to all recipients of carer payment and the disability support pension. In addition, the government has increased the telephone allowance to $132 a year for carer payment recipients with a home internet connection. The 2008 budget also contained an $822 million package to support and recognise carers. Last night in the budget we made specific commitments for carers.

It is really important in a First World country like Australia that we do provide support to the most disadvantaged in the community and also to those who are providing support to those people who need support, whether they are young children, elderly or other people who need that support. We can only do that, though, if we run a responsible budget and we keep the economy strong, because in the end we need to make sure that the funds are there to pay these bonuses, pensions and other things. In last night’s budget we recognised that and we brought forward some important payments for pensioners.

The government is committed to supporting carers. They do one of the most difficult jobs day in, day out—there is no doubt about that. As the Treasurer stated last night, good carers are among the unsung heroes of our community. Because of the financial difficulties they face, this budget introduces a $600 a year carers supplement for all carer payment recipients on top of an increase in their pensions—increases for singles of $32.50 approximately per week and for couples of $10.14 per week. I know they will be welcomed. Recipients of the carers allowance will also receive an additional $600 a year for each eligible person in their care. They do the hard work and they need the support. I am proud to be part of a government that is providing some additional support to carers. They need more and we always need to do more, but it is good to be able to continue to make an effort to provide them with support.

This legislation is particularly focused on increasing support and recognising the vital role of carers with young children. The bill provides part of the government’s response to the report of the Carer Payment (Child) Review Taskforce. The task force was established in March 2007 to examine the qualification criteria for carer payment and to consider the effectiveness of the payment in providing a safety net for children with a profound disability or severe medical condition. The task force recommendations are set out in the report entitled Carer payment (child): a new approach. The measures contained in this bill implement recommendations of that task force. The amendments will deliver a new, fairer set of qualification criteria for carer payments paid in respect of the child.

Whether you are on the opposition side or on the government side of the House, you will have had carers visit you in your offices. One of our jobs is to represent people and at times take up issues that they have with government departments. I am sure members would have had people in their offices who have sought to receive a carer payment and to get their child recognised as somebody that needs support. They need to provide that care and have been caught up in a bureaucratic system that does not recognise the difficulties that they are facing. They want to simplify it down to what they see effectively as a tick-a-box system. An important outcome of this review was recognising that we need to make improvements, particularly around how we look at assessing the ability of people to access carer payments. It is really good to be able to see this legislation come before the parliament.

The legislation ensures that in the future the decisions are based on the level of care required rather than the rigid medical criteria currently used to assess qualification for the payment. There are important and substantive changes that will give carers a fair go. For the first time there will be access to carer payment paid in respect of a child on a short-term or episodic basis. Sometimes you need to have carer payments paid on a short-term basis. We see people go through referrals and they make an application to receive carer payment or the carer allowance and they are knocked back. They have to appeal and they go through that process. Often it can be for a short period of time. This legislation allows for them to access payment in respect of a child on a short-term or episodic basis.

There will be more generous arrangements for carers of children who are in hospital so that carers can keep their carer payment and carer allowance when the child is in hospital. I have had constituents come to me when somebody has gone into hospital and their payments were then under threat. Their child is in hospital and they need to continue to get the income support that they have been receiving. It is very important that that is continued. This legislation deals with that issue.

The qualification rules will also be relaxed in the tragic situation of a person caring for a child with a terminal illness. It is a tragic situation for somebody to see their child die before them. What a terrible thing to happen to anybody. Your heart goes out to those people. We need to make life fairer and recognise those difficult situations. A person in receipt of a carer payment in respect of a child will also become automatically eligible for carer allowance. This is going to provide additional support to many families.

Administration of these claims will be improved, with better claims processing and the capacity for more complex claims to be handled by a dedicated complex claims assessment team. When people make a claim and get knocked back and they are struggling at home because they have to care for somebody, they have to deal with a bureaucracy. When it is not working out for them, they come to see members of parliament and we struggle to work through the issues with them. This legislation, building on the review process, is going to assist us in helping those people. Hopefully, not too many more will end up in the offices of members of parliament needing that support.

In conclusion, this legislation is very important. I am very proud to be here supporting this legislation. Carers are a valued and important sector of our communities. They sure are in my electorate of Leichhardt, as I know they are all across the nation. I therefore commend this bill to the House and salute the carers all across the nation.

Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be associated with the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009 in this place, because it will effectively provide financial support to carers of children with a disability or an illness who require high levels of care. While the carer payment (child) has been available for some time, the eligibility requirements have been prescriptive and inflexible, resulting in many carers missing out on this vitally needed assistance. By reformulating qualification so that it is based on the level of care needed by a child rather than based on medical criteria it is hoped that the application of this policy will be fairer and less perturbing for those families who carry a heavy load. It is a good step in the direction of caring for Australian carers and those who depend on them for quality of life.

The measure contained in this bill to expand the eligibility for the carer payment follows the report of the Carer Payment (Child) Review Taskforce and the recommendations made therein. The task force was set up by the Howard government in March 2007, having recognised the need for a review into the eligibility provisions for the payment. The report was handed down in February 2008 and recommended the immediate reassessment of qualifications for the carer payment. In May 2008, as part of last year’s budget, $293.6 million was set aside to facilitate these recommendations. It is very pleasing to see the high level of bipartisan support for this measure.

Caring for children is a joy that parents anticipate at the birth of a child and embrace for a lifetime. When children are sick, parents fret and worry and attend to them with love and devotion. But for many Australian families their children’s special needs are enduring and require that devotion 24 hours a day, seven days a week over an entire lifetime. The needs of these children and those of their carers are inextricably linked. In many cases, the parents cannot ever hope for their child to enjoy the milestones in life that most of us celebrate as our children go to adulthood and independence. Neither can they expect much relief from the unrelenting need for care, which eventually and inevitably takes its toll on the carer or carers.

While for many parents caring for a child with a disability there is a sense of personal growth and a deeper understanding of what is truly important in life, there can also be stress and anguish caused by a child’s illness or disability. It is often the case both for parents and for other family members. The repercussions are felt throughout every facet of family life. For parent carers, meeting the daily needs of their children is more than a full-time job. It often becomes a way of life.

This bill is also timely because the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth has just completed and released a report following an inquiry into better support for carers titled Who Cares? There will be an opportunity to discuss that report when it is tabled in the House on 25 May 2009, so I do not propose to do that on this occasion.

During the course of receiving evidence, we heard from witnesses that the coordination of care and the level of support are unsatisfactory. One of the most confronting aspects of the inquiry was the honest and caring accounts of carers of the financial, emotional and social isolation that they felt or feel. Financial stress that arises from not being able to engage in the workforce serves to further compound the feelings of social isolation and desperation that carers reported. The carer payment recognises that because of the needs of their children carers have a limited opportunity to work. It is not designed to compensate carers for the costs associated with caring or to replace the wages or salary foregone. The income support mirrors the payment of other social security pensions, which currently stand at $569.80 a fortnight for singles and $475.90 per fortnight for couples.

Even with these payments, more generous than some of the others, I ask everyone in this House to reflect on whether they could actually live on that sum of money. I remind the House that we have just seen an increase in that as a result of the budget announcement last night, and we seek increases in September 2009 to $594.59 and $479.99 respectively. I also remind the House that our former leader, the Hon. Brendan Nelson, the member for Bradfield, was largely responsible for seeing these changes come to fruition through his untiring and unwavering support for an increase in the pension rate.

Both inquiries have encountered deeply moving and very personal accounts of a system that failed and fails to provide an adequate safety net for all of those parents caring for children with severe disability or medical conditions requiring income support. Sometimes responses to community needs evolve over time. In this respect we have seen major changes to the way in which children with a profound disability are cared for in our communities. The end of institutional care was widely supported, but despite the expansion of more personal assistance the system has left parents to take full responsibility without satisfactory community based support. Notwithstanding some of the shortcomings in response to the plight of carers, positive steps were taken in 2006, when measures were introduced to extend the carer payment to carers of children with severe intellectual, psychiatric and behavioural disabilities such as autistic disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities and Asperger’s disorder. This saw a growth in the number of carers receiving the carer payment from 3,750 to around 7,000.

The key changes recommended by the task force and implemented in this legislation before the House today will further expand eligibility for the payment, making an additional 12,000 carers eligible to receive a higher level of support, and this is a very welcome measure. The payment is currently available to parents of profoundly disabled children under 16 who require constant care which is administered within the family home. These definitions are prescriptive and have little to do with the actual level of care a child may require. This systematic inflexibility will to some extent be corrected through this bill. The functional ability, behaviour and special care needs of the child will be considered to determine qualification for the carer payment. The expanded payment will also be available to parental carers where their child’s illness or disability is episodic or short term or where the child is in hospital. This means that, where parents need to provide care to a child with a condition that is unlikely to be ongoing but nevertheless necessitates constant care, they may then be eligible for the payment. For children in hospital the payment will undergo a 12-week review cycle which, it is hoped, will be responsive to the changing need of the child.

It is an utterly tragic and devastating circumstance when a child is diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctor will no longer be required to provide an individual estimate of life expectancy for the child; the payment will be made according to the average life expectancy of a child in a similar position. It is expected that the system will be far more understanding of the sensitivities involved in these particular situations.

In addition, all parental carers who are eligible for the carer payment will also become automatically eligible for the carer allowance to ensure that the expenses associated with their child’s illness or disability do not place further financial strain on the family budget. For many carers, there has been uncertainty as to the difference between these payments. Unlike the carer payment, which is subject to an asset and income test, the carer’s allowance is not subject to that test. The current rate is $105.10 per fortnight. Additional measures are proposed to enable a less bureaucratic and more individualised administrative system that can better handle complex care arrangements, such as where separated parents each offer care or where there are multiple care recipients. All of these changes will no doubt be greatly welcomed by the community of carers, given the lengthy period over which they have advocated for this change.

Both the report of the carer payment (child) review and the recent inquiry of the Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth not surprisingly identified financial hardships, the variability of care arrangements, limited employability, transition from child to adult care and, above all, the sheer complexity of accessing support as key as issues for them as carers. For me, this is driven home in a very personal way, because I have a family who is attached to me through the Politician Adoption Scheme in Western Australia. The mother has a profoundly disabled daughter and a son who has some learning difficulties. I asked her about the level of assistance she gets. She said that she just cannot go through the trauma of filling out endless forms to get a very small amount of money. This is not untypical. We heard much evidence in our inquiry of parents who both found this demeaning and felt defeated by the sheer complexity.

As I said, all of these changes will be greatly welcomed. Both the report on the carer payment and the committee report highlighted the difficulties. As I said, one of those difficulties was the lack of or limited employability. Much more needs to be done to address the systemic problems and, in part, encourage flexible working arrangements so that carers are able to also participate in the workforce—not just for financial gain but also as an important part of self-identity and of overcoming the social exclusion that many carers feel in their community. All parents would associate with the need for some occasional respite, but for parent carers who are caring for profoundly disabled children this need is greatly amplified. Without adequate care for respite, carers have little opportunity to engage in community activities, to spend time with their other children or to spend time with their partner. We know that caring for profoundly disabled children often has a high toll and can lead to relationship breakdowns.

The parliament, therefore, must continue to work to address the physical, financial, social and psychological impact of caring. Addressing these needs in a holistic manner is vital to caring for carers and is in the interests of the children that they care for. Clearly there is still considerable work that needs to be done. The needs are complex and they are individual. As a result, we desperately need a system that is flexible and coordinated. It became apparent to me in the course of our inquiry that for too long the welfare of carers has been compartmentalised and departmentalised, with carers finding themselves in the middle of bureaucratic maze. For parental carers, dealing with a complex system of assistance is surely the last thing they need. We need a system for carers that is adequately funded, that is responsive to the changing needs of individuals and that offers a one-stop-shop service. It is only through a whole-of-government approach that this can be achieved.

The passage of this legislation will remove one layer of complexity but, to achieve best practice in service delivery, a greater emphasis on training and awareness of the complex needs of carers and those they care for must be central to government policy. An education and awareness program needs to be extended to healthcare services and other external service providers so that carers can be directed to appropriate support services in the first instance. I understand Centrelink is trialling specialised officers to assist those on income support and similar payments and that staff are actively looking for ways to better respond to issues that have been raised by carers. I applaud and support the work that Centrelink people are doing and I sincerely hope that Centrelink staff are properly and adequately supported and funded by the government so as to achieve the high level of support our nation’s carers deserve.

This bill addresses the financial needs of parental carers that have not previously been eligible for the carer payment (child) and, by extending the qualification to these families, the parliament is not just recognising the contribution and sacrifices that carers make but also recognising that a flexible system is essential for caring for our carers. This is indeed a promising first step but, as I said, the parliament must accept that considerable ongoing work is needed to fully address the complex needs of carers, and the cared for, throughout our society. The next step will be to fully examine the recommendations of the report into better support for carers titled Who cares…? and, as a matter of priority, implement those recommendations. I can only hope that this next step will not take another 14 months to implement. I look forward to speaking further to that report when it is tabled and debated in this place during the next sitting week. In the meantime, I am very pleased to join with colleagues on both sides of the House in fully supporting carers through the passage of this bill.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before going to the actual substance of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009, I would like to start where the member for Pearce finished by referring to the fine report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth entitled Who cares...? and the recommendations that were brought down by that committee. I acknowledge the role that the member for Pearce, as the deputy chair of the committee, played in that report and I join with her in emphasising how important it is that these recommendations become more than just recommendations and are reflected in legislation.

There is no member in this parliament that has not been faced with the plight that carers have to contend with each and every day. I am very pleased that there is bipartisan support for this legislation. In saying that, I did not for a moment doubt that there would not be bipartisan support. No matter what our political philosophy is and no matter what our political disagreements may be, when it comes to an issue where we are providing support to some of the most vulnerable people—some of the people in our communities and electorates who need support more than anyone else—it is important we all join together, support legislation like this and call for recommendations like those in this report to be implemented. Like the member for Pearce, I will be speaking when the report is tabled and brought on for debate here in the Main Committee.

This legislation provides part of the Commonwealth government’s response to the recommendations of the carer payment review task force, and it gives effect to a number of measures aimed at improving assistance to carers of children with profound disabilities. These measures take effect from 1 July this year. The qualification criteria and assessment processes for carer payment for care provided to children with a disability or a medical condition will be changed to provide a fairer, more equitable process based on the level of care required rather than the rigid medical criteria that are currently used. I will talk a little bit more about that in a moment.

A person who qualifies for carer payment under the new provisions in this bill will automatically qualify for a carer allowance, and that removes the problem of having to fill out two sets of forms and relieves a little bit of the pressure that is on those carers whose every minute of every waking hour is spent caring for their children. A parent of a child who is in hospital and who receives a carer allowance will continue to receive that allowance for a limited time. This will remove the current limit on the number of days in each calendar year that can be paid while a child is in hospital. The limit sometimes leads to the loss of the carer payment or carer allowance.

Since I have been in this parliament, I have been approached by numerous parents of children who have a disability, and I can say that I have always been moved by their plight. I have always been convinced that, as a government and as a society, we should be providing more support to these parents. In doing so, we are providing more support to their children. When a person becomes a parent, they have their beautiful little baby that they have dreamed about for nine months, or maybe for a lesser period of time where a child has a disability. They have got plans and aspirations for the child, and then they find that the child has a disability, or they may find a little further down the track that the child has a disability. All of a sudden, they need to re-evaluate those plans. They need to re-evaluate their entire lives. I think that, as members of this parliament, we need to be very mindful of the impact that that has on a person’s life and of the years of dedication that those parents give to their children.

As well as meeting with individual parents of children with disabilities, in my time as a member of parliament many lobby groups for parents with children with disabilities have come to this parliament to ask for more support. There is a Western Australian organisation that has for its theme ‘walk a mile in my shoes’ and they have lobbied very strongly for greater support for parents of children with disabilities. I am sure that they will be pleased that this small step has been taken towards helping them.

One occasion that had the biggest impact on me, as a member of parliament, was back in 2002. I visited Camp Breakaway in the Shortland electorate, where parents of children with disabilities from the Central Coast had gathered. These children had rare and serious genetic disorders. They were severely disabled children with very high support needs and very high care needs. I had previously visited the mother of one of the children at her home. She had a little girl called Tori. Tori had developed a type of muscular dystrophy that meant that she moved from being a normal child with normal muscle tone to a child who was unable to breathe without assistance. She had what was called spinal muscular atrophy. She had very limited movement. Karen, her mother, had a little bit—a very little bit—of respite and she averaged about three hours sleep a night. She was under enormous pressure and there was an enormous draw upon her time, but she did it with great dedication and great love and did not question for a moment. She organised for me to go along to Camp Breakaway to meet with the other parents.

There I met Sonya, who had four children. Her son Alex had a disability. Alex had had to have a ‘trachie’ inserted so he could breathe, and her situation was exacerbated because her husband was a quadriplegic. But she was happy to do everything that she could. The reason I want to share with the House today Sonya’s story is that she had applied for disability payment for young Alex and had been rejected. She reapplied and was rejected again. This child was severely disabled. She said to me that she got so sick of completing the forms, submitting them to Centrelink and being rejected that she finally took Alex into the Centrelink office. The staff there were so overwhelmed by the level of disability of this young boy that she was granted carer allowance for Alex. I see this relates directly to the legislation before us today. This legislation makes this simpler. This legislation removes the arbitrary nature of having to prove the level of disability. It is much more flexible. It will get away from those rigid criteria that have for years prevented parents of children who suffer from autism or other profound disabilities being granted carer allowance or carer payment.

I pick on autism because I have spent many hours with constituents within my electorate working through these rigid criteria, having the applications rejected and then quite often going to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and helping the parents through that. These are parents who spend each and every waking hour of their day caring for their children. They have dedicated their lives to their children, and their lives have been made even harder by the rigid nature of legislation that has been in place. We on this side of the House—and, I would have to say, those on the other side of the House too—recognise that it has been very difficult for carers.

In this budget, we particularly acknowledge with the payments that we have made to them the fact that carers have a very hard job. Some of the real answers lie in this report here. I put to the House that if these dedicated parents and carers within our community were not prepared to give all of their life to their children then governments throughout Australia would have to spend a lot more money on caring for those children. And the quality of life of those children would be a lot poorer. They are nurtured in a loving and caring environment by parents who have had to change their plans, goals and expectations for that child. They now have different plans and expectations for those children. These parents are totally dedicating their lives to caring for their children. It is beholden on governments and each and every member of this parliament—members of the government and members of the opposition—to do everything in their power to make the lives of carers just that little bit better. I see this legislation as doing just that. It puts in place a number of the recommendations of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce. That is welcome.

I place on the record here in this parliament today that I will continue to fight and work for carers to get a better deal. I feel that no matter what age the child is, the parent is still locked into caring for their child until the day that they die or the day the child dies. One of the big issues that carers approach me about is what happens to their child once they are not longer here, once they die.

I have a fantastic young woman come to my office two afternoons a week. Her name is Tracy. She has represented Australia at the Paralympics. She was at university. She was a high achiever. She is a beautiful young girl. She developed brain tumours. She had those brain tumours removed and now she spends her life in a wheelchair. It has affected her speech and her fine motor skills, but she is still a very intelligent person who has a lot to offer.

Her parents are currently conducting a campaign to try and have a facility built in the Hunter area for younger people with disabilities. This is another issue that members of this parliament have come across from numerous Australians. Tracy’s parents are worried about what will happen to Tracy when they die. They do not want her to go into an aged-care facility with older people. Rather, they want to ensure that there is a place where Tracy can go where there are other young people with disabilities. It is all about quality of life. This is something that as a parliament and as a society we have to get our heads around as well. I intend to work with her family and with others in my region to try and bring this to fruition. I would encourage all members to think about this and look at ways of bringing about change to ensure that young people with disabilities have a good quality of life.

In conclusion, I would like to once again give my wholehearted support to the legislation that we are debating here today. The parents of children with disabilities deserve every bit of support that we can give them. The legislation that is before us today is a very strong step in that direction.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this chamber to support all of those carers and parents in Australia and in my electorate of Forrest. The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009 provides part of the government’s response to a report initiated by the former Howard government into the carer payment paid in respect of a child and gives effect to a number of measures aimed at improving assistance to carers from 1 July 2009. Any assistance to carers is certainly important. The main ones include: relaxed child disability and care requirements for the child to allow more carers of children to access carer payments; to allow carer payments where the care required is short-term—quite important; to allow continued payment of carer payments where the child goes into hospital; to allow carer payments where the child has a terminal illness and the anticipated life expectancy is short term; and to allow automatic qualification for carer allowance where the carer is qualified for carer payments.

The previous review was conducted by an independent task force from March to November 2007. The review examined the eligibility criteria for criteria payments and their effectiveness in providing a safety net for carers of children with a severe disability or medical condition. The report entitled Carer Payment (Child): A New Approach was released last year and found that the qualification criteria for carer payment paid in respect of a child are too restrictive and the assessment process overly rigid, often producing inequitable outcomes. This bill makes amendments to the carer payment paid in respect of a child. Carer payment is an income support payment for carers who, because of the demands of their caring role, whether they are parents or other carers, are unable to support themselves through substantial participation in the workforce.

The current set of medical and behavioural criteria that determines eligibility for the payment has resulted in the payment being received by the parents of just under 7,000 children. The proposed amendments seek to delete the existing method of determining eligibility for carer payment, which is based on medical criteria relating to the child’s disability or medical condition. The new method bases eligibility on the level of care required. As a result, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs estimates around 19,000 more carers will have access to carer payment from 1 July 2009. This is a very good result. The new assessment will be known as the Disability Care Load Assessment (Child) and it will improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of assessments even in complex cases such as where children have multiple carers, where carers have multiple care receivers and where there is care required for an adult with a disability at the same time as a child with a disability.

Administration will be improved, with better processing of claims and capacity for the more complex claims to be handled by a dedicated complex claims assessment team. We have heard from several speakers why and how that is so important. The Disability Care Load Assessment (Child)will be established by a legislative instrument. The instrument will allow a test, comprising a carer questionnaire and a treating health practitioner questionnaire, that will be used to assess the functional ability, behaviour and special care needs of children under 16 and the level of care provided by their carers. The process will accommodate assessment of eligibility for carer payment across a wide range of household situations, the situations that are encountered on a daily basis, including situations where there is more than one child or more than one carer involved in the qualification process. This test will provide a method for determining a qualifying rating for the carer based on the level of care associated with caring for the child or children with severe disability or a severe medical condition.

For the first time there will be access to carer payment paid in respect of a child on a short-term or episodic basis. Episodic care will cover care required for recurring conditions where the care recipient is aged under 16 years and each episode is expected to last at least three months and less than six months. Episodic care will cover care required for recurring conditions where the care recipient is aged under 16 years and each episode is expected to last at least three months and less than six months. This could include, for example, treatments for medical conditions such as cancer, brain injury or mental illness. Short-term care will apply if the care recipient is aged under 16 years and has a condition that is expected to be short term from a one-off incident. Some short and intensive treatments for childhood cancer may also fit this category. There will be more generous arrangements for carers of children who are in hospital so the carers can keep their carer payment, and if payable their carer allowance, while the child is in hospital. This means that the current limit on payment in these circumstances of 63 days in a calendar year will no longer apply and will be replaced by a 12-week review cycle.

The qualification rules will also be relaxed in the tragic situation of a person caring for a child with a terminal illness. The current criteria require a medical professional to certify that the child has a terminal condition and will not live for substantially longer than 12 months. This will be replaced with a process that assesses the average life expectancy for a child with the same or a similar condition and provides for payment on that less intrusive basis. The basic qualification conditions for carer payment within the amendments remain much the same as in the existing legislation. Basically, the carer must provide constant care to a care receiver who has high-care needs, provide that care in the home of the care receiver and be an Australian resident. However, there is a new feature included in the proposed new amendments: the constant care provided by the carer must severely restrict the carer’s capacity to undertake paid employment.

The bill also amends some of the carer allowance provisions in the social security law. Carer allowance is an income supplement for people who provide daily at-home care and attention to an adult or child who has a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability that is permanent and likely to affect the person for an extended period. Carer allowance is not means tested and may be paid in addition to an income support payment. A person in receipt of carer payment in respect of a child will become automatically eligible for carer allowance. These measures provide a more flexible and accessible income support payment for Australians facing some of the toughest circumstances, and certainly those of a very emotional basis—caring for a child with severe disability or a severe medical condition. As has been said by previous speakers, there would be very few of us who have not been touched by those either in our families or close to us who are caring for a child in these circumstances. This bill is the inevitable legislative response to an initiative that was commenced previously. It is part of a 2008 budget measure and will cost $271 million over four years broken down into: 2008-09.

As we all know, carers take on a huge role in caring for their loved ones, frail or disabled. The emotional pressure of this care is often cumulative. Care is often required for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the demands on carers are so great that carers often end up needing care themselves, or at least access to regular respite. I am hopeful that the amendments to this bill will further assist the many carers in my electorate of Forrest to access the help they require to continue their very dedicated and diligent work. One such deserving person in my electorate is Susan Keddie from Gelorup, who cares for her mother who lives in Allanson, a 110-kilometre round trip. Ms Keddie still needs further financial assistance with travel and petrol costs as she makes the round trip each day to care for her mother. As we have heard here, we all know that carers are the unsung heroes in all of our communities. Their contribution cannot be measured or quantified, but it is an extensive contribution.

Michelle Snitch of Cookernup also cares for her 21-year-old daughter with Asperger’s syndrome, spina bifida and a mild intellectual handicap. She has cared for her daughter all her life in their family situation. She has also, up until November last year, been the sole carer of another adult daughter who has a mental illness. You can only imagine the pressure on Michelle. During this time, she has also received the carer allowance and carer payment, which has been the only income she has been able to bring into the house for many years.

Four years ago, her husband retired from work to be able to help with the caring of both daughters, as she found she was struggling. You can imagine that that is exactly what she would be doing. At this time, her husband also started to receive the carer payment. Michelle has not been able to understand why the carers pension was not recognised when it comes to support for things such as glasses, when anyone in receipt of a disability support pension, age pension or veterans’ affairs payment can receive a $50 cashback from the government when purchasing new glasses. Then there is the travel issue. Anyone in receipt of a DSP, age pension or veterans’ affairs payment can receive free public transport at certain times and days, and also discounts at stores. There are a lot of stores that offer a 10 per cent discount to aged or senior citizens.

Michelle wanted to know why she was not able to access those, as she believes the family, as we have heard earlier, saves the government many thousands of dollars by not placing their children in care and by caring for them themselves. That, of course, is exactly what they want to do and they would not have it any other way. But she does believe she should receive the same privileges as other pensioners. Having just purchased new glasses at considerable cost, she was shocked when her husband—now an age pensioner—could receive the $50 rebate but she could not. She also travels to Perth regularly with her daughter for appointments and it is hard for her to understand why she has to pay for public transport and her daughter does not, because the daughter has the disability pension card.

I just wanted to touch briefly on a group in my electorate called the South West Family Support Association. I went to the opening of their new facility recently, and I note that their mission is to be a provider for families and individuals with a disability who want to be included in their community. Their program is to develop methods to include people with disabilities in community life. It is a wonderful facility. It is one that offers assistance not only to the people with a disability but to those who care for them. I think any support that we can provide for carers is one that we should be pursuing.

I look forward, as other members do, to the House of Representatives report that is due in the next sitting in May. I look forward to reading the recommendations and the further amount of support that this House will recommend as a result. I support our carers and I support those, like one of my neighbours, for whom it is basically their life’s work to care for their child. It certainly precludes the family from doing a range of other things that we all take for granted. I think we should do our very best to encourage and support anything that we can do to assist people like those and the many others across Australia in a bipartisan way.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just before I call on the next member, I would to acknowledge the presence in the Main Committee of a former minister, the Hon. Allan Morris.

Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This bill provides part of the government’s response to the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce and gives effect to a number of measures aimed at improving assistance to carers from 1 July 2009. The qualification criteria and assessment process for carer payment for care provided to children with disability or a medical condition will be changed to provide a fairer and more equitable process based on the level of care required, rather than the rigid medical criteria used currently. A person who qualifies for a carer payment under the new provisions inserted by this bill will automatically qualify for carer allowance.

The provisions in the Social Security Act 1991 that provide for qualification for carer payment and carer allowance while a care receiver is in hospital, or continued qualification if a care receiver enters hospital, will be amended to allow a person to qualify or remain qualified for carer payment while a care receiver who is a child is in hospital for an unlimited number of days per calendar year.

The Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce was established in March 2007 to examine eligibility criteria for the carer payment (child) and to consider the effectiveness of the payment in providing a safety net for children with a profound disability or severe medical condition. In identifying the challenges and critical role for carers, the task force recognised the vitally important role of carers and acknowledged that the willingness and ability of carers to provide care is an integral component of the broader care system. Their contribution is central to sustaining the current system of community based, person centred care.

The major challenges faced by carers identified in the consultation process were the impact of the caring role on carers and their families and the level of care required beyond that of a usual parenting role; the eligibility criteria and assessment processes for access to carer payment (child) and the fact that these processes did not measure care load; the complexity of the application process and the role of health professionals in verifying claims for payment; the inadequacies in the service delivery system in helping carers to access information and assistance; the lack of recognition of different care arrangements, such as shared, short-term and episodic care and multiple caring responsibilities; the financial costs of disability and the costs of caring; workforce participation; the relationship between carer payments and other social security payments; and the lack of a smooth transition between child and adult carer payments.

Throughout the review process, issues with the way the carer payment (child) is structured and administered were identified as major sources of concern. Not surprisingly, as the public face of payment service delivery, Centrelink received some critical comments. In dealing with the eligibility for carer payment, the task force was asked to compare the circumstances of carers in receipt of carer payment (child) to those who in recent cases have not qualified. In doing this, the task force assumed that the recent cases referred to were those where alternative assistance was provided. Through the review process, the task force identified that the perceived inequity of the current eligibility requirements, particularly the need to meet arbitrary and, in the view of many, irrelevant specific circumstances, was a major issue. Many carers were precluded from receiving the payment even though their caring responsibilities may have been as great as those of carers who qualified for the payment. We have certainly heard examples of that from our speakers today. The prescription of a small number of very specific circumstances in which the payment may be granted is inflexible and does not accommodate advances in medicines and in medically applied technology.

That is why this legislation is so important. The proposed changes provide a fairer and more equitable process, based on the level of care required rather than on the rigid medical criteria used currently. For the first time, there will also be access to the carer payment in respect of a child whose requires care on a short-term or episodic basis. I hear of these examples time and time again when I talk to parents at special schools in my electorate. They face difficulties in trying to provide an education and quality of life for their children, quite often having to pull their child out of the schooling system to care for them full time or while their child is hospitalised for a lengthy period of time. Carers need support through those episodes. It would, of course, be remiss of me to not use this opportunity to also acknowledge the great work of all carers, not just those who care for children. We have carers who care for both the young and the old. I have personal experience in my family; my mother needed full-time care for a period of time and then specialised care before her passing. I appreciate the hard work that carers do and the difficulty for those carers who are not of retirement age and who still need to balance work and financial obligations—such as a mortgage—with being a full-time carer.

The work of carers generally goes unrecognised by the broader community. We do not acknowledge the absolute commitment that comes from making the difficult decision to become a carer, even though most carers would tell you that it was not a difficult choice, that it probably was not a choice at all; it was just something that they needed to do and wanted to do. It was the right thing to do. But such decisions are not made any easier. It is not just the commitment; it is also the sacrifices. Those sacrifices are not just in relation to the carer’s social life but also in relation to things such as work opportunities and, when they are no longer a carer, the ability to retrain and get back into the workforce. It is very important that we provide support to carers to ensure that during the time of being a carer they do not feel isolated in that role.

That is why these people, the carers in our society, should be given support not just from the government but from the community. As we heard from many speakers today, it is about quality of life and, unfortunately, in many circumstances the life that the carers are caring for may be cut unfairly short. That is why the time they do have as carers is so important and why we should do absolutely everything to provide them with the support needed in the role. I was pleased to recently meet with my local carers at one of their regular meeting groups through Carers Queensland, to hear their stories and to empathise with their needs. It was heartening to meet two lovely elderly ladies who had previously been carers but were no longer carers as their husbands had passed away, who continued to come to these meetings to provide support for other carers and younger carers. It is wonderful to see them voluntarily coming along and providing that support.

This is why the initiatives the Rudd Labor government have already taken and continue to take are so important. The changes in this bill are the latest in a series of recent support initiatives that have extended to carers—such as the 2008 one-off payment legislation, which delivered $1,000 to carer payment recipients and certain other pensioners with a caring role. The carer allowance recipients were generally paid $600 for each person cared for. Then the economic security strategy legislation of late 2008 provided $1,400 to carer payment recipients and, generally, $1,000 to carer allowance recipients for each person cared for. The new measures in this legislation are part of an $822 million package from the 2008 budget to support and recognise carers. As well as the 2008 one-off payments, and the amendments to the carer legislation included in this bill—worth about $273 million over five years—the government set aside $100 million for support accommodation facilities for people with disability whose ageing parents can no longer care for them at home and $20 million for carers who have experienced a catastrophic event involving a young child.

I know that all carers, especially those with children, are permanently aware of the future. It is forever on their minds as to what quality of life their children are going to have into the future. It is one of the biggest concerns that parents have. One of my local families has a son called Christopher who has cerebral palsy. He is now a young man and is very much involved with Cascade Place, with their art and their music—which is fantastic. This is a respite centre which focuses on people with disabilities—but on their skills and their abilities. They are artists and musicians first; they are not known for their disability. I congratulate them for the amazing work they do.

Having spoken to Christopher’s parents on a number of occasions, I know that they have struggled to care for Christopher. They are trying to manage their own business; the two of them are running their own business as well as raising a teenage son with cerebral palsy. The one thing that they talk to me about—other than, like all parents who are carers, the need to have respite care and every now and then have time to themselves—is what the future holds for Christopher. One of the issues that they have been tackling is the limited number of small, personal and friendly home environments where Christopher can have a good quality of life, live with other young men like him and go out on social outings—a place where Christopher can live in a household, not an institution. That is the sort of life that they want for him. They had the pleasure of meeting me at a place known as Narin at Aspley in my electorate that has that very focus. It has four wonderful people living there. They looked at that place and said, ‘That is what we want for Christopher.’ But there are not enough of these sorts of places around. This initiative is fantastic, but we need to continue to do more and to focus on the issue of places and homes that provide a good quality of life as carers get older.

In addition to the announcements and initiatives of the Rudd Labor government that I have just highlighted, it is appropriate that I also acknowledge the fantastic commitment made by the Rudd Labor government in the budget announced last night by the Treasurer, the Hon. Wayne Swan, which provides further relief for carers. Around 500,000 carers across Australia will receive, as part of the government’s sustainable pension reform, a new permanent carers supplement to help meet the significant financial challenges that they face.

In addition to that carer supplement, carers in receipt of the carer payment will also get an increase equal to the increase being given to single and couple pensioners. I know that carers in my electorate will welcome this increase and the carer supplement. I understand that people who receive the carer payment and the carer allowance will receive at least two payments every year in addition to increases to their pension. More than 95 per cent of carer payment recipients also receive the carer allowance, so this is a welcome initiative by this government to support carers. These are measures that are recognised in my electorate. Those recipients are certainly deserving.

As the previous speakers have said, I will continue to recognise the needs of carers in my electorate and argue strongly that we not only need to provide financial support to these people but also need to ensure that we are providing the social support and that we are looking at how we can provide a good quality of life for all these people into the future. For all those reasons, I commend this bill to the House.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. It is an opportunity to celebrate carers within our community. It is an opportunity to hear the stories of carers in the various electorates around Australia. This is a fantastic debate. There is no better example of that than the wonderful contribution we have just heard from the member for Petrie, which was an eloquent description of the role that carers have played in her life and indeed in her electorate. This bill is part of the Rudd government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations which have been announced by the task force for the carer payment (child) review. Those recommendations were contained in the report of that task force, which was entitled The carer payment (child) review: a new approach.

This bill will improve the access to carer payments for people who are caring for a disabled child, and it will do that by changing the method of the assessment of the criteria which provide for eligibility for the carer payment. It is part of a broader suite of measures that the Rudd government is putting in place to support the role of carers within our community. It is estimated that, as a result of this legislation, an additional 19,000 carers within our community who are looking after children with disabilities will be entitled to the carer payment.

The carer payment is a form of income support for people who are performing one of the most challenging roles in our community—that is, the role of looking after a profoundly ill or disabled child, a child who may have a physical, intellectual, psychiatric or behavioural disability. This is a highly demanding role but it is in fact a common role. Indeed, whilst it goes a little unnoticed in our community, if each of us looks to our circle of friends then it will not be long before we find somebody that we know who is in the position of looking after a disabled child. In their task, in their lot in life, there is tragedy, but there is also a heart-warming aspect to their role and their existence.

I was speaking with one of the carer groups in my electorate and with those who support parents who look after disabled children. They made the comment that often, for these parents, the arrival of a disabled child provides a life for them which they certainly did not anticipate and a very different life from what they imagined for themselves. It is a life that requires constant attention for the disabled child that they are caring for. What is common amongst all of those who find themselves in that position and who in a sense, as the member for Petrie described, make a choice—although they themselves would never see it as a choice—is that you will never hear a complaint. You will never hear a complaint about the circumstances that they find themselves in. You will never hear a complaint about the cards that life has dealt them. There is an obvious tragedy associated with that circumstance, but there is a wonder in it as well. There is a wonder associated with looking after a child in that circumstance with that complete devotion. These people are, without exception, ordinary people when they find themselves in this situation, or when this situation is thrust upon them, but they emerge through this experience, again without exception, as extraordinary people who are very special in our community. In the experience of the life that they lead, they come the closest to touching pure and unadulterated love—the love that they provide for their disabled children. So it is a wonderful thing that we talk about these people in this place today in a bipartisan way, with support from both the opposition and the government not only for the roles that they play but for an important measure that is aimed at trying to support them in those roles.

One of the first sacrifices that are made by people in these circumstances is that they forgo their own work opportunities and perhaps the ambitions that they may have had for their professional lives. Full-time caring simply limits the ability of people to fully participate in the workforce. So the carer’s payment is about recognition of the valuable role that carers of disabled children play in our society, but it is also recognition of the consequence of that role for their own lives. Currently, 7,000 carers in Australia are receiving the carer payment for looking after disabled children, but there is clearly a much greater need within our community than is described by that number.

Indeed in June of last year more than 113,000 carers of disabled children were receiving the less-rigorously assessed carers allowance, which is a supplementary payment received by carers every fortnight. While it is not the case that every one of those 113,000 ought to appropriately be in receipt of the carers payment, that figure does give a sense of the number in our community who are caring for disabled children. What came out very clearly in the review undertaken by the task force was that there was a significant number of people in addition to those 7,000 who ought to have been in receipt of the carers payment and who needed that payment in order to perform the very important role that they did within our community. That is what this bill is ultimately all about. This bill will change the assessment of the eligibility criteria for receipt of the carer payment from 1 July this year.

As I stated, the aim of the bill is to broaden the eligibility requirements for receipt of the carer payment. The legislation does this by creating the disability care load assessment (child) determination, which is an objective assessment tool. Eligibility for the carer payment is currently determined by looking at a medical assessment of the condition that the particular child has. It is a rigid assessment and it misses many people who ought, deservedly, be in receipt of the carer payment. The new method of assessing the eligibility looks at the problem from a different perspective—that is, the level of care that a child needs. It looks not necessarily at the condition that the child has but rather at the level of care the particular child needs. It is an assessment based on the child’s functional ability, on their behaviour and on their special care needs. Indeed, looking at the issue from that point of view is consistent with the way in which the carer allowance, albeit with a lower threshold, is currently assessed.

For the first time, as a result of this bill, there will be access to the carer payment on a short-term basis or on an episodic basis. For example, it may be needed on a short-term basis if a child has been the victim of a tragic accident which has put them in hospital for an extensive rehabilitation period but which may ultimately lead to a recovery. An example of an episodic basis may be for a child suffering from cancer. This bill will improve the arrangements for the carers of children who spend extensive periods in hospital so that for more of those people their payments can continue while their child is in hospital. The bill will provide for an automatic qualification for the carers allowance for all those who are in receipt of the carers payment. Importantly, in the most tragic situations of all—that is, where a child is terminally ill—the assessment of eligibility for the carers payment will be much less intrusive and more compassionate.

Currently to qualify for the carers payment carers need a certification from a medical professional that the child is unlikely to live much beyond 12 months. That assessment and certification process is obviously very traumatic for parents, who are experiencing the most unimaginable sadness in dealing with the condition of a child. Under this bill the assessment will look at the condition the child has and at the average life expectancy for a child in those circumstances. That will be used as the basis for assessing the eligibility for the carer payment. As I say, that is a much less invasive, much less intrusive and far more compassionate means by which to make the assessment. All of these measures are a commitment on the part of the Rudd government to providing greater support for carers in our community.

There was an $822 million package to support and recognise carers within our communities in last year’s budget. The amendments to the carers legislation which are contained in this bill will be worth about $273 million over a five-year period. Last year we saw two one-off payments which delivered $2,400 to those in receipt of carer payments and $1,600 to most people who were receiving the carer allowance. Yesterday’s budget delivered a $600 per year carer supplement as well as, very importantly, a $33 increase in the pension to people who are receiving the carer payment. All this is long overdue and all of it is much needed. It provides support and acknowledgement on the part of the Rudd government for those who are caring in our community. It provides financial relief for those who are in receipt of these payments and it provides a sense of peace of mind for the thousands of carers within our community who do it tough, but who also provide an invaluable service to our community and who are really an inspiration for us all. This is the Rudd government’s recognition of the valuable role that they play, and I very much commend this bill to the House.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise proudly to give my support also to the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This is significant and welcome legislation because at its core are the Labor values of standing up for the vulnerable, the desperate and the marginalised.

This bill implements part of the 2008 budget measures to improve assistance to the carers of children with profound disability. As a federal member of parliament I have had the privilege of meeting a number of parents and carers of children with profound disability. At the outset I stress that they are much braver people than me. It is all my wife and I can do to make it through each day with two healthy children. My chief of staff, Matthew Jutsum and his lionhearted wife, Susan, have four children, Harry, Levi, Reuben and Maisey, and I cannot imagine how they do it. Four children, and Matthew turns just 30 today. Happy birthday Matthew, you old man!

Returning to parents and carers of children with profound disability; these are remarkable people who walk a very tough road. These people’s lives have been turned upside down by adversity, and every single day can be a struggle. They face significant pressure on their relationships and on their finances, and they are asked to make sacrifices to care for our most vulnerable. They do so selflessly and, as the two previous speakers mentioned, they usually make such sacrifices quietly. In our Australian community people use the word ‘hero’ quite loosely on occasion. Whilst not taking anything from the heroes of military engagements, it takes a lot of courage to get up every single day to face these challenges. It is not the same sort of courage as storming a machine gun nest or driving into a fire, but it is an incredible type of courage and a type that I really respect.

Because of the constant demands on their time, many carers are unable to work. But these carers and parents would do anything for their children to give them the best life possible. The government provides a carer payment to people who, because of their caring responsibilities, are unable to support themselves through work. The government also provides carer allowance as an income supplement to people who provide daily care to an adult or a child who has a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability. There are currently around 7,000 children being cared for by carer payment recipients, and 113,549 carers receive carer allowance to assist them with the costs of caring for a child with a disability. The difference is accounted for by the far less rigorous care requirements for carer allowance than for the carer payment.

This bill before the chamber was foreshadowed in the 2008 budget and implements recommendations of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, which examined the criteria and effectiveness of the carer payment. This bill will make many more carers of children under 16 eligible for the carer payment. In fact, I understand it will almost quadruple the number of recipients from 7,000 to more than 26,000 carers. This will provide an additional $271 million over four years for carers. It changes the qualification criteria and assessment process for the carer payment for care provided to children with a disability or medical condition. The new process will be based on the level of care required instead of the current rigid medical criteria that are used. The bill will establish a test for assessing functional ability, behaviour and special care needs of a child, a method for rating a child’s care needs and a method for providing a qualifying rating for the carer.

The bill also amends the Social Security Act 1991 to ensure that carers continue to qualify for and receive the carer payment and carer allowance while the child they are caring for is in hospital. For the first time carers will be eligible for the carer payment for the short-term care that they provide. And a person in receipt of carer payment will also be automatically eligible for carer allowance. This bill also relaxes the qualification rules for a person caring for a child with a terminal illness.

In closing, I am thrilled with the measures in the budget last night to improve the assessment process for eligibility for the disability support pension and deliver a new payment for carers. The government will fast track a simpler and more dignified process for people with severe disabilities and those who are clearly eligible, ensuring that they are not asked to provide costly and time-consuming information and to enable them to receive financial support much more quickly. A number of carers and people with a disability have raised this very issue with me over the 18 months I have been the member for Moreton, and I am sure other members have had a similar experience. People are sick and tired of constantly filling out forms and providing the same information over and over again. I know we have to safeguard the public purse, but there comes a time when you also need to consider how onerous such requirements can be for people with a disability.

Also, around 500,000 carers will receive a new carer supplement to help them meet the significant financial challenges that they face. As well as an increase to the carer payment, carers will also receive an annual $600 payment. I am proud to be part of a government that is listening to the needs of carers and people with a disability and doing what it can to stand beside them. We judge a society by how it treats those who are most vulnerable. Australia, unfortunately, does not have an unblemished record when it comes to such judgements. This legislation is a small step back towards dignity and justice and I commend the bill to the House.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand here today to also show my support for this important bill that provides improved support for carers and I want to begin by commending the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for introducing this bill for debate. The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009 provides part of the government’s response to the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce and gives effect to a number of measures aimed at improving assistance to carers of children with a profound disability.

The carer payment (child) is an income support payment for people who provide constant care to a profoundly disabled child. It is targeted at those who cannot work due to the demands of their caring role and it is means tested. This bill will improve support for families of the children with a profound disability by providing access to carer payment based on the level of care required. This will be a more equitable process about assessing needs and about assessing the caring role rather than relying on just the medical criteria as we do now. This is a really important step forward. The bill will also ensure a person who qualifies for a carer payment will automatically qualify for a carer allowance. The bill also seeks to allow a person to qualify or remain qualified for carer payment while the child they are caring for is in hospital for an unlimited number of days per calendar year.

During the review, the task force accepted that payment of carer payment (child) is recognition that caring for a profoundly disabled child is a full-time, multiskilled, very demanding job that leaves little or no time for any other activities. In fact I want to quote from a parent who put a submission in to that review. She said:

You are constantly on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This role will continue until the child dies, or if I predecease my daughter. Most intensive parenting duties decline as the child grows and matures, [but] this is not the case for a child with a severe disability. I will have to be on call 24/7 until the day I die.

We all know that carers provide a lot of support. We know that they are spouses, parents, grandparents, children, siblings and sometimes friends and neighbours. The most recent ABS statistics estimate that 2.5 million Australians aged 15 years or over care for someone at home because of a disability. That is around 13 per cent of Australia’s population who are carers. Around half a million Australians were identified as a primary carer. That is the person who is the main provider of care to someone. In my home state of Tasmania we have significantly more carers than the rest of Australia. In fact, it is estimated there are 69,500 carers aged 15 years or older, 14,600 of which are primary carers, representing around 15 per cent of the total population of Tasmania. That is higher than the national average, as I said.

I also want to talk about a recent report. I am a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Housing, Community and Youth, which recently handed down its report titled Who cares … ? This report was about how to provide better support for carers. It included many public hearings around the country and took almost a year to complete. The committee received 1,300 submissions—1,200 of which were from individual submissions.

The lives of carers are at the heart of this report. The carers report was a human analysis, not a cost analysis, of people caring for others. It is an honest and truthful account of people’s lives. During the inquiry, we heard from many parents caring for children with multiple disabilities, requiring much care. Their stories were heartbreaking and many times in the roundtables with carers there were tears in the eyes of all those in the room. The emotion was raw and their hurt was profound. They were never asked to be a carer; all of them struggle to meet the costs of caring for their child. They are isolated by the lack of support and the financial impact of their caring role. They receive no holiday pay, no sick pay, no annual leave loading, no long service leave and no superannuation. They are frightened about the future of their children should they predecease them.

The inquiry’s body of evidence clearly illustrated the profound physical, emotional and financial effect that providing care has on carers and also their families. The amount of paperwork and assessments was one their concerns. We all know that a child born with profound disability does not get better; their care only continues. I am pleased that part of this bill addresses some of the assessments and paperwork.

Some of the other things that the committee looked at that were high on the list of what people really wanted us to deal with were things like respite care, in-home care, financial assistance and also the maze that carers get lost in as they try to access services. Obviously, if you are busy caring for somebody with a profound disability, trying to work out that maze of where you go to get things done and where you get support is time consuming and difficult. It is just an added stress that you really do not need. This report really is a starting point and an impetus for action and I really look forward to hearing our government’s response to that report.

The changes in this bill are the latest in a series of recent support initiatives that the Rudd government has already extended to carers. There was a one-off payment delivered in the 2008-09 budget of $1,000 to carer payment recipients and certain other pensioners with a caring role, and carer allowance recipients were paid $600 for each person cared for. We all know that the first stimulus package, the Economic Security Strategy, provided $1,400 to carer payment recipients and $1,000 to carer allowance recipients for each person cared for.

Even last night we had further support for carers announced in the budget, with the Treasurer announcing a significant measure to help and support Australian carers. The Treasurer last night described Australian carers as ‘the unsung heroes of our community’. In some way in the budget last night we acknowledged the financial difficulties and provided some additional support. The budget introduces a $600 a year carer supplement for all carer payment recipients, on top of the increase in their pension. Recipients of a carer allowance will also receive an additional $600 a year for each eligible person in their care. With this bill those eligible for carer payment (child) will now also receive both of these payments each and every year. I think that is fantastic support for those people who are really doing it tough.

In closing, I would like to say that this bill will mean that the number of carers caring for children with a disability entitled to this payment will rise from around 7,000 to an estimated 20,000. There are many people in my electorate of Franklin who will get support from this change in the legislation. I am pleased to support it. It shows the Rudd government is really serious about trying to provide some support for carers.

Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise today to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This bill is aimed at making the lives of carers easier and goes some way towards acknowledging and recognising the integral role of carers who, because of their child’s disability or medical condition, commit themselves to the support of their child. The people who will benefit from this amendment are unable to maintain employment because the caring role they have is constant and continuous and therefore renders them unable to participate in most parts of the workforce. The individuals in this community who provide this type of care for their children have a role that is essentially the difference between life and death for their child. They often talk about the impact of their role on their lives. Parents in my electorate of Deakin have spoken about the highs and lows of caring for a disabled or seriously unwell child, especially the unremitting, exhausting nature of their responsibilities. My heart goes out in thanks to the many parents who find themselves in this situation.

I am proud of the added respect and recognition afforded to carers as demonstrated by this bill and other initiatives so far put in place by the Rudd Labor government. In 2008 the government paid a one-off $1,000 to all eligible carers and $600 for each person they cared for. Then, in late 2008, as part of the Economic Security Strategy, there was an additional $1,400 to carer payment recipients and generally $1,000 to carer allowance recipients for each person in their care. I know the extension of the utilities allowance to carer payment recipients, valued at $518 a year, was a welcome relief to those struggling with the bills that seem to be inundating us all. These payments came at a time when people were feeling the brunt of the rising cost of living and were having trouble making ends meet. I have had many letters from constituents in a caring role for which these payments made a huge difference to their daily lives.

This year’s budget has, through the secure and sustainable pension reforms, delivered increases to the carer payment of $32.49 a week for singles and over $10 a week combined for couples on the full rate. Further, the new annual supplement of $600 will be paid to recipients of the carer payment, carer allowance, DVA carer service pension and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs partner service pension and carer allowance. Carers who receive carer payments and carer allowance will receive at least two supplementary payments per year in addition to the increase in their pension. A single person who receives both the full-rate carer payment and carer allowance will get two supplementary payments totalling $1,200, plus an annual increase of $1,689, bringing additional permanent increases in this budget to $2,889 a year.

These reforms provide certainty for carers as the bonuses will now be legislated annual supplements and not subject to the whims of governments as they decide whether or not bonuses will be paid on an ad hoc basis from one year to the next. This guarantee is recognition of the need for carers to have certainty and better financial security. This improved support for carers bill before us today takes further the recognition of the caring role of parents whose children are disabled or suffer from a severe medical condition. It streamlines the process people must go through at a time that is already tremendously stressful. This recognition comes from the recommendation of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, whose role was to analyse the operation of the carer support system.

The taskforce undertook an extensive consultation phase and received over 4,000 submissions. I would like to particularly thank the many people who took the time to respond to the government’s request for feedback. The sentiments expressed and articulated in the report mirror the concerns that I hear from carers when I speak to them in my electorate office or when they ring up and just need to have a talk.

Those concerns are so common. A short list of them includes the following. The care of the severely ill or disabled child means being on call for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not only is the role of a carer an intensive one, but it also affects other relationships and family members. In many cases, it is all-consuming. People who are carers sometimes feel they are locked in their homes and hidden from view because the task is so great. They feel the lack of recognition, and some battle chronic grief and anger because of the role that they have taken up. Carers themselves often suffer lower levels of health and wellbeing whilst performing their task. Apart from the emotional aspect of the caring role, the taskforce also sought to examine the eligibility criteria and assessment processes for access to carer payments, and the complexity of the application process.

While there are two streams of carer payment, an adult stream and a child stream, the bill before us is related to the carer payment (child) segment of the social security legislation. In the past, there was an inflexible criterion for the qualification for carer payment (child). Eligibility is determined by the need for a person to care for a child with a profound disability or severe illness and is therefore unable to work. It is paid at the same rate as the age pension and is available to parents unable to participate in the workforce because of their caring role. By way of clarification, this payment is different to the carer allowance, which also recognises the role of carers. However, the carer allowance is an income supplement that is often paid in addition to the carer payment. It is also for people who have responsibility for the daily care and attention of a person with a disability or serious medical condition.

The substantive changes outlined in this bill are to be implemented from 1 July 2009, and it is just one of several measures recognising and dignifying carers with an improvement to the system under which they must qualify. This measure is part of a raft of measures that have formed the $822 million package from the 2008 federal budget to support and recognise carers. The previous rigid medical criteria used to assess eligibility for the carer payment will be replaced with a disability care load assessment (child). This assessment will employ a test comprising a questionnaire for the carer and the treating health practitioner, focusing on functional ability, behaviour and the special needs of the child or children with a disability or severe medical condition and the level of care provided by their carers.

This change focuses on what actually happens in the home and the work undertaken by the carer. This is recognition that the carer is the person who knows best about what their child needs, and it is in contrast to the previous concentration on rigid medical criteria. This change recognises the unique knowledge of the carer, whose role is focused on their child. This change is recognition of the complexity of this most intensive parenting role, which is unique to every family.

As a further response to the feedback from the report of the taskforce, the carer payment will now be available to people on a short-term or episodic basis. This element of the amendment relates to care of a child where the recipient has an episode expected to last between three months and six months. There is a recognition that, in these instances, parents may be unable to sustain full-time work whilst simultaneously providing the care needed by their child. This change is designed for times when a child is receiving medical treatment for conditions such as cancer, brain injury or a mental illness. It is during these periods of extreme stress that parents need a more flexible system of payments to see them through these tremendously difficult circumstances.

Another improvement to the carer payment (child) system is the elimination of the 63-day limit where a child is in hospital. This will be replaced by a more manageable 12-week review cycle, hence making it easier for parents to maintain their carer payment and care allowance whilst their child is in hospital. At this time, a family’s focus is rightly on their child’s wellbeing. The thought that parents were somehow expected to look for work or sustain employment while the child is in hospital does not recognise the central role of parents in their child’s life.

When carers come to see me in my electorate office they often highlight the onerous administrative burden before them as they struggle with all the emotional and physical challenges unique to the care of a disabled or very sick child. I am particularly pleased to see that the qualification for carer payment will now automatically render a person eligible for a carer allowance. This measure provides one less task for the carer and is intrinsically a cost-effective saving for the Centrelink system.

When a child is diagnosed with a terminal illness we need to limit the burden placed on families at this most difficult and stressful time. In the past the criteria for eligibility was the life expectancy of the particular child being assessed. Furthermore, there was a need for a clinician to certify that the child was not likely to live substantially longer than 12 months. This has been replaced with a simpler, less intrusive process that assesses the life expectancy of a child with the same or similar condition.

These new fairer sets of criteria that make up the amendment before us and that come from the recommendations of the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce are expected to make life easier, not just for the 7,000 or so parents who are currently on carer payments but also the 19,000 more carers whom the government estimates will have access to this payment. This change is one of many measures already introduced that recognises the unique role of carers in our community and their need for a safety-net payment. It moves away from rigid medical criteria toward recognition that the home where the child is being cared for should be the focus. It seeks to redress the onerous and overly rigid assessment processes that carers must undertake. These substantive changes will make life easier for those amazing individuals who take on the role of caring for their sick or disabled children. I commend this bill to the House.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. In these tough times we have to acknowledge the enormous contribution and sacrifice that carers make to our society and acknowledge that it is amplified by these times. In tough times the vulnerable often do it the toughest. In Australia we are most fortunate to have an army of carers and everyday heroes who dedicate their lives to caring for a loved one. This care is often extremely demanding, and the stories that many of my constituents have told me are often very moving. The value of carers to our society cannot be described in simple economic terms; it is a testament to the power of people’s love and compassion for one another. Caring is often the result of unconditional love and that love, by its nature, often involves great sacrifice on behalf of the carer. That is why the government is committed to this legislative response to the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce recommendations, and the bill before the House today will see many of these recommendations implemented in time for the new financial year. This review was commissioned by the previous government, and they are to be commended for doing so. We hope that all those opposite will endorse its findings and support this bill.

It is important to consider how the carer payment system currently works. At the moment, eligibility for the carer payment is determined by reference to a very strict criteria, including that the child cared for must meet the very restrictive legislative definition of a profoundly disabled child, the care provided must be constant and must be provided in a private residence in the home of the care receiver, and the carer must not be participating in employment or other specified activities for more than 25 hours a week. The effect of those restrictions often means that many carers can access only the carer allowance, which is used by some families as an income supplement but does not cover the real costs of caring for a disabled child. Strict criteria basically means excessive bureaucracy, excessive red tape, in people’s lives and it often means that many deserving people miss out, are overlooked or simply do not apply.

My office, like those of many MPs, has assisted many such people to get through the process. One of those was a lady named Chris who lives and works in my electorate. She cares for her severely intellectually and physically disabled child. Because of those administrative difficulties in the current system, she contacted my office to get assistance with Centrelink to ensure that she continued to get the carer payment for caring for her child with special needs. Centrelink had determined that her daughter’s hearing impairment had improved to the point that Chris no longer qualified for the carer payment, and with the assistance of my office she was able to go through the appeals process and get re-entitled to it. The fact that the system gave it to her, took it away from her and then gave it to her again only after a lot of toing and froing shows how the inflexibility and restrictiveness of the system puts people through a bureaucratic mill. I do not think that that is particularly fair or particularly reasonable or even particularly economically efficient.

These amendments will help mothers like Chris and will prevent these sorts of situations from occurring. The department estimates that around 19,000 more carers will have access to the carer payment from 1 July 2009. That is 19,000 people who are really deserving of these payments, who did not get them in the past because the previous assessment scheme was unfair, made peoples lives unnecessarily difficult and put them through the bureaucratic wringer. The bill before the House today changes all that. It puts in place a new and fairer set of criteria, which are much more similar to the carer payment (adult) criteria based on the care required, and reflect the functional ability of the care receiver rather than on rigid medical standards.

Another key recommendation of the review was in regard to access to the carer payment for short-term or episodic needs. Currently, both the carer payment (child) and the carer allowance (child) provide for situations where it is anticipated that the need for care will be ongoing. But, with life being difficult and complex and a bit of a mosaic, care is not always ongoing and the costs of care are not always constant. This bill designs a system of financial assistance to cope with emergencies that will prove invaluable to parents across the country. There will be much more generous arrangements for carers who have children in hospital, and the qualification rules for the tragic situation of people caring for children with terminal illnesses will also be relaxed. That is a very important thing. We do not want to make people’s lives any more difficult or stressful in those sorts of situations. We want to make the government a great help and great enabler so that people can assist their children when they are in hospital. There is nothing, I think, more distressing than a child in hospital.

Under this new system a person in receipt of a carer payment in respect of a child will also become automatically eligible for the carer allowance. Administration of these claims will be improved, with better claims processing and a capacity for the more complex claims to be handled by a claims assessment team. That is a really important thing. One of the constant complaints to my office about Centrelink is that people end up lost in a bureaucratic maze. Often the complexity of many of the forms and procedures of Centrelink can be somewhat confusing for members of parliament, so they could tend to be pretty confusing for citizens as well. Having a dedicated team to help people in this situation, to help get assessment quickly and efficiently, is a really good thing.

These changes, of course, come on the back of the government’s extended support last year for carers. In 2008 we provided $1,000 to carer payment recipients, and carer allowance recipients also received $600 for every person in their care. That was followed by the Economic Security Strategy that provided $1,400 for carer payment recipients and $1,000 for carer allowance recipients for each person cared for. There are, of course, the budget announcements on top of that. That is a really good record of the government for supporting carers and their children over the last 18 months.

Of course supporting carers and their children in their home environment is only one part of a policy that truly recognises the importance of carers. The government realises that supporting carers means providing infrastructure support for Australians with different needs and so has also set aside some $100 million for supported accommodation facilities. These facilities will be able to care for people whose ageing parents can no longer care for them at home. This issue was raised with me in Smithfield Plains. I had a concerned father talk to me at a street corner meeting. His No. 1 concern was that he was frightened about what would happen to his adult disabled child when he and his wife passed away. If people are prepared to get up early on a Saturday morning in winter to come and see a local political candidate about this issue, you know it is important to them; and it is important that their view and concern is presented in this parliament and in this bill. So I think these measures are a measure of this parliament’s commitment to supporting carers and their families. The bill includes $273 million worth of measures. That is just one part of the government’s plan—but a very important part of that plan.

We want to make sure that these reforms are passed by the parliament. They reflect the community’s expectation that we should have compassion and should support those people like Chris and like that father who came to see me on that cold winter morning. They do an amazing job, work very hard, keep smiling and do what all good parents do—which is to love their children unconditionally. This bill is about acknowledging that unconditional love and sacrifice in a small way by removing some of the unnecessary administrative injustices from the system. I commend the bill to the House.

Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also am pleased to rise in support of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009, along with the many members who have spoken on this bill in the parliament today. As many have said, the primary purpose of this legislation is to broaden the eligibility criteria for access to the carer payment for people caring for disabled children. I am pleased with this change and I know that the emphasis for the new test which will be applied for eligibility will depend far more on the question of the level of care required by the child and not on the actual medical condition. I think this shift in policy is a good thing, not only at a practical level in terms of the numerous forms that parents are required to complete but also in terms of ensuring greater consistency between the test for eligibility for carers payment and the test for eligibility for carers allowance.

As the minister indicated in her second reading speech, only 7,000 children are presently being cared for by carer payment recipients; and yet we are aware that at least 113,549 carers are receiving the carer allowance. It is estimated that the bill will make carer payments available to another 19,000 carers of children with a disability. As at June 2008 in my electorate of Hasluck there were some 570 recipients of the carers payment and 2,355 recipients of the carers allowance. I trust that more carers will be eligible for those following the passage of this bill.

I must say that I am extremely fortunate to have terrific relationships with many carers and carer representatives in my electorate, especially Carol Franklin and her family, who are constituents of mine from Huntingdale. I first met her when I was doorknocking in the 2001 election campaign. Carol has given me an introduction to two wonderful organisations: firstly, CASA, which stands for Caring About Supported Accommodation—an organisation of the families of children with a disability who advocate for and support other families with disabled children—and, secondly, DDC, the Developmental Disability Council of Western Australia. They are terrific advocates for families who care for people with disabilities.

I, along with a number of other Western Australian politicians, also participate in something called the Politician Adoption Scheme in Western Australia. I have spoken of my adopted family, the Harris family, before in the House. My involvement with them gives me a unique and valuable insight into the day-to-day issues they confront with Lisa’s care. I was also privileged at one time to be the chief of staff to the Hon. Bob Kucera, who was the Western Australian Minister for Disability Services. That experience also gave me a unique and valuable insight into disability services in Western Australia and into the wonderful job undertaken by many carers. We were also fortunate to be involved in the establishment of the Western Australian carers council and to finally see them given a voice to directly advise government and also to advocate on behalf of carers in Western Australia.

One thing I have to say is that there have been numerous reports and inquiries into the issues affecting carers and those they care for. Indeed, the reform in this legislation was recommended by the Anthony Blunn task force report, Carer Payment (child)—a new approach: report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, which was released in 2008. Most recently—and I know other speakers have addressed this—the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth released its report on the inquiry into better support for carers, entitled Who Cares ...?: report on the inquiry into better support for carers. It is a good report and I commend the committee for their work. I support its recommendations, but I am sad to say that in many ways the report confirms what we already knew. Carers do it tough. Their health suffers more, both emotionally and physically, as they work 24/7 with the only end in sight sometimes being the death of the person they care for or, indeed, their own death. Many suffer great anxiety wondering what, if something happens to them, will happen to the person that they care for. Will they be adequately catered for? Will they have appropriate accommodation, support and care?

Carers are also under enormous financial stress. Carer payments and various disability subsidies are still, in my opinion, woefully inadequate and often misconceived. Carers are not the same as those who are, for example, unemployed or on Newstart. They perform a very different function in our society. Not only is their capacity to earn an income restricted during their lifetime of care, they also incur additional expenses to accommodate the disability or to provide higher quality care to the person with the disability. They are, frankly, at a lifelong disadvantage. Even if their care requirements ease, their education and careers are interrupted and they have no superannuation for the time spent caring. Not only that, many of them report that there are a multiplicity of services usually out there to assist them, services provided by all three levels of government—federal, state and local. They are community services, not-for-profit services and, of course, services in the private sector. Many of these services are insufficiently funded or have large lists of unmet needs in their local area, especially, I have to say, in the area of respite.

They tell me that sometimes the sheer number of agencies and different service eligibility requirements are in themselves a problem for tired and distressed carers to navigate. Some carers cry out for case managers or individual local-area coordinators to assist them with their myriad concerns. Others just seem to be concerned at the amount of money that so-called middlemen divert from limited and scarce funding in the disability services and care sectors. What we do know is that no two care situations are the same. There is no one solution that fits all. Carers want different types of support and respite, for some a weekend or a couple of months off, for others help with the housework or some sort of in-home care. I guess the one thing we still know and should often recognise is that we owe them a great debt.

The legislation before the House takes another small step towards easing the burden on and simplifying the system for carers. I know these amendments are being well received by carers. I was fortunate to have the Hon. Jenny Macklin in my electorate last month at a lovely afternoon tea where she met with a number of local carers and people from carer organisations, as well as representatives of the local council. Not only did these individuals get the chance to raise their issues directly with the minister; it was also an opportunity for the minister to give them some feedback on the steps being taken by the Rudd Labor government to address their concerns. I did say they raised a number of issues with the minister, but I am pleased to report that they certainly were very glad about the changes proposed in this legislation. I know that group of carers will also applaud the announcements regarding carers in last night’s budget. I can say that I was delighted.

There are some 500,000 carers across Australia and they will receive a new, permanent carer supplement to help them meet the significant financial challenges they face as part of the government’s secure and sustainable pension reform. Around 140,000 carers who receive a carer payment or a related income support payment will also receive pension increases as part of the budget reforms. It is well known that from 20 September 2009 there will be increases in the carer payment of $32.49 per week for singles on the full rate and $10.14 per week combined for couples on the full rate. The government will also provide carers with better financial security by replacing previous ad hoc bonuses with a legislated annual supplement. I believe that supplement payment will certainly assist and help carers manage their own financial circumstances and allow them to plan their household budgets and expenditures just a little bit more easily. The new supplement will also provide some 450,000 recipients of carer allowance with $600 for each person that they care for.

It is not only me surmising how well these payments were received. I mentioned my constituent Carol Franklin earlier in my address. Let me read an email I received this morning from Carol:

Hi Sharryn,

Great news for Carers and People with a disability in the Budget. Now we have to work on the 68 recommendations in the Better Support for Carers report. (HA!!! HA!!!)

Now you can congratulate your government in the fact that they included Carers and People with Disabilities in the Pension increases, they usually get forgotten.

Regards, Carol Franklin

The government’s secure and sustainable pension reform builds upon the government’s 2008 extension of the utilities allowance to carer payment recipients, now valued at $518 a year. It also builds upon the government’s reforms in this legislation to the carer payment which will, as I say, expand the payments for parents of children with severe disabilities from 1 July 2009. I congratulate the government on these small steps to provide better support for carers and I look forward to dealing with the recommendations from the House standing committee’s report. I commend the legislation to the House.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. This bill follows the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce and it amends the criteria for assessment for carer payment in respect of a child to allow more Australians access to carer payments. It will take effect from 1 July 2009. This bill puts over $270 million in the pockets of Australian carers to support them when they need it most.

I would like to start by outlining the support that this government has provided to carers since being elected. Last year we announced one-off payments to the tune of $1,000 to carer payment recipients and others, along with $600 to eligible carer allowance recipients. In December 2008, as part of our first economic stimulus package, we delivered a further $1,400 to carer payment recipients and $1,000 to many carer allowance recipients. Aside from one-off payments, the Rudd government also committed $100 million for supported accommodation facilities for people with a disability, on top of $20 million for carers who have experienced a significant event involving a young child.

We saw in yesterday’s budget that we have further support for carers and for people with a disability. Yesterday, we announced some $9.3 million over four years for an additional 250 outside school hours care places for teenagers with a disability or serious medical condition. We also committed $3 million to the introduction of a new national disability parking permit scheme, on top of $1.8 million for a national companion card scheme for people with a disability and their carers.

As part of the budget, we announced that the new annual carer supplement of $600 will be paid to people who receive carer payment. This payment will be provided to around 450,000 recipients of carer allowance and an extra $600 for each person that they care for. This supplement is legislated, so it ends carers having to relay the largesse of governments at each budget time and hoping that there might be some one-off payment. This is a legislated carer payment supplement. That is an important difference from what happened previously.

Today we add to this support with the introduction of this bill. When the task force released their report late last year, entitled Carer payment (child): a new approach, they found that the qualification criteria for carer payment (child) were not reflective of the aim and purpose of the actual payment. The report found that the criteria for who was eligible for carer payments needed to be expanded. The report found that the current system was resulting in inequitable outcomes. This bill responds to these concerns. This bill changes the qualification criteria and assessment process to create a fairer system for carers of children with a profound disability.

This bill will deliver a new, fairer set of criteria to be applied in assessing eligibility for carer payment in respect of a child. The bill will introduce a system that will integrate the amount of care provided as an assessment measure. Qualification criteria will now be based on the level of care needed, not on the previously inflexible medical criteria. The bill will now provide a carer payment to all eligible carers providing support to a child with a profound disability. These are carers who do not currently receive carer benefits but who carry out a role as a carer.

This bill recognises those who previously were not acknowledged for their hard work in caring for others. The expansion of these criteria acknowledges the critical efforts of our carers. Under this bill, carers who are in receipt of carer payment (child) will now automatically receive a carers allowance. This bill will allow for carer payment (child) to be granted on a short-term or episodic basis. This has never previously been considered.

Administration of claims also needed improving. Under this bill, a new processing assessment claims team will be set up to specifically handle complicated claims. More careful assessment needs to be done on those complicated cases to take into account all of the circumstances facing families who care for a child with a profound disability or medical condition.

Many constituents in not only my electorate of Ballarat but all electorates across Australia are struggling to survive financially while caring for someone. These changes will direct dedicated funding to carers who simply cannot participate in paid employment because their role does not allow them to do so. Under this bill, qualification rules will also be relaxed where a person is caring for a child with a terminal illness. This will assist families when they are most in need. Finally, this bill will deliver improved arrangements for carers of children in a hospital. Carers will be entitled to their carer payment and allowance while the child is in hospital. This package of changes will create some ease for families who are, I have to say, in absolutely desperate circumstances. I am very pleased to be here to add my support to this bill.

In October 2008, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data that there are 2.5 million Australians who report caring for someone at home because of a disability or old age. Of this 2.5 million, many are combining their caring responsibilities with raising children. When we look at the rate of people who receive a carer payment or a carer allowance it is well below that 2.5 million figure reported in the ABS statistics. At the moment, there are around 7,000 current recipients of carer payment (child) but with the changes it is estimated that an additional 19,000 payments of this kind will be delivered to carers.

This bill is working to ensure that the hard work of all carers is recognised. With a focus on the level of care provided, those requiring this financial assistance the most will now be eligible to receive payments. The level of care aspect will highlight functional ability, behaviour and special care needs rather than stringent technical, medical criteria that have seen many families in absolute desperate circumstances unable to access the carer payment under the previous system. A medical diagnosis does not always reflect what is involved in each particular situation. That is why we have made these changes, to accommodate for situations that do not fit the standard mould. The people benefiting from these changes are people who cannot work and who cannot earn an income to support their family because of their caring role.

These are families who are challenged by the additional needs of disability, medical conditions and illness and who need this extra assistance to help cope with the financial and emotional strain they are faced with. These changes are for people who spend their lives caring for others, often under difficult and unpredictable circumstances. Carer payments are a safety net for these families and these children with a profound disability or medical condition. Their parents, families and carers cannot go out and seek secure paid employment to support them; they are at home caring for them.

The new assessment, established through a legislative instrument entitled the Disability Care Load Assessment (Child), will improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of assessments. This will occur particularly in complex cases where there are multiple carers for a care receiver and where there is care required for an adult with a disability at the same time as for a child with a disability.

We know that many carers are doing it tough and that is why Labor have introduced a number of measures under this budget and the previous budget to assist carers. This amending legislation will address the difficulties faced by many families to meet the day-to-day needs of caring for a child with a profound disability or a medical condition. Basing the eligibility criteria for caring for a child on the level of care provided will result in a fairer assessment of the role that a carer possesses and demonstrates. The role of caring for a child with a profound disability or a medical condition is one that requires great strength. The last thing that many parents need is to have to argue their case, when it is absolutely bleedingly obvious why they should be receiving a carer payment, when they should be spending all their energy and time and, in fact, are not only expending all their energy and time in caring for their child but also trying to access—and at times very difficult to access—much-needed disability services. With the introduction of this bill we will help carers and their families to overcome the extra challenges they are faced with, not to mention applauding them for their effort and support.

Carer payments being granted on a short-term or episodic basis will acknowledge illnesses, such as cancer that is non-terminal or unpredictable, brain injury and mental health conditions. Mental health is an issue that is clearly evident in Australia and must be more fully integrated into our social security system. It affects more and more people in our country every day. With this bill we are recognising that mental health conditions are serious and must be incorporated into the welfare system. This amending legislation will also take into consideration severe circumstances which are not necessarily long term but which profoundly affect a family.

I have had the privilege of speaking to carers and carers groups across my electorate and they have shared their personal experiences with me. In fact, I will be addressing a new carers group established in the town of Creswick next week and, in advance, can I congratulate Mary Loyer on what is a terrific initiative in her local community, where she has seen a need for carers to not only join together to support each other but also provide much needed advocacy for services and access to services in their local area.

Carers really are amazing people and selflessly spend their days supporting others. This government recognises this. That is why I am here to offer my support for this bill and I urge those members opposite to do the same. The Rudd government knows how important this amending legislation is to the families it will affect, and we cannot continue to watch them struggle the way that they are. It is often a very desperate struggle. I commend this bill to the House.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009, which will make life better for one of the most invisible and marginalised groups in Australia today. I speak of parents who are living a life devoted to the care of a child, or in some cases children, with a severe or profound disability. These people perform irreplaceable and largely unsung work, work which comes at a financial and emotional cost that those who are not doing it are unable to understand.

This bill, led by the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, will make long overdue changes to make it easier for these parents to get the financial support that they deserve and remove some of the worst features of the bureaucratic maze that confronts parents of children with disabilities.

For those who have a child diagnosed with a disability or whose child suffers an accident or illness, there is often a period similar to grief—a kind of mourning for what might have been. However, this period is joined with and followed by love and acceptance and the desire to do whatever it takes to make their child’s life as painless and as fulfilling as possible. These children are loved as other children are loved. But the sacrifices that are demanded of their parents and the pressures placed upon them are greater than those placed on other parents. Their lives are not their own. Each hour of sleep can be interrupted by the deeply-rooted instinct to help, and the vigilance and attention needs to be constant. Every day can bring a new crisis or new joy, and every change in their child’s situation—from starting school to leaving school—brings a new set of challenges. As well as dealing with their child’s condition, they deal with the community’s lack of understanding of disability and with the sense of internal exile that our nation places upon people with a disability or their carers in too many circumstances. They have to deal with the mix of unease and pity that is a common reaction from those who are strangers yet fellow members of the same community.

It is a common and slightly patronising reaction to describe the parents of children with disability or carers generally as saints or to say, ‘I don’t know how they do it.’ Whilst I understand that reaction, I wish to state that these parents—as they explained to me—are not saints. They are ordinary people with ordinary people’s flaws and limitations. But they are doing the DNA-hardwired mission of loving and caring for their loved one. They are carers because that is what they know they should be. A carer is a parent, a husband, a wife, a mother, a father, a brother, a sister. A carer is any one of us. Anyone in the disabilities sector is aware of the efforts involved in making sure children with disability get a fair go and also of the sad toll it can take upon families and marriages.

In general, carers are poorer simply because they have greater expenses and fewer opportunities to earn money. This is despite the fact that many parents with adult children are required to earn enough money for two lifetimes instead of one. For many, the task of caring for their child does not get easier as the child gets older. The gradual gaining of independence does not happen and the child remains dependent on an ageing parent or parents into their adulthood. The bill we are debating today will make it easier for parents who need and deserve our support to care for children with profound disabilities. The carers payment is designed for parents who are unable to work due to their responsibilities as a carer. It is a payment that is a recognition of the difficulties that they face and the unpaid work they do to support their child.

However, the system we inherited from the previous government was too harsh, too rigid and simply too unfair in its assessments. It used a narrow set of medical criteria which left many deserving carers without access to the payment. The plight of these carers was revealed by the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, which received 4,000 submissions on the payment. In one of the most extreme cases, a child diagnosed with severe multiple disabilities likely to be life long—unable to sit or walk without support, unable to feed himself and suffering hearing loss—was found to be ineligible for the payment because he met only one of the three required criteria. In another case, the parents of a child who was deaf, blind and unable to use his hands or legs were denied access to the payment. Such judgments go against common sense and common humanity. They are a kick in the teeth for parents who are coping day to day.

At the heart of our changes will be a new, fairer and less restrictive assessment process based on the level of care required, and the level provided by the carer, rather than a strict medical definition of ‘profoundly disabled’. Instead of having to meet complex medical criteria, access to the carer payment (child) will depend on how much care is needed by the child. In another change, any parent who qualifies for a carer payment will also automatically qualify for the carer allowance, which is an income supplement paid to people who care for an adult or a child with a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability. This will limit the amount of assessments families will need to get through in order to get the payments that they deserve.

In another reform, parents with a child in hospital will be eligible for the payment regardless of how long the child remains in hospital. This recognises a simple human truth—that having a child in hospital is not a holiday. Parents do not stop being carers when their children go to hospital and, in many cases, their workload and stress increases. Under our changes, parents will not be disadvantaged by sitting by a hospital bed and providing support for their sick children. The Rudd government has a strong record of support for carers, which has continued with the announcement of the rise in the carer payment in this year’s budget and the announcement of the $600 per year carer supplement.

I am proud that we have recognised the sacrifices that carers make. I do not pretend that the challenges for carers will cease with this legislation but I do believe that the work done by Minister Macklin—and, indeed, by the member for Canberra in her committee work, which has helped inform much of the debate about carers in the current parliament—recognises the efforts that carers make. Carers cop it, and cop it sweet, more than almost anyone in the Australian community. Somehow they cop it invisibly; unheralded and unsung. They are the ones we never see, or never see separately from their charge—the loved one who has become nearly always by accident, by an unplanned shaft of fate, their cause and reason for being. They get no medals or monuments.

People with disability in Australia and their carers do deserve a better go and I believe this bill, along with a range of other measures that the Rudd government is putting in place, is trying to remedy the longstanding disadvantage that people with disability and their carers have experienced in Australian society. The fact that carers get no medals or monuments is a fact of life, but if there was a George Cross that we could award them, they would get it. If there was an honorary Olympic gold medal for love beyond love, and beyond the call of duty, carers would get it. That is what we should also do, perhaps, along with this bill.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak in support of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. I do so for two reasons. Firstly, I wish to acknowledge and thank both the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services—who has just spoken on this bill—for their effort in bringing a much fairer deal for carers throughout Australia. I was just listening to the parliamentary secretary, and I have also spoken with him on other occasions in respect to this very issue, and I have to say that there is no question in my mind as to his sincerity and commitment towards supporting carers throughout Australia. I think that was eloquently reflected in his closing remarks.

Secondly, I want to acknowledge my personal appreciation and admiration for carers throughout the country. I say that having now spent several years being associated with carers, in different capacities, across a whole range of fronts. What I see them do, and what they have to endure day in and day out, is truly amazing. I do not wish to repeat the accolades just made by the parliamentary secretary but I certainly endorse the remarks he made about them. What he said is absolutely true.

I want to make another couple of points in respect of this bill. Firstly, the bill arose from a review by the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, under Anthony Blunn, which was instigated by the previous government in March 2007. The Rudd government has looked at that review and has certainly accepted that carers need to be given a greater level of support. There is a secondary aspect to it, which is changing the focus of the definition of a carer. With respect to this, the qualification criteria for carer payment under this bill are, I believe, a lot fairer when it comes to whether or not a person is considered a carer. The qualification criteria will now be based on the level of care required rather than on rigid medical criteria. This has quite often been the subject of grievances in a whole range of cases where strict medical criteria are applied, whether it is to do with carers or in other medical situations where government support is provided.

The carer payment for a child can also now be accessed on a short-term or episodic basis. Again, this is something that needed to be changed and, I am pleased to see, is being changed. The bill contains more generous arrangements for carers of children who are in hospital. Carers can keep their carer payment or carer allowance while the child is in hospital. I heard the parliamentary secretary make reference to that very issue and he quite rightly makes the point that caring does not stop just because a person is in hospital, where they are getting additional care from the hospital that they are in. There will be a relaxation of qualification rules for a person caring for a child with a terminal illness. It is heartbreaking enough to be with a child who has a terminal illness without having to put up with bureaucratic red tape as to what your entitlements should or should not be. I also see that a person receiving the carer payment for a child will now automatically be eligible for a carer allowance. These are all necessary changes and I certainly welcome them.

I want to make an additional point with respect to carers. One thing that is not recognised well enough is that many of the carers within our community are what you would call ‘young carers’—people who themselves are only children. The latest available statistics suggest that one in six carers throughout the country is under 18 years of age. In my state of South Australia, there are some 14,800 carers under the age of 18. Another statistic is that 10,200 of them are under 15 years. Perhaps the most concerning statistic of all is that 600 of them are under nine years of age. These are children who are caring for other family members. I have been to some of these children’s homes and seen the level of care they have to provide to one of, and in some cases both, their parents. It is incredible to think that in a country like Australia we have nine-year-olds taking on such a huge responsibility. I am sure that they do it because they love their parents; nevertheless I think it is a somewhat sad reflection on our society that that level of responsibility has been placed on such young people.

The additional concern that arises from that is that only about four per cent of young carers aged between 15 and 25 are in some form of education. That compares with a figure of some 23 per cent for non-carers. This highlights that, whilst these young people are in fact caring for a parent, or maybe both parents, they are missing out on their own education. Essentially, they are missing out on preparing a future for their own lives.

I will make two other points with respect to this bill. The first is that, about two months ago, the parliamentary secretary came to my electorate of Makin and, with me, visited a number of high schools where there were children with disabilities. We visited Golden Grove High School, Tyndale high school and Modbury Special School. We also held a forum, which people with disabilities from all over the region came to. The thing that struck me was this: when you see people with a disability you start to empathise with their disability in a way that you could not if you had not heard their personal stories.

But what is often neglected and forgotten is that, along with those people with disabilities, there is at least one family member, and sometimes more, who is equally in a situation where their own life has to be drastically changed because of their total commitment to the person with a disability. So for every person with a disability someone else’s life is quite often equally affected, and affected 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And so you start to appreciate and understand exactly what it must be like to be a carer.

Only last week I visited Ross Smith Secondary School because at the forum there were a number of students in wheelchairs who studied there. I promised them I would visit them in their classrooms at the school, and so I did. While I was there speaking with the children—these are children in their teens—I also got to see firsthand the carers who are based at the school and the work that they do to support and assist these young people in wheelchairs. All I can say is that I have the utmost admiration for them, having seen what they do for them not only in the learning environment but also in supporting them in every other facet of their life, whether it is feeding them, helping them with their recreation or washing and bathing them and so on. You start to understand these people need this kind of care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Who is doing it in most cases? A family member or, when they are at school, one of the carers. So you start to truly appreciate why we as a society need to do a lot more to support carers throughout our community and why measures such as these are so welcome.

The other matter I want to raise also relates to the plight of carers. Some six months ago a young lady by the name of Allison Dix came to see me in my electorate office. Allison is a mum of a couple of children who have autism. She came to see me because she too was in a situation where she had to care for her children 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But she was not concerned about herself; she was concerned about so many other parents who were in a similar situation to hers, who had to go through all of the experiences that she had to go through. She wanted to do something about personally reaching out and helping the other parents who found themselves in a similar situation to hers. Off her own bat she formed a group called the Rainbow Land Playtime Group. They went to the local council at Tea Tree Gully and found a community facility, the Sunnybrook Community House, and set up a playgroup where other parents of children with autism could come along and at least there would be a shared sense of understanding of what they were going through, but more importantly it would be some recreation and an escape for a few hours each week for those parents. Again this is a classic example of the admiration I have for carers. Here is a carer who has her own children to care for, but she is just as concerned about other parents in a similar situation. It is people like her who deserve the support of this parliament and our community broadly. That is all I wanted to say on this matter. I reiterate that I raise it purely to highlight my respect for carers. I also want to thank the minister and the parliamentary secretary for their work in taking the government a step forward in assisting carers throughout Australia. I commend this bill to the House.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all I thank all of the members for their contributions to what is a very important debate, and an area where I think across the parliament we have a shared view about providing increased support to carers. As all members would know, last night the Treasurer announced the government’s secure and sustainable pension reform to deliver a simpler, fairer and sustainable pension system to prepare Australia for the future, and making sure that we provide security and certainty to carers is central to our reform agenda.

As we have just heard, every day of their lives carers make sacrifices looking after the people that they love. The contribution that they make to the individuals and to the community is invaluable. Recognising that carers often live under significant financial pressure, this budget, which was delivered just last night, delivers pension increases for carer payment recipients as part of our reform package. It also delivers a new permanent carer supplement to replace the ad hoc one-off payments of the past. The carer’s supplement of $600 will be paid every year to carers receiving the carer payment, with an additional $600 a year for carer allowance recipients for each eligible person in their care. The existing child disability assistance payment of $1,000 a year for carers who are paid Carer Allowance (child) will continue. These significant benefits build on the government’s reform of what can only be described as a very restrictive eligibility requirement for Carer Payment (child), and it is all about making those arrangements fairer. Over the years, carers looking after children with severe disability or medical conditions have endured overly complex and restrictive eligibility criteria, denying many of them appropriate financial support.

The bill that we are finalising here in the House tonight delivers on our commitment to replace the narrow set of medical and behavioural criteria that are currently imposed on families seeking support through Carer Payment (child) with requirements based on how much care each child needs. The new measures contained in this bill are part of an $822 million package from the 2008 budget to support and recognise carers. This bill is the government’s legislative commitment following the report of the task force for the Carer Payment (child) Review, which found that the restrictive and overly rigid assessment process created inequitable outcomes.

Carer payment is an income support payment for carers who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves through substantial participation in the workforce. Due to the narrow set of medical and behavioural criteria that have existed up until now, the payment is currently received by around 7,400 carers of children with a severe disability. The amendments, which will hopefully go through the parliament very soon, will deliver a new, fairer set of qualification criteria for carer payment, meaning that an estimated 19,000 more carers will have access to the carer payment from 1 July 2009. The new assessment will be known as the Disability Care Load Assessment (child) and it will improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of assessments even in complex cases. These could include circumstances where children have multiple carers, where carers have multiple care receivers and where care is required for an adult with a disability at the same time as a child with disability.

Administration procedures will also be improved with better claims processing and the capacity for more complex claims to be handled by a dedicated complex claims assessment team. The Disability Care Load Assessment (child) will be established by a legislative instrument. The instrument will allow a test, comprising a carer questionnaire, and a treating health practitioner questionnaire, which will be used to assess the functional ability, behaviour and special care needs of children under 16, and the level of care provided by their carers. It will also include the assessment of eligibility for carer payment across a wide range of household situations, including where there is more than one child or more than one carer. The test will provide a method for determining a qualifying rating for the carer based on the level of care associated with caring for a child or children with severe disability or a severe medical condition.

The draft of this legislative instrument has been provided to stakeholders, who have in turn provided feedback which is now being considered by my department. As a result of this legislation, there will be access to carer payment paid on a short-term or episodic basis for the first time. Episodic care will cover care required for recurring conditions where the care recipient is aged under 16 years and where each episode is expected to last at least three months but less than six months. This could, for example, include treatments for medical conditions such as cancer, brain injury or mental illness. Short-term care will apply if the care recipient is aged under 16 years and has a condition that is expected to be short term—at least three months and less than six months—from a one-off incident. For example, an accident, a serious illness or a surgical intervention may mean a child needs constant care over the short term. Some short and intensive treatments for childhood cancer may also fall into this category.

We are also providing more generous arrangements for carers of children who are in hospital so that carers can keep their carer payment and, if payable, their carer allowance. Currently, the limit on payment in these circumstances is 63 days in a calendar year. This will be replaced by a 12-week review cycle. The qualification rules will also be relaxed in the tragic circumstances where a person is caring for a child with a terminal illness. The current criteria require a medical professional to certify that the child has a terminal condition and will not live for substantially longer than 12 months. This will be replaced by a more sensitive and less intrusive approach that assesses the average life expectancy for a child with the same or similar condition.

The bill also amends some of the carer allowance provisions in the social security law. The carer allowance is an income supplement for people who provide daily, at-home care and attention for an adult or child who has a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability that is permanent and likely to affect the person for an extended period. Carer allowance is not means tested and may be paid in addition to an income support payment. The person in receipt of carer payment (child) will become automatically eligible for carer allowance.

The measures contained in this bill reflect the government’s determination to support carers in the most demanding and difficult circumstances—caring for a child with a severe disability or a severe medical condition. I commend the bill to the House and very much look forward to seeing this legislation implemented very shortly.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation for the bill announced.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.