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

Today I would like to raise in the House an issue that was put to me very forcefully by a group in my electorate: grandparents raising their grandchildren. These grandparents meet at the Anglican church at Belmont on a regular basis, and also in other churches throughout the Hunter. They all came together on this particular day to talk about the challenges that they face in their daily lives and the fact that organisations like theirs need to be funded.

Recently the federal government has de-funded groups that have provided support to grandparents who care for their grandchildren. I implore the government to look at this again. It is an ever-increasing phenomenon. Many more grandparents are being put in the situation where they have to look after their children's children. They find themselves, at a time when they believed that they were retired and could do all of those other things that they had looked forward to for a long period of time, having to take on the responsibility of caring for children—quite often children who have a number of problems because they have come from dreadful circumstances. I implore the government to look at this issue and make sure that grandparents get the proper support that they need. (Time expired)