Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 15 to 21 October 2017 is National Carers Week and that it is estimated that there are 2.7 million carers who provide care and support to a family member or friend with a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness, or who is frail aged in Australia; and

(b) the theme for National Carers Week is 'Carers Count';

(2) acknowledges the significant contribution that carers make to the Australian community, saving the nation an estimated $60 billion per year; and

(3) recognises the incredible sacrifices carers make and the challenges they face including fewer employment options and a restricted capacity to participate in community life.

As one of the co-conveners of Parliamentary Friends of Carers, I'm very pleased to be moving this motion today. National Carers Week is the time to recognise the millions of Australian carers who work tirelessly for no pay every day to make other people's lives better. It's a time to reflect on the contribution that carers make not just to the people that they care for and their families but to our community and our society as a whole. It's also a time to acknowledge the sacrifices that carers make to fulfil their caring responsibilities and the impact those ongoing sacrifices have on their personal and professional lives.

Last week, events were held in cities and towns across Australia to honour our carers. In my home city of Newcastle, the Carers Action Network held a morning tea which, unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend, as parliament was sitting and I was here in Canberra. But another Newcastle event hosted by mental health carers, ARAFMI, was also held in my area to give heartfelt thanks to the local mental health carers in our region. This year, the theme of National Carers Week is Carers Count—a very fitting title when you consider how much we rely on not only the unpaid work that carers do but also the sheer quantum of their contribution. In fact, there are 2.7 million unpaid carers in Australia, and together they spend a total of 36 million hours caring for families or friends each year. The carer contribution is even higher in the regions, with unpaid carers living in rural areas of Australia spending 11 more hours each week undertaking their caring responsibilities than do their urban counterparts. All this unpaid work is worth an estimated $60 billion per year. It is an astonishing amount of money. When you consider that the federal government spends less than $10 billion each year on higher education and less than $11 billion each year on assistance to the unemployed and sick, you start to get a picture of what a truly massive contribution carers make to Australia.

Today, I'd like to give my heartfelt appreciation to carers across the country. I would also like to acknowledge the personal sacrifices that carers make and the impacts that these responsibilities can have on their lives. Too often, carers are so busy looking after other people that they don't get their needs met. This is borne out by findings of a recent international survey of carers commissioned by Merck. The report of this survey, entitled Embracing carers, was released this month. It offered some telling insights into the experience of Australian carers, and it confirmed that carers continue to face enormous challenges in many areas of their lives. For example, almost half of the Australian carers surveyed said they don't have time to book or attend medical appointments for themselves; 59 per cent said they don't have time to exercise; and almost 40 per cent said their caring responsibilities had put pressure on their own finances. We also need to recognise that carers experience barriers to employment that people without caring responsibilities just don't face. Only 56 per cent of primary carers of working age participate in the workforce, compared to 80 per cent of noncarers.

All of these challenges can take a heavy mental and emotional toll. Sadly, just over half of Australian unpaid carers who were surveyed said they felt they needed medical care or support for a mental health condition as a result of their caring responsibilities. This is a very disturbing finding that we in this place should pay serious attention to. While carers give so much of themselves to family and friends, their communities and our society, it's clear that too often they are not getting the support they need in return. National Carers Week is an important time to raise awareness about the challenges that carers face in so many parts of their lives. It's the perfect time to talk about how we, both as legislators and as community members, can help address this. The message for National Carers Week is clear: anyone, at any time, can find themselves becoming a carer.

I want to pay special tribute to the 272,000 young carers—people aged under 25—who are caring for a parent, partner, sibling, child, relative or friend. It is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that carers have access to the support they need.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for this motion?

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to rise in support of the motion of the member for Newcastle and acknowledge the outstanding work and sacrifice of carers in our community. I thank the member for Newcastle for bringing this to the parliament. With National Carers Week having wrapped up for this week, I'd like to recognise the outstanding work of carers across the country and in particular in my electorate of Robertson on the New South Wales Central Coast.

National Carers Week was celebrated from 15 to 21 October this year, and the week is a time for all of us to recognise the incredible contribution that carers make to the lives of so many Australians. It's estimated there are around 2.7 million unpaid carers across Australia, and this past week was a great chance for us to say an extra-special thank you to each and every carer in our community. Every week, carers around the nation are estimated to provide 36 million hours of care and support to family and friends. Should all carers stop performing their roles, it would be at an estimated cost of $60.3 billion per year, as the member for Newcastle also noted. Carers come from all aspects of our community, and, at any time, anyone could become a carer to a loved one. One in eight Australians are unpaid carers who support family members or friends who need it most. Caring can take many forms, whether it be caring for an individual with a disability, a mental illness, a chronic condition or a terminal illness, or caring for an older Australian.

The theme of this year's National Carers Week was 'carers count', and I would like to pay tribute to the carers in my electorate on the Central Coast, because they count for so much in our community. Across the Central Coast during the week there were dozens of events to recognise and pay tribute to our carers. Meals on Wheels Central Coast hosted a carers community restaurant, and Delphis Australia arranged a riverboat cruise on the Hawkesbury for carers of those living with dementia. At the Empire Bay Tavern, the Central Coast Huntington's Disease Support Group—a group very close to my heart—hosted a long lunch. The Central Coast Disability Network had young carers for a barbecue picnic at Erina, and the Central Coast Local Health District hosted a carers retreat and a tai chi morning in Gosford. Over at Woy Woy, there was a Carer Pamper Morning, for carers of people with a chronic illness, hosted thanks to the Local Health District Carer Program. In Terrigal, at the Crowne Plaza, the Coastwide Child and Family Services support group hosted a breakfast for carers of younger Australians. At Kariong, carers participated in a cultural outing to Wyong Arthouse, thanks to the Kariong Neighbourhood Centre.

I would really like to thank each and every community group, organiser and advocate for helping to give back to our local carers, who every day dedicate themselves so selflessly to others. I would also like to congratulate two special carers, Lauren Mott from Springfield and Kim Power from The Entrance. Last week Lauren and Kim were awarded the New South Wales Carers Award by the New South Wales minister for disabilities, Ray Williams, recognising their outstanding contribution as unpaid carers. Even though the official National Carers Week is now finished for another year, I would like to encourage members of our community to join me in saying thank you to carers all year round. Just as their caring work never stops, so too should our appreciation never stop. Our carers make such an important contribution to our community, and they work tirelessly to improve the lives of others.

That's why I'm proud to be part of a government that recognises the incredible work that carers do and is committed to supporting them through services and financial support, such as the carer allowance and carer payment. The Australian government also funds a range of programs that assist carers. In 2017-18, that funding is around $162 million.

The Department of Social Services has also been working with the sector to develop an integrated plan for carer support services. In my electorate this includes a roundtable with local carers. Holding that, it was fantastic to get feedback on the plan and to hear from our carers what they want most. Thank you particularly to Ljae, Sarah, Elisa and Leila for everything that you do and for your contributions to the plan. When I heard the stories of these women, the stories of the sacrifices they make to care for their children, who live with significant disabilities, it was really inspiring. But what struck me even more was the deep love that each has as a mother and their determination to give their children every possible opportunity in life despite the great cost to their own lives and their careers. To them and to their families: thank you!

I'm pleased to say that the NDIS is supporting carers and their families in my electorate. Already the rollout is well underway and, once completed, it will support more than 2,900 individuals in my electorate. Again I extend my sincere gratitude to each and every carer in our community.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to have seconded the motion before the parliament today to acknowledge the work of carers in our community. As the member for Newcastle indicated in her remarks, there is a dollar figure that we can put on the role of carers in the community, but this evening I want to talk about two very clear examples of things that money simply can't buy. I'm very proud to bring to the attention of the House two events in my electorate surrounding carers.

Every Monday morning, if you go to a hall called 'Our Place' in Elizabeth Bruce Playground Park, you will find a group of seniors, people with all sorts of abilities, dancing, singing and enjoying themselves. This has been going on for a total of 38 years. Every morning, 9 am, you will be greeted by someone and you'll have a warm cup of tea and a fun morning out. A whole range of people continue to enjoy that service, and I acknowledge in the parliament tonight Mrs Shirley Schneider, a wonderful Australian, who thought, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we could come together to give carers a break and allow their clients, across multicultural backgrounds, to come and enjoy a musical morning tea.' I've attended that event over the last 10 years, since I was first elected to the Brisbane City Council and now as a federal MP. That one event has brought so much joy and happiness—literally hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of joy—and it's all run by volunteers under the auspices of Inala Community House. It just goes to show how some of the smallest acts and events can go such a long way in supporting the work of carers.

When I speak to carers in the community they all say the same thing: they don't want any recognition or any rewards; they just want the people they love and care about to have a high quality of life. If you go to a centre in my electorate called the Inala Respite Centre you will find a large professional organisation that clients can visit, perhaps for an overnight stay or for an event or gathering—for performances, art or craft—and you'll see wonderful work being undertaken. Back in 1984, on 5 October, a group of concerned residents in Inala got together at a public meeting, and in 1985 the Inala Respite Centre was established. Over the past 30 years or so we have seen this centre grow to one of the best day respite centres in the nation. In 2016 I was proud to attend the official announcement that Inala Respite Centre would be merging with PresCare to provide services to over 180 clients in aged care, home care, independent living support, crisis and emergency accommodation. In particular, as the member for Newcastle indicated, such places offer care for younger people with disabilities as well. Sixty-five per cent of clients are aged over 65, and 35 per cent of individuals attending are young adults with disabilities.

I know from speaking to the directors and the volunteers that the one thing you hear about time and time again is the support of volunteers with caring. You cannot put into words the amount of gratitude that the community owe to the carers in our community. It may be $1 billion a week or $60 billion per year, but I have seen the smiles on the faces, particularly for those people who give so much. The people they love are in a safe and secure environment and are protected and looked after when the carers are given a well-earned break.

I acknowledge Kris Jones; Andriana Arman; the wonderful Shirley Davey, who has been the president of the centre for almost 20 years; Marj Tonkin; Charlie Vanderkruk; Joyce Swanson; Joanne Robinson; Margot Le Strange; and Sharron Charman. They are all local residents who are committed to making sure that carers and those people who need care are looked after and loved in our community. I understand that in the Oxley electorate there are 13,405 people who provide unpaid care and assistance to others. There are over 10,000 people who go about the work they do because they love and want to look after the people who need care. Today I salute the carers in Oxley and right around Australia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Anyone at any time can become a carer. It's never going to be good timing. It's definitely not something that will ever be convenient. And, yet, there are 2.7 million unpaid family and friend carers out there. So I want to use this opportunity as we recognise National Carers Week to say to them: thank you for the sacrifices you make to enrich someone's life, thank you for the time you give and thank you for the outstanding contribution you're making day in, day out to our society.

Each and every week in this country unpaid carers spend an incredible 36 million hours caring for friends and family members who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition or terminal illness, or who are frail and aged. When you choose to become a carer, it has a number of consequences, many of them financial. Not only do people lose an income; they also miss out on superannuation. So sometimes the lost-earnings impact hits carers, many of them women, further down the track. I saw my own mother and her sisters care for my grandmother as dementia claimed her independence. I've seen Fran, an inspiring mum who gives and gets joy from caring for her son, Josh, but—wow!—she works hard. I've seen husbands like Norm nurse their wives as age takes its toll so that home can still be home. Carers I speak to rarely complain about the challenges they face. Even when they have a battle with bureaucracy that would have me tearing my hair out, I see people who are enormously accepting of the path they have taken.

One group that I see less often are the young people who become carers when a grandparent, parent or sibling becomes sick. I would like to take a moment to focus on them. There are probably more of them around than you would think. The average age of carers is 55. Being not far off that, I'd argue that 55 should qualify as young! But there are thousands who are really young. There are 272,000 carers under the age of 25. Carers young and older find many positive experiences in their caring roles, but research also shows that there can be negative effects on the health, wellbeing and education of young carers if they're not adequately supported. There can be barriers to socialising because they can't leave the person they care for or they may experience stress and anxiety from the responsibilities they're carrying at a really young age. There can be difficulty fully engaging in education, because of the time and energy caring takes. Many find it difficult to find part-time work that is flexible and able to accommodate them. We know they do it because they love and respect the person who is unwell or has a disability, but they definitely need recognition and support for their role.

Balancing work with caring responsibilities isn't a challenge that only young people face, with one in eight Australian employees being in a caring role this year. According to Carers Australia, carers tend to be economically disadvantaged, have lower general wellbeing than others, are more likely to experience poor health, have an above average rating on the depression scale and are more likely to experience chronic pain or injury associated with caring. So, basically, carers just don't have the time they need to care for themselves.

The rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been another major challenge for carers of NDIS recipients as they try to navigate the scheme. Rightly, the NDIS is, for the first time, focusing on the individual, but many of those individuals have volunteer carers. In the wake of the Productivity Commission's report on the NDIS, the head of the NDIS has admitted that there are flaws and announced new reforms. One of those flaws is that access to respite for unpaid carers is inadequate. I've had a mother who cares for her daughter tell me that the only way she was going to get the same level of respite that she had prior to the NDIS was by signing a declaration which said that, if she didn't get it, she would not be able to care at all for her daughter. This is a horrible situation for parents and partners to be put in. That there is an official document in which to make that sort of declaration is heartbreaking, demeaning and completely unnecessary. Access to proper respite care is vital for carers and for the sustainability of the NDIS. As so much of the support relies on unpaid carers, they deserve our heartfelt thanks.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week was National Carers Week. It's estimated that, if all of our carers in Australia stopped doing what they were doing and we paid for it as a nation, it would be valued at $60.3 billion to the economy. But I suspect that the number is actually much higher than that, because, with the carers that I know, you simply could not pay people to do what they do day after day. I know of two parents who have three autistic children. They come into my office from time to time, looking completely exhausted. Their hope for their children is that one day the five of them can sit around a dinner table and have a normal meal. They will spend years working to make that happen, and they already have. This is not something you can buy. With $60.3 billion, you simply cannot buy that love, that commitment, that hope for the future, that understanding of their children and that absolute perfect love which they have for them.

I have a neighbour who, every day, takes his teenage son out for a walk. His son is just starting to speak now. He's probably about 16. He's probably got about the same language skills as my three-year-old grandson. So you can imagine the life that this man has led. I know how exhausting it is to look after a three-year-old for one day. He's looked after a large three-year-old for a decade or more, and continues to do it. Like so many carers, his marriage has broken up, so he does it alone, as so many carers do. When we put the value of care at $60.3 billion, I think we're paying for time and professionalism. I know many great professional carers, but nothing actually replaces the extraordinary contribution that so many people make to their families.

The 2.7 million unpaid carers around Australia deserve our respect, our awe, even, and our thanks. That's what we do in Carers Week. More than a half of primary carers provide care for at least 20 hours a week, almost always to a family member. Given that only 56 per cent of primary carers of working age are in the workforce compared to 80 per cent of noncarers, even the economics of it demonstrates how much they give up to care for their family members.

I also want to pay tribute today to the many organisations that organised events during Carers Week to acknowledge the contribution of our local carers. About 10.4 per cent of people in Parramatta, or 15,689 people, assist family members or others in my electorate due to disability, long-term illness or problems related to old age. Many organisations showed their support and appreciation of them in the last week. The Transcultural Mental Health Centre, a support group for families and carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, held two events: one for the Afghani Carer Support Group, which was held at the Nabi Akram Islamic Centre in Granville, and another for Chinese carer support groups in Merrylands.

Flintwood Disability Services held a thankyou barbecue in Harris Park. Parramatta Community Health Services held a carers pamper day in Merrylands. The Parramatta District Men's Shed held a first aid workshop for carers. Community Care in Parramatta held an event for people living with dementia. Westmead Hospital held a carers morning tea and hosted a forum and expo in the children's hospital, and its support group for people living with cancer celebrated and recognised carers of people with serious or terminal illness. NADO, a not-for-profit that helps support people with disabilities, their families and carers, held a special event at Old Government House and Lachlans in Parramatta. Our local playgroup teamed up with MyTime to host a carers high tea at the community centre in Westmead. At Cumberland Hospital, they launched an interactive project that aims to build support networks within and outside the hospital through a participatory art project. It was facilitated by visual artist Elizabeth Day, mental health consumers, carers and family members, who were invited to handcraft fungi-inspired artwork for an aggregated installation called Myco Logic. The fungi was chosen because the roots of a fungus are so dense and intertwined, so they reflect the fact that people with disabilities need that broad community around them. It's a lovely project and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the outcomes. The collaboration runs until December and is based, as I said, on the image of fungi and their underground root structures. It's a metaphor for community and connection.

I want to celebrate and congratulate all the carers in Australia and especially in my electorate of Parramatta for the invaluable and important work they do in our community.

Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just want to say thank you to the member for Newcastle for this motion, and I am pleased to stand up here in support of all the carers around the country. People become carers in different ways. For some people it's a very gradual process. Others might find themselves in the role much more suddenly. Either way, it's never easy, nor is it ever a burden. For the work you do, I want to say thank you—thank you to those people in Lindsay, the 4,979 carers, 313 caring for a child and 2,113 who are in receipt of the carer payment. Payments are the only way we are able to collect the statistics of who is caring for who.

I want to send a shout-out to Renee, a woman I have known in my electorate for a very long time, who has two children with autism, and to her mum, Janelle, who helps care for those two kids; to Belinda, who also has two children with autism and also works full time in disability; to Elise and Barry, for the care they give their little boy, Bobby, who acquired his disability through a very disgusting and horrible assault when he was an infant; to Bob, who cares for his almost 100-year-old mum, who's an avid Labor supporter; and to Bill, who cared for his late wife, Lisa, who battled with terminal illness. There are members of my own family who have children with special needs: my aunty, my cousin, my sister and my mum, who cared for my uncle—thank you to those people.

From 15 to 21 October we celebrated Carers Week. In New South Wales there are 850,000 unpaid carers looking after a family member or a friend. To say that this is a self-sacrificing job is an absolute understatement. It's estimated that each week in Australia we spend an incredible 36 million hours in these roles. To put that into perspective, replacing carers with paid care workers would cost taxpayers $40.9 billion annually. Every person in Australia should be thanking carers for the incredible work they do—taking on the role of carer can turn your world and your life upside down. There can be social isolation, and not the same leisure time to spend with friends, family, work colleagues or your other children. There are also financial burdens. It's not uncommon to hear stories of people swapping out paid work hours for unpaid care hours, or even having to leave work completely. I was one of those people. My son, who celebrates his 11th birthday today, was born with a disability and I was one of those carers for many, many years of his life, and experienced social isolation and having my life turned completely upside down. I wouldn't change it for all the tea in China, as they say, but it's hard work. So, to all of those people in caring roles, thank you.

Being a carer can be a very rewarding experience, although there is a lot of stress and anxiety that can come with it. For me, the reward is being motivated enough to come into this place and to do something about things for the long term, for all those other carers and children with disabilities who will follow me and my son. Having to juggle education or a job can be absolutely hard enough as it is, let alone finding a job, if you're a carer, that has flexible hours in it. All the research shows that if carers aren't supported properly there can be devastating impacts on health, education and wellbeing. As a community, it is our job to support, not just the people who need care, but those people who are providing it.

As an example of the great work in our community I'd like to mention PATH, the Penrith Association for People with Disabilities, their families and their friends. Originally established in 1981 by parents of children with disabilities, PATH has been providing information and advocacy to people with disabilities, families and carers. This year they held two events for carers, giving our carers the opportunity to meet each other and share stories. I want to thank the organisers of PATH and those people for the incredible work that they do and the success of their events. Sharing stories cannot be underestimated when it comes to carers trading tips and providing some comfort to each other when those hard times hit. Social media, when used correctly, can be a great place of support, but it is important to be able to come together and talk about those challenges and triumphs, especially when your six-year-old finally learns to use a potty. For all of your friends whose kids started using the potty at 18 months that's no big deal, but when your six-year-old finally has a turn, you want to celebrate it with people who understand just how big that milestone is. So thank you to PATH.

There are many other groups in my community that provide support. I'd like to thank everybody for the contribution they have made to our community and to Australia, and I hope they all had a very enjoyable Carers Week, spent some time on themselves and got to take a bit of time out.

Debate adjourned.