Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in continuation in the address-in-reply debate on the very important matter of the carers bonus. I note that in the last 24 hours there has been a major development which is the confirmation that the Rudd government has done a backflip over the plan to axe the $1,600 annual bonus to carers. In my view that is a great win for Australian carers, their families and their loved ones. It is an enormous relief. There was a lot of anxiety, stress and indeed distress in the community. In fact, the level of anxiety had hit the roof. I know that from the feedback that many coalition members and senators across Australia received—and I am sure there would have been government members and senators who would have received that feedback as well. The government have finally listened but it has taken nearly a week for the government to do a backflip and to say that the bonus will remain.

I want to say congratulations to Pat and Harry Stafford in particular. They have been married for 60 years and they came out with me on Saturday morning in Launceston to stand up for the carers in Tasmania. Pat Stafford has motor neurone disease and she has had it for 15 years. She is in a wheelchair. They wanted to stand up for all those who are vulnerable, who need their help and assistance, and to say that any possible intention on the Labor government’s behalf to remove that $1,600 annual bonus is totally unacceptable. I want to say congratulations to Pat and Harry Stafford. They are part of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, which meets monthly. They are wonderful supporters of not only their family and friends but other people and other families with motor neurone disease and other people with disabilities. I say congratulations to them.

I want to congratulate and say thank you to Bev and Jim Barnard from Launceston, in fact from Youngtown. Jim Barnard has Parkinson’s disease. I spoke to Bev Barnard personally and they were willing to put their names forward in a big story in the Examiner with a photo on Sunday, 9 March. I want to read this article, and to acknowledge and thank the Examiner for promoting this very important issue. I thank Fran Voss, who did the report. It says a little bit about Bev and Jim and their situation and I would like to refer to it:

Bev Barnard of Youngtown is one of 400000 primary carers around Australia stunned by the news that the Federal Government is considering axing the annual $1,600 carer bonus. There are just under 16,000 primary carers in Tasmania. Mrs Barnard, 64, cares for her husband Jim, 68, who has suffered Parkinson’s disease for 15 years and her 30-year-old visually impaired daughter. Mr Barnard was diagnosed when he was 53 and is now totally dependent on his wife.

What a situation for them. What a difficulty. It continues:

Their daughter, Kayleen, has been visually impaired since she suffered a brain haemorrhage at four days old. Both Kayleen and Jim also suffer depression and other health issues. The $1,600 annual bonus enables Mrs Barnard to buy medications, replacement items for the house like a new washing machine, transport her husband and daughter to medical appointments and pay for respite care to allow her some time off.

I had a talk to Bev Barnard and she was very, very upset and stressed. She said, ‘I’m not doing it for us, I’m doing it for the vulnerable, for the disabled and for the people who need it in Tasmania and across the country.’ I want to say thank you to them on the public record.

Thank you to Pat and Harry Stafford for what they have done. I remind the Senate and indeed the public what Pat Stafford said on Saturday when she made that bold announcement to the public. She said that the lump sum payment was a wonderful help. She said, ‘This enables us to keep our 25-year-old car.’ It is a Mitsubishi car, I saw it and the wheelchair goes on the back. It is quite a contraption to get it all to work together, but it is an excellent vehicle for their needs and with a wheelchair on the back it is well put together. She said that it is their only means of transport to keep them on the road. She said ‘The lump sum also allows us to pay the winter heating bills and this payment gives us a quality of life.’ She talked about the need for a kettle and other miscellaneous items in the house particularly during the wintertime. The lump sum payment was particularly appreciated. Her husband, Harry Stafford, said that without this help Pat would end up in an institution.

This is what we are facing and this government has been dillydallying around with weasel words for the last six days trying to fob off this issue. This is an important issue for the 400,000 carers and their families throughout Australia. Harry Stafford and indeed Pat Stafford have summed it up. On Saturday Pat said that John Howard was the quiet achiever but Kevin Rudd was the quiet deceiver. She said that she knew nothing about this before the election.

Of course they worried. There was no comment; there was no discussion about it before the election. And we have had this issue running for nearly a week in the public arena without the government saying anything about there being an ironclad guarantee that this bonus payment would not be removed. So they have stood up on behalf of their community—and I say, ‘Congratulations and well done,’ on behalf of all Tasmanians, who I know are very proud of them for doing that.

I want to thank Mrs Kimberley Ware. She rang my office and we spoke together. She has two autistic boys, one aged 16 and one aged 7. The eldest boy will soon be 17. She cannot work. She is there by herself 24/7 looking after these boys, and surviving is very tough. She told me about concerns, about what she has to put up with and about the meagre funds that she has to do it with. I say ‘thank you’ to her, and I also note that she contacted the office of her local member, Jodie Campbell, and had no assistance provided to her.

This brings into focus the role of the local federal member, the member for Bass, Jodie Campbell. What has she done? Did she stand up? What has she said about it? I know what she said on Saturday, because we debated this issue publicly and it was reported publicly. She said that this payment was a one-off. The fact is that the payment had been paid for four years in a row—every year for four years. It was not a one-off; that is one thing it was not. So why did Ms Campbell not stand up for and on behalf of her local community, for and on behalf of the carers and those who are vulnerable—the people with disabilities in her local community?

We had 150 Centrelink call centre jobs in Launceston axed by the Rudd Labor government, and Ms Campbell failed at that first test to stand up for her local community. What we need in Tasmania and around the country are people who are willing to stand up. Both on the call centre and the carer issue, Ms Campbell has been willing to be Mr Rudd’s co-conspirator. She has not met the major test. She should be defending her region and taking on the ministers in Canberra and any of the Canberra bureaucrats who are not acting in the best interests of her community. She will simply be regarded as a Labor lackey if she is not willing to stand up.

I want to pay tribute not only to Pat and Harry Stafford and Jim and Bev Barnard but to Janis McKenna of Carers Tasmania. Carers Tasmania have been strong advocates for the people of Tasmania who need their support and advocacy. Janis has been fantastic. She has been on the radio and in the news and other media doing the job that she has to do. Her objective is to care for and stand up for the carers of Tasmania. So, thank you, Janis McKenna. It has been a pleasure working with you and your organisation to see if we could get some reality injected into the Rudd Labor government so that they removed all doubt entirely.

I notice that there was some news today. In fact, it was not clarified until after the TV news went to bed last night. I say that it is not good enough for the backdown by the Rudd Labor government to be dribbled out to the media via what was quoted as being a ‘Rudd spokesperson’ after the nightly news on Tuesday evening. The Prime Minister should have taken the medicine and had the courage to announce it himself. So we had some news later today that the Rudd Labor government has confirmed that the carers and seniors bonus will be paid as a lump sum payment by the end of June. There is enormous relief in the community now about that.

I want to particularly thank Brendan Nelson for taking a lead on this issue at a national level and calling the government to account. I want to thank Tony Abbott for his strong advocacy for the 400,000 carers and I also want to thank Margaret May, who has been a staunch advocate on behalf of those carers in and around Australia. In Tasmania, we have over 69,000 carers, and we have 16,000 primary family carers. They really deserve support, and it is very important.

To the unsung heroes in our community, it is a great relief today to hear the news that the bonus payment will be made, and I hope that the Rudd Labor government has learnt its lesson. It has been caught out, and I think the Pat Stafford quote is appropriate. I have said it once and will conclude with it:

John Howard was the quiet achiever but Kevin Rudd has turned out to be the quiet deceiver. We knew nothing about this before the election.

So the good news is that there is relief today. The anxiety levels have hit the roof for nearly one week, but there is enormous relief today and I congratulate those carers who are willing to stand up on behalf of their local communities.