Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009 and a related bill, the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2009 . The primary bill seeks to implement a number of measures to improve the financial support given to carers by the government. Carers Australia, in their submission to the recently concluded Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs inquiry into this bill, noted that there are almost 2.6 million carers in Australia, with nearly half a million of them being primary carers—the people who provide the most care. Further, they noted that one-third of the more than four million Australians with a reported disability had a profound or severe limitation. However, importantly, 1.07 million of these people continue to live in private households—undoubtedly, many of them do so with the assistance of a dedicated carer.

Australia has a significant number of carers and they form a vital part of our community. The daily challenges faced by carers are familiar to many in my home state of Tasmania, where there are more carers per head of population than in the rest of Australia. When compared to the rest of Australia, Tasmania faces its own unique challenges. Tasmania has the oldest population of any state or territory. The Tasmanian population is far more dispersed than the rest of Australia. Around 36 per cent of Tasmania’s carers live in rural and remote areas of the state, compared to 12 per cent nationwide. There are an estimated 69½ thousand carers aged more than 15 years, of which 14,600 are primary carers. This represents around 15 per cent of the total population of Tasmania, which is higher than the national average of 13 per cent of the population.

Like their mainland counterparts, Tasmanian carers face difficulties when it comes to supporting those in their care. A recent report released by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth recognised the financial needs of carers. As my Tasmanian federal parliamentary colleague the member for Franklin, Julie Collins MP, highlighted in her contribution when the report was tabled:

This report highlights the role carers play in detail. Just as importantly, it highlights the juggling they do and stress they are under as they go about their daily lives.

The committee received 1,300 submissions, 1,200 of which were individual submissions, and the report provided 50 recommendations. The government, in this year’s budget, increased the support for carers. The budget introduced a $600 a year carer supplement for all carer payment recipients, on top of an increase in their pension. Recipients of the carer allowance will also receive an additional $600 a year for each eligible person in their care.

When announcing these measures, the Treasurer described Australian carers as the unsung heroes of our community. Indeed, it is important to acknowledge the vital role that carers around this country play in assisting people with disabilities to carry out their daily lives. Their job is undoubtedly not always an easy one. As most of us know, caring for others, especially those who have particular needs, requires a certain degree of dedication, patience, persistence and lots of love. Nevertheless, countless Australians around the country spend thousands of hours each year caring for others who have a disability. The acts of such people deserve to be recognised and valued.

Specifically, however, the primary bill being debated represents part of the government’s response to the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce. As the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs report into this bill details, the task force, chaired by Mr Tony Blunn AO, examined the eligibility criteria for carer payment (child) and considered the effectiveness of the payment in providing a safety net for carers of children with severe disabilities or medical conditions.

The review was commissioned in response to concerns raised by carers in the community that the current eligibility requirements for payments were too stringent and therefore financial support was not reaching all of the people who provide care and were the most in need. Indeed, Carers Australia, in their submission to the Senate inquiry, noted that in 2003 there were 390,000 children under the age of 14 with a disability and, of these, 166,700 had a profound or severe limitation. Further, 23 per cent of primary carers were parents caring for a child. As these figures highlight, there are a significant number of children around the country living with a disability who require carer assistance and support.

The task force found that many carers were ineligible for carer payment (child) because the qualification criteria for receiving the payment were overly complex and too restrictive. As such, the task force’s primary recommendation was that the criteria should be reviewed and the eligibility should be assessed based on the care need and care provided, where the care precluded carers from substantial workforce participation. The primary bill forms an essential part of the government’s response to the finding of the report.

As the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP, pointed out in her second reading contribution, since taking office the government has made a firm commitment to improve the level of assistance offered to carers of children with a disability or severe medical conditions. Indeed, the changes contained in this legislation are the latest in a series of support measures announced by the government designed to assist carers. These measures are part of a $122 million package, announced as part of the 2008 budget, designed to support and recognise carers. As well as the amendments included in the primary bill, which amount to $273 million over the next five years, and the 2008 one-off payments of $1,000 that were delivered to carers and certain pension recipients, the government has also set aside a further $100 million to be spent on supported accommodation facilities for people with disabilities whose ageing parents can no longer care for them at home and $20 million for carers who experience a catastrophic event involving a child.

The primary bill acts on the recommendation of the carer payment (child) review. It does so by making a series of amendments to the social security legislation in relation to carer payments made in respect of a child. The carer payment is an income support payment made to carers who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves through participation in the workforce. Based on the recommendations of the review, the amendments will deliver a new, fairer set of qualification criteria for the carer payments made. The new criteria will be based on the level of care required by the child rather than the rigid medical criteria currently used to assess a person’s qualification for the payment.

As the minister pointed out, these changes will see the number of carers and families eligible for the payment noticeably increase from 1 July this year. Due to the narrow medically based selection criteria currently in place, only 7,000 carers are deemed eligible for the payment. The department estimates that, as a result of the amendments contained in this legislation, up to 19,000 carers will be eligible to receive the payment from 1 July. That is roughly an extra 11,000 potential carers that will receive financial assistance under the government’s new eligibility criteria. By way of detail, the new assessment used to determine carers’ eligibility for the payment will now be known as the disability care load assessment (child) and will involve a test—

Debate interrupted.