Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Another important aspect of the government's announcement in the budget is that we are going to commence work on integrating the supports that carers receive to ensure there are dedicated and improved services for carers. This year the government is investing $532 million in carer supports through the Department of Social Services and, obviously, that is in addition to the $6.7 billion in direct payments to carers. This support includes counselling, respite training and assistance to continue education or participate in the workforce. We as a government are committed to continuing to improve the supports for carers and it will be on the basis of co-designed work on a plan to be undertaken with stakeholders, including carers, over the next six months which will determine how the national carer gateway will interact with the existing service system. This is a very important area of government policy.