Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too am very pleased to speak in support of this motion concerning carers. As we know, the week 15 to 21 October had the theme ‘Anyone, Anytime’. The substance of this theme lies in empowering carers to access services in support of one of the most demanding roles in the Australian community. In all walks of life we find carers. We find carers who look after their partners, we find carers who care for elderly parents, we find carers who look after disabled children and, alarmingly, we find children who care for their parents.

I support the motion and would like to bring the role of grandparents caring for their grandchildren into the debate. The number of people affected by this area of public policy is not insubstantial. Estimates vary of the number of households in which grandparents are primary caregivers, but it is in the vicinity of 22,500. The number of children affected is around 31,000—2,500 within South Australia. This area, children in the care of their grandparents, has attracted media attention resulting from grandparents who are primary carers of their grandchildren being subjected to the new welfare-to-work rules that require such grandparents to seek work of 30 hours per fortnight, irrespective of the resulting limitation on care provided to their grandchildren. I am glad to hear that the guidelines have duly been amended, enabling exemptions to the work test for grandparents who gain custody of their grandchildren through the Family Court.

It is distressing that this section of the population is increasingly being called on to provide high levels of care for family members. I suspect that as governments we do not pay them the respect or give them the attention that they deserve. While the work test issue has, hopefully, been addressed, it is only one of the many obstacles faced by grandparents with primary care giving roles for their grandchildren. We have seen and heard of the many challenges that these carers face and the obstacles they face in being recognised as primary carers and accessing information and the wide-ranging set of community services that other carers take for granted. The Council of Australian Governments agreed unanimously in July this year to cut the red tape that has prevented grandparent carers accessing financial and other aid. As a result of the COAG arrangements, the federal government was charged with coming up with a legal description for grandparents performing this role, from which point the broader application of state, territory and federal criteria could be amended and services opened to this portion of the population. That was three months ago.

I hope that Carers Week reminds the federal government and all state and territory governments of their obligations to this section of the Australian population and of their commitments to provide these carers with access to the financial assistance, services and rights required by primary caregivers for the responsible upbringing of many of our newest generation. Medicare access, medical information access, child-care assistance, educational rights and responsibilities and financial support must be addressed. The federal government has had the opportunity to address the work test issue. I would like to believe that the federal government will take the opportunity created at July’s COAG meeting and be seen to be leading by example. They need to do what they have agreed to do, as soon as they are able, and then take the outcomes back to COAG. I am sure many thousands of senior and junior Australians are watching all governments’ actions intently—and understandably so, because we have a somewhat unusual set of circumstances where all governments appear to be in agreement with what needs to be done in supporting grandparents who are primary carers for their grandchildren.

There have been few occasions in which the governments of Australia have had such an opportunity to make sound changes for the good of multiple generations in one policy package. I have spoken in support of grandparents and carers in this place before, and I certainly appreciate the good work of the ministers who have responsibility for the multiple areas that are affected by such a policy shift being encouraged and supported by all of us in this place. As was mentioned earlier, there are 2.6 million carers in Australia who provide unpaid help and assistance to relatives and friends who cannot manage because of disabilities, chronic illnesses and conditions or frailness. All governments, state and federal, should be doing all they can to recognise and support carers and make their lives a bit easier.

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