Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill 2009. It struck me as I was preparing to make this speech that it was more than eight decades after the Australian Federation that we eventually brought in a payment that we called the carers payment. It was first introduced in December 1983. What struck me when I thought about the history of the Australian Federation is that we had World War I, where we had many people who fought on the Western Front, Gallipoli and other places in defence of this country and more people died or were injured in that war than in World War II. We had the travails of what was happening for widows and those men—mainly men—who sadly came back from the Great War and were greatly injured and were not able to care for themselves because of their disability—mental, physical, psychological and psychiatric.

Then we had the Great Depression and all the challenges that brought to us as a country and the millions of people who were affected by it. Then we had World War II with our involvement in North Africa, in Europe and in the Pacific in the defence of our country and then in subsequent wars. And still as a country—a country that really believes in a fair go and being fair dinkum—we had not really thought enough to provide a payment which we would call the carers payment or the carers allowance. It struck me that, as a country which has venerated—and rightly so—the heroic deeds of our Anzacs and other men and women who have fought valiantly to protect the liberties and the democracy which we take for granted so often, we have not thought of the heroes in our society. That word ‘heroes’ is bandied around with abandon in relation to all kinds of sporting heroes, many of whom really do not deserve the accolade. Our real heroes are those who care for those with disabilities, those who care for people who are vulnerable and who are challenged in terms of their physical activities and those who are suffering, not just young but middle-aged and older, from mental problems and difficulties. It would be rare that a family represented here would not have been touched by people who have suffered from a disability. I am sure many of us have had friends who are suffering from a disability, and we look at the lives of the carers and marvel at what they do and wonder just how they get by 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, year after year caring for those whom they love.

I will provide a bit of history in relation to the carer payment. It was extended from a very narrow base for people caring for adults after July 1998. It was extended to people to a category of those people who were caring for profoundly disabled children under the age of 16 years. Eligibility and was broadened in July 2006 to carers of children with severe intellectual, psychiatric or behavioural disabilities. But even then there were only about 7,000 children being cared for, as many people have said, by carer payment recipients.

It really is quite extraordinary that we say we are a humane and compassionate society but we have not had the will and the wisdom to do what we are doing in relation to the carer payment supplement and also this improved support for carers in this particular legislation. It is quite astonishing that we have not had the determination and the fortitude to do what we needed to do—to display the courage politically that is displayed every day in the homes, in the community centres, in the schools and in the workplaces of those who are carers in our community.

The changes in this bill are a legislative response and commitment to a report by the review task force headed by Anthony Blunn. It was established in March 2007 to establish the effectiveness of the carer payment as a safety net for carers of children with profound disabilities and severe medical disabilities. As a result of that report and the review, which was released in early 2008, there was the conclusion—and I had a look at it—that the carer payment did not fulfil everything that it was aspiring to do. The safety net just was not adequate and there needed to be some changes. I am sure that every member of this House has had people come into their offices and talk with them about the fact that there have been problems in relation to this sort of thing.

The legislative changes that are proposed here broaden the qualification definition and base them on the level of care required. The new disability care load assessment introduced in this bill will provide an objective tool for determining the requirements of care recipients. I think it is a sensible proposal in the circumstances and I am amazed it has not been done earlier. An objective basis is important to ensure that there are no people who rort the system but also to ensure that we have the kind of questionnaire that carers can actually understand, that is in readable English and simple language that people can come to grips with. Treating professionals and doctors also need to be able to assess the functionality, behaviour and special care needs of children under 16 years of age and provide in clear, simple and easy to understand terms the level of care which is necessary to be provided by carers.

The process will accommodate a relaxation of the entitlement and also an assessment of eligibility across a range of households across the country. It will provide a better method to determine the qualifications in all the circumstances. As has been said before, provision of payment to a child on a short-term or episodic basis is a necessary reform and I think welcomed in all the circumstances.

I commend the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for what she has done. I said this morning in a speech in relation to carers that 23,500 people will benefit in this budget in terms of the pension increase and the care payment supplement as well. That builds on the 43,701 people who received payments, many of them carers, in the Economic Security Strategy we handed down last year. Many of them receive the $1,400 increase or the $2,100 increase for couples. We are providing substantial assistance in the budget and also through the two pieces of social security legislation that are before the House today in relation to these matters.

In all the circumstances this is a bold initiative, a timely initiative that is really long overdue. It is really quite amazing in the circumstances that we have not done it before. I am very much appreciative of the federal government’s assistance and of the minister’s commitment to those who are carers—the real unsung heroes in our community. My community will benefit enormously. I am sure across the whole country carers will also benefit as well. I am very happy that we have done what we have done in this initiative. For us it is political but for many it is personal. In my own family, my great-uncle and great-aunty cared for their profoundly mentally disabled son for many years—well into their senior years. I think of them and I think of the physical challenges and the intellectual and financial challenges they faced. I honour them today. I think we should do that every day. Politics is difficult but this legislation shows our compassion to those sorts of people.

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