Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with regret to again have to put a motion to this House concerning ageing parents and careers of disabled children. I put a very similar motion to the House in early 2000 and, sadly, our ageing parents and carers of disabled children are still in crisis or will face a crisis due to the lack of accommodation options for their disabled children. It is a fact that every single member and senator in this place represents someone or many people who are in this crisis. People with a disability generally have symptoms of ageing earlier than the mainstream Australian population. Many ageing disabled sons and daughters are due to retire from their supported employment workplaces which are generally Commonwealth funded. Workers are retiring due to their age or a medical condition or, as they are getting older, they are presenting an OHS risk in their workplace.

There are no transparent service pathways in place to assist ageing people with a disability with their work to retirement plans or to transfer them from work to a day service. Consequently ageing parents and carers are faced with the additional responsibility of having their disabled children at home with them. Supported employment and day services represent a ‘respite’ break for older parent carers from their day-to-day care responsibilities. Having these services available is important in prolonging older parent carers’ wellbeing and their current care arrangements. Many older parent carers also postpone their own needs for aged-care accommodation due to the lack of long-term accommodation options for their sons or daughters. Many older parent carers also postpone their own needs for urgent medical treatments because of the lack of suitable short-term accommodation options or respite for the care of their disabled son or daughter. Grandparents are increasingly becoming the primary carers of their grandchild with a disability. This is particularly a feature in Indigenous communities. Many older parent carers in rural and remote areas see their situation as hopeless.

In rural Australian communities, the ageing demographic is greater than in regional and metropolitan areas due to our younger family members and younger people generally having to leave rural and remote communities to seek employment and educational opportunities elsewhere. Younger members of a family who might have been available to assist their older parents with the care of their brother or sister with a disability may no longer be available to provide this support, simply because they live vast distances away. This of course places extra stress and a greater burden on older-parent carers.

I am fortunate to have Kurrajong Waratah in my electorate. Kurrajong Waratah’s InterLink support coordination service for older-parent carers is currently assisting 230 older-parent carers across the Riverina and Murray regions of New South Wales. The oldest carer is 93 years of age, still caring for her 60-year-old son at home. The average age of those 230 carers is 78.3. Many of these older-parent carers are living with the hope that their son or daughter with a disability will predecease them. A carer in the Temora community has written to me asking:

What do I have to do or where do I have to go to get a ‘funded respite home in Temora?

This comes from a woman who is the carer of her 45-year-old son. She says:

One lady carer of twin boys in our community aged 37 had breast cancer and had to have her breast removed and it has been almost impossible to have the twins cared for. This mum is 68.

Another lady carer for both her daughter and son-in-law now suffers Dementia and her husband is 80. her daughter has now come home to look after them all.

Another carer who is 80 and has a son 44 who is almost blind.

These are only a few scenarios. I could go on and on. There are many more. This carer says:

We have a huge amount of parents and carers looking for respite (often too difficult)

The concern here can be sincerely weighed up by the fact that a dear man who is caring for his disabled daughter, with his wife, had his spirits lifted just because he opened his mailbox and found a letter from me acknowledging the pain that he was experiencing. He had only just had a major operation two weeks before and he was still busy in his capacity as a carer for his disabled daughter.

I have been fighting against this plight for many years. I lay no blame on this current government. I would just like to see the issue fixed, as it should have been many years ago. (Time expired)

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