Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Try, Test and Learn Fund is a program that is supposed to support people to stay in education and transition into the workforce. The federal government, in their wisdom, have tried to help people through this program, but such a one-size-fits-all approach is not realistic in rural communities such as Braddon. The cost, time and hours spent travelling are simply impossible to achieve. This is particularly the case for carers. Jaeyden Wardle of Devonport is just one of an estimated 73,800 carers in Tasmania alone. Jaeyden's experience is a really good example of how this fund does not work. It is extremely difficult for people like Jaeyden to access the fund because the location and hours of training provided need to work in tandem with the amount of care that carers like him need to provide. With training often only provided in places like Launceston and Hobart—which, for those who do not know, are many hours away—this leaves little opportunity for people in Braddon.

This week is Carers Week; and 2.8 million people provide unpaid care for family and friends. In Australia this week providing easy access to such training is just one of many ways we can show them that carers count. This week alone, Australia's unpaid carers will spend 36 million hours caring for family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition or are terminally ill or frail aged. That is just one week.

The people carers look after and the carers themselves are not 'welfare dependent', a term the Turnbull government is happy to throw around. Those who are being cared for are people who, through no choice of their own, were born with or developed a disease, illness or other condition which requires consistent and quality care. Their carers may be family members, friends or neighbours; they come from all walks of life, cultures and religions; and they provide care for a variety of reasons.

At 17 years of age, Jaeyden looks after his mother who has been diagnosed with a heart condition. Besides having the responsibility to look after his mum's medication, Jaeyden also manages his family's finances and cares for his siblings. He has been his mother's primary carer for three years and has helped to manage her chronic condition since he was 10 years of age. It was not until he was 13 that he recognised the role he had taken on. This is a tough job that is deserving of reward, not punishment.

Jaeyden is not unlike many other carers in our community—they are on call for 24 hours a day and the effects on their lives are real and worthy of more than just negativity from the Turnbull government. For instance, when Jaeyden's grades started to be affected by his need to provide care, his teachers thought he was getting involved with drugs or crime. As a result, and despite being a talented and intelligent student, Jaeyden dropped out of school in grade 8. Jaeyden shared with the Sunday Examiner newspaper recently that he was constantly told he would not achieve anything because he was not attending school. However, showing his incredible determination, Jaeyden has resumed his studies and has taken on three community service diplomas. He finished grade 10 last year and he is now taking on grade 11.

The federal government, in their wisdom, have tried to help people like Jaeyden, offering this Try Test and Learn approach, which is supposed to support carers like him, but he, like many carers, is labelled by such programs as being trapped on welfare or welfare dependent, when in fact he is nothing close to that. According to the CEO of Carers Australia:

Young carers have been correctly identified as some of those most at risk of welfare dependence throughout their lives. They are mostly susceptible than other young people to the problems of workforce accessibility given the nature of their caring role. …It is also important to understand that many young carers face a range of complex challenges which impact on their capacity to engage in education and employment and these must be addressed under any program to support them into work.

In closing, it is time to recognise that carers provide invaluable support in caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community and play a critical role in our health system. The fact is that anyone at any time can become a carer. This week, and indeed every week, it is time to know how much they all count.

Debate adjourned.

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