Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Last week was National Carers Week. It's estimated that, if all of our carers in Australia stopped doing what they were doing and we paid for it as a nation, it would be valued at $60.3 billion to the economy. But I suspect that the number is actually much higher than that, because, with the carers that I know, you simply could not pay people to do what they do day after day. I know of two parents who have three autistic children. They come into my office from time to time, looking completely exhausted. Their hope for their children is that one day the five of them can sit around a dinner table and have a normal meal. They will spend years working to make that happen, and they already have. This is not something you can buy. With $60.3 billion, you simply cannot buy that love, that commitment, that hope for the future, that understanding of their children and that absolute perfect love which they have for them.

I have a neighbour who, every day, takes his teenage son out for a walk. His son is just starting to speak now. He's probably about 16. He's probably got about the same language skills as my three-year-old grandson. So you can imagine the life that this man has led. I know how exhausting it is to look after a three-year-old for one day. He's looked after a large three-year-old for a decade or more, and continues to do it. Like so many carers, his marriage has broken up, so he does it alone, as so many carers do. When we put the value of care at $60.3 billion, I think we're paying for time and professionalism. I know many great professional carers, but nothing actually replaces the extraordinary contribution that so many people make to their families.

The 2.7 million unpaid carers around Australia deserve our respect, our awe, even, and our thanks. That's what we do in Carers Week. More than a half of primary carers provide care for at least 20 hours a week, almost always to a family member. Given that only 56 per cent of primary carers of working age are in the workforce compared to 80 per cent of noncarers, even the economics of it demonstrates how much they give up to care for their family members.

I also want to pay tribute today to the many organisations that organised events during Carers Week to acknowledge the contribution of our local carers. About 10.4 per cent of people in Parramatta, or 15,689 people, assist family members or others in my electorate due to disability, long-term illness or problems related to old age. Many organisations showed their support and appreciation of them in the last week. The Transcultural Mental Health Centre, a support group for families and carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, held two events: one for the Afghani Carer Support Group, which was held at the Nabi Akram Islamic Centre in Granville, and another for Chinese carer support groups in Merrylands.

Flintwood Disability Services held a thankyou barbecue in Harris Park. Parramatta Community Health Services held a carers pamper day in Merrylands. The Parramatta District Men's Shed held a first aid workshop for carers. Community Care in Parramatta held an event for people living with dementia. Westmead Hospital held a carers morning tea and hosted a forum and expo in the children's hospital, and its support group for people living with cancer celebrated and recognised carers of people with serious or terminal illness. NADO, a not-for-profit that helps support people with disabilities, their families and carers, held a special event at Old Government House and Lachlans in Parramatta. Our local playgroup teamed up with MyTime to host a carers high tea at the community centre in Westmead. At Cumberland Hospital, they launched an interactive project that aims to build support networks within and outside the hospital through a participatory art project. It was facilitated by visual artist Elizabeth Day, mental health consumers, carers and family members, who were invited to handcraft fungi-inspired artwork for an aggregated installation called Myco Logic. The fungi was chosen because the roots of a fungus are so dense and intertwined, so they reflect the fact that people with disabilities need that broad community around them. It's a lovely project and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the outcomes. The collaboration runs until December and is based, as I said, on the image of fungi and their underground root structures. It's a metaphor for community and connection.

I want to celebrate and congratulate all the carers in Australia and especially in my electorate of Parramatta for the invaluable and important work they do in our community.

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