Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and on behalf of Senators Humphries, McLucas and Bartlett, move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that 15 October to 21 October 2006 is Carers Week;

(b)

notes that the theme of Carers Week 2006 is ‘Anyone, Anytime’, the objective of which is identifying carers and empowering them to access support services;

(c)

recognises that there are approximately 2.6 million carers in Australia who provide unpaid help and assistance to a relative or friend, who could not otherwise manage because of disability, mental illness, chronic condition or frailty;

(d)

notes that almost everyone will provide care at some time during their life;

(e)

notes that approximately 1.2 billion hours of informal care are currently provided by family carers, as recently found by Access Economics in its report, The economic value of informal care;

(f)

acknowledges the enormous contribution made by carers to Australian society, often at great personal cost;

(g)

recognises the social and economic value of carers to the community; and

(h)

calls on all levels of government, businesses and schools to consider adopting carer-friendly work practices and learning environments.

Question agreed to.