Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I seek to air and give public exposure to a social phenomenon in our society which deserves our support as a community. I speak of the growing trend of grandparents raising their grandchildren. In my home state of Tasmania, seven per cent of primary carers of children are, in fact, grandparents. In recent times I came across two ladies in this situation. They were kind enough to share their stories with me over a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. From that discussion we agreed to have a further meeting with others in the same situation. That meeting was held at my office just before Christmas. I was delighted that my colleague Senator Stephen Parry was able to spend the time to hear these grandparents’ stories as well.

When I say ‘grandparents’, it was, in fact, seven grandmothers, six of whom were looking after a child of their daughter and in just one case the child of a son. The shocking statistic is that all seven children of these grandmothers could not look after their children because of substance abuse. As an aside, I say to those who would go soft on drugs: look not only at the so-called personal freedom and civil liberties arguments but also further afield, and the social devastation and consequences will overwhelm you into changing your attitude. For the person concerned who cannot bring up their own flesh and blood, there must be a great sense of personal ineptitude and guilt. For the child who grows up thinking and believing their parents were unfit or unwilling to look after them, the impact on personality, personal development, social interaction, and general health and wellbeing must be profound.

And, of course, then there are the grandparents who pick up the pieces at great personal sacrifice, but do so out of love and commitment. These grandmothers who thought that their child-rearing days were behind them and that they could move to the phase of spoiling their grandchildren and then handing them back are robbed of that time. There is also the wider family issue of how siblings interact and how the other children interact with their parents because of the time, money and effort put into one sibling and their child or children as opposed to the other children and grandchildren. In brief, the social consequences are immense and the pressure on the grandparents is enormous. Right or wrong, the fact is that the burden seems to fall disproportionately on the grandmother, often alienating and upsetting the grandfather, leading sometimes to marital breakdown after decades of marriage or to bouts of depression.

In the midst of this personal, family and social turmoil, I ask: what support do we give these grandparents? The unfortunate answer is pretty well ‘not much’. My call this evening, in a non-partisan request, is for all of us to do better as a community in providing support for these champions. The first issue is usually the cost of legal representation. If you are a pensioner who owns your own home or a self-funded retiree, you could well end up with a legal bill of $30,000, because you will not qualify for legal aid. Here is the perverse nature of how we transact this business: the child—and, in the cases that Senator Parry and I heard about, all drug impacted—got legal aid. Because of their unsatisfactory interaction with their lawyers, often adjournments are sought. They do not turn up or they make ridiculous claims, all of which mean costly legal delays which financially bleed the grandparents.

The legal proceedings these grandparents involve themselves in are for one simple purpose: the best interests of their grandchild—their grandchild’s safety and stability of home environment, to mention two aspects. We expect the grandparents to pay for their legal costs yet fund as a community the drug impacted parent. That is neither fair, just nor within the best interests of the child. And, for the seven grandmothers, the issues also brought police involvement in their actual homes. For all of them it was their first time ever, with horrendous consequences and feelings of public embarrassment and humiliation, especially amongst neighbours. If the grandmother gains an order—what I understand is, in my home state of Tasmania, for the status of a kinship carer—the grandparent is rewarded with a princely sum of $2 per day to help with the grandchild’s expenses. If, on the other hand, the grandparents were to refuse to take on the grandchild, the grandchild would become a ward of the state, a result which has a great impact on society at large and is overwhelmingly not in the best interests of the child. Yet if this same grandparent were to foster care another child—or, indeed, their own grandchild—the taxpayer would pay out literally hundreds of dollars per week to assist with the costs of raising the child. We have a built-in disincentive—not only through the legal aid system but through social security support payments as well—for grandparents to look after their grandchildren.

I understand that in that mendicant state that is New South Wales there is a glimmer of good government, as I am advised that grandparents are actually paid as foster carers. I say: well done. For those grandparents not of age pension age who might be receiving other welfare payments, the Welfare to Work rules kick in. I am a strong supporter of Welfare to Work and the philosophy that underpins that scheme. If you can work and be gainfully employed, you should not be a burden to your fellow Australians, but it does become quite counterproductive for society if we exempt foster carers from the responsibilities of Welfare to Work because of their good work in caring for children in need but do not exempt grandparents looking after their own grandchildren and doing essentially the exact same task—in fact a much harder task due to the emotional trauma.

I have sought to highlight just some of the problems these wonderful grandmothers face in trying to do the best and right thing by their grandchildren. I do not pretend to have the answers, but some support should be considered in the following areas: counselling sessions should be offered for grandparents to deal with their often dysfunctional grandchildren who suffer from an array of issues, including attachment disorder; legal aid should be offered to grandparents or severely restricted for the other party to ensure legal costs do not escalate and get out of control, financially crippling the grandparents; any support provided for grandchildren should not be impacted by an ordinary means test on the grandparents which would not apply if the children in their care were unrelated foster children; grandparents, like foster carers, should be exempted from Welfare to Work obligations; grandparents should automatically be considered foster carers for the purposes of benefits; Centrelink should have designated officers who have a genuine understanding of grandparents’ issues; and there should be provision of some organised holiday camps not only by way of respite for the grandparents but also for the children themselves to learn they are not alone in this world in living with their grandparents.

I thank again the seven grandmothers who were so willing and open in sharing their stories with Senator Parry and me and who also assisted me in constructing tonight’s speech. I hope my contribution this evening will add to the public support that these people need and deserve. I trust that in due course we might be able to get a response to ensure that these wonderful grandparents are properly supported and sustained by society not only for their sake and but for the sake of their grandchildren, to ensure that any cycles that might otherwise develop can be broken and to ensure early intervention so that these grandchildren are given the very best possible start in life.