An uncaring viewpoint
March 17, 2008 by Rachel Siewert
With all the discussion around the government’s intentions for carer bonuses and payments, Mr Rudd seems to have lost sight of the bigger picture: even with this bonus, carers are seriously under appreciated and under funded. Payment of the bonus or a reorganisation of existing allocation of funds does little to address an issue which has been in dire need of attention for some time now.
People who currently receive the Carer Payment and the Carer Allowance bonus already live week to week with an income about $200 per week below the minimum wage. Deakin University recently released research showing one third of Australia’s carers are suffering from severe depression, while young people caring for family members with a disability are the most depressed group in Australia. Carers provide a valuable service to individuals and our community that often comes at great personal, wellbeing and financial cost, and are often in low paid, casual or part time work or in fact are unable to work because of their caring duties. We need to ensure these valuable members of society are looked after at all stages and levels, including into their retirement.
The Greens support Carers Australia’s recommendations that the Federal Government doubles the Carer Payment for sole parent carers. This would work towards reducing their financial distress. Such distress is often related to costs of medical bills, equipment or special needs of the person for whom they care. Ignoring the hardships endured by carers in this country will further disadvantage and marginalise the sector, in some cases causing further social problems. A staggering 19% of carers were identified as being at severe risk of depression in the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, October 2007.
According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics, carers have the lowest wellbeing score (58.5) of any group surveyed for the study. Other groups with low wellbeing index figures include “unemployed” people with 66.6 and people “alone and unemployed” at 60.0. Carers also often deal with these added issues of social isolation and unemployment.
Skimping on supporting carers ultimately ends up costing us as a society through lost productivity and increased health-care costs. This is in addition to the personal cost to carers. We need to see a doubling of the Carer payment to $197 per fortnight, the introduction of a Carers Superannuation scheme, and improved funding for respite care across Australia.
We firmly believe that all Australians have a right to independence, self-determination and choice in their lives. Further, that people who experience disability, along with their families and carers, should have the opportunity to actively participate in policy development, in service planning and delivery. We need to see a drastic increase in resources for disability services, particularly in the areas of increased age-appropriate accommodation places, better respite services, and improved access standards.
Government has a responsibility to support carers in whatever way it can, taking pains not to cause these marginalised people any unnecessary angst. Processes for accessing assistance, financial or otherwise, should be simple. Often carers do not immediately access support services or apply for financial assistance. In some cases, we see some of the same problems that plague the mental health sector – people are reluctant to seek help due to the stigma that is placed upon them by society. They do not want to acknowledge that there is a crisis in process and it is often only in the ultimate culmination of various pressures that they seek the assistance they are in desperate need of.
In a time when we are supposed to be experiencing significant economic growth, we are penny pinching at the expense of the people who can least afford it and are most vulnerable. We should be asking ourselves if this is really a sign of a caring and decent society. We are not providing these people with a decent life for themselves, or the people they care for. This is a sector of our community that deserve a great deal of respect for their role in taking on hard work that others shy away from, and who certainly deserve support from our government. An integrated national carer strategy is required, one that formally acknowledges the role and contribution of carers and provides co-ordination of carer policy across government.
Apologies - original text seen here was a draft copy of this post. The text has now been updated.
Good article. I myself live with someone (my mother) who is mentally ill. My family struggles in a major way, week in, week out in order to pay the bills, rent etc. My dad’s work as a carer is generally like a full-time job at the best of times and unfortunately when things get bad it is even more full on. I contribute as much as I can but my ability is limited as I am currently studying. We desperately need support as it is getting increasingly difficult to keep everything together financially. As rent spirals out of control, so does petrol prices, food prices and basically anything else one can think of. It upset me deeply that careers and pensioners are the first people whose payments seem to be up for debate whenever there is economic crisis. It was the same before the depression in the 20’s and during it, in the 1970s during the ’stagflation’ economic crisis and again now.
Since carers save society so much money as so much infrastructure and services need not be publicly provided I think it pertinent that we stop considering important and constructive members of society to be the most expendable financially.
Morgan
I couldnt believe that Rudd was going to unleash the “razor gang” on these poor carers that do such much on so little. It was a shameless tactic really and he had to do a “Rudd flip” on the issue in the end.
It seems to me that the one group who is being left out of this debate, in the media at least, are people with disabilities.
We are hearing a lot about the Carer’s etc and I don’t begrudge the Carer’s getting a bonus, or the aged pension being increased, by any means, but please remember that those of us on the Disability Support Pension have never received a bounus and no-one is talking about raising our pension either.
I am not the worst off as a Person with a Disability (PWD) but with funding cuts meaning I have to go begging to private charities to get a new motorised scooter as the Disability Services Commission “no longer provides funds for equipment used to access the community”. In essence this means that if you can get around indoors in your own home - that is all you need, according to the DSC.
We are expected to stay at home all the time, which frankly would drive me nuts - or to suicide, except for whatever services Home and Community Care (HACC) can provide. This would be the equivalent of 1-2 ‘outings’ per week and someone to shop for you once a week. The outings are supposed to be for doctor’s appointments and the like too, not for anything social.
If we all relied on HACC - they would be even more overwhelmed than they are now. I am lucky that I have a Carer who can do my shopping for me and that I have access to a car, many don’t.
I can’t catch a train, walk my dogs, go down the shops independently or anything like that though until I can beg myself a new motorised scooter - which I’m told will be at least another 3-4 months if we are successful. In the meantime I can ‘choose’ to hire a scooter privately with prices starting from $50 per week! Try doing that on a pension.
Trish
Trish - you are absolutely right about there being a disproportionate focus on carers in the media debate at the expense of people living with a disability.
It is important to acknowledge that, while their interests may overlap, carers don’t necessarily have the same priorities as those requiring care and there needs to be a greater acknowledgement of how far DSP has fallen behind.
While obviously in this case Rachel has been responding to the announced cuts to carer payments, I believe that she is on the record both saying that one-off payments weren’t the best way to tackle these issues, and also that much more needs to be done to address the problems with disability services, the level of DSP payments and the problems with the CSDTA …etc.
Meanwhile we are waiting to see how the new government will deal with the horrible impacts that the previous government’s welfare to work measures had on people living with a disability … and the problem’s they’ve created for people who want to work, but don’t want to lose their support if things don’t work out or if their physical or mental health deteriorates…
Chris