industry & policy
Carer welfare
remains
overlooked
Even the election can’t get officials to
focus on the needs of those who are
the backbone of the system.
By Michael Fine
G
iven the importance of the aged
care and disability policies for
readers of Aged Care Insite, the
lack of attention given to these issues
during the 2016 federal election campaign
was surprising. The failure of both
politicians and media to pay attention to
issues concerning carers is deserving of an
even greater outrage. The lack of attention
is all the more surprising given the
developments in the field. Perhaps we can
use this humble column to go some of the
way to drawing attention to the problem.
First, a gentle celebration. It is now
40 years since the first report on carers was
published in Australia. Titled Dedication, the
report was produced by Clare Stephenson
for the NSW Council on the Ageing. It was
a simple but powerful piece of research,
based on a write-in survey carried out with
a grant of $5500 provided through the
Australian Committee for the International
Women’s Year. A total of 427 carers
responded, providing written accounts of
their work at home. The report included
many detailed and moving extracts from
the surveys, as well as pages and pages
of statistics on the topic – the first ever
published in Australia and one of the earliest
studies on this topic in the world.
The report led to the establishment of
Carers NSW and later to the establishment
of Carers Australia, and to the recognition
of carers in the Home and Community
Care Act of 1985. This was the first time
anywhere that carers were identified
as a special needs group in legislation.
We also saw the establishment of the
Carer Pension, now called the Carer
Payment – payable to someone unable
to be employed due to the responsibilities
of providing unpaid care to an eligible
recipient. All pioneering back in the 1980s.
But what has happened since?
Leave it to the market? It need hardly be
said that there have been no significant
market-based initiatives of note in this field.
While there have been many communitybased initiatives since then, arguably the
most important part of governmental
response has been the introduction of
the carer recognition acts (CRAs) at state
and national level, commencing with
the West Australian act in 2004. A Carers
Recognition Act (CRA) was passed in South
Australia in 2005, in Queensland in 2008,
in NSW in 2010 and in Victoria in 2012. A
national act was passed in 2010.
Just what has been the impact of
these acts? In NSW, a five-year review is
being held, which includes community
consultations. One of the impressions I
have is that it is difficult, if not impossible,
to monitor the impact of the state’s CRA.
There are no clear reporting requirements
set out in the NSW Carers Charter
established under the act, nor any follow up
on the impact of the act. Although there is
no evidence that there has been a negative
impact, it is not clear that the act has made
a significant difference to practice.
It is also clear that being a carer does not
lead to the same level of legal protection
from discrimination that is provided those
whose gender, age, religion, ethnicity
or disability leads to their exclusion or
intended disadvantage. Giving carers
enforceable rights to recognition under the
act appears to be a logical next step.
As we embrace a market-based system
of care under the Aged Care Roadmap,
who is likely to have to step in when
markets fail? The Carers Gateway is the
new initiative at the federal level that is
supposed to demonstrate great progress.
But will anyone find it? One of the key
problems in the field remains the fact that
many, perhaps most, carers don’t even
identify with the term ‘carer’. Will many
of these use the new gateway, which for
the first time drives a huge categorical
distinction between carers and the people
they care for?
Unpaid family care remains the bulwark
of the Australian system, as it is in most
countries. But there has been precious
little in the way of improvements for carers
in the past 20 years, as the new Carers
Gateway serves to illustrate only too well. ■
Michael Fine is an adjunct professor in
sociology at Macquarie University.
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