Following on from the last edition of 'the leaf', the following is the cost to tax payers for
Carers who take on this special role.
A role, that the people they care for, with the treatment of Medicinal Cannabis, can have a
better quality of life, being relieved of pain and suffering…
This is an increase of almost $20 billion on
the $40.9 billion figure that the report found
in 2010 and is almost double the figure from
2005 of $30.5 billion.
The figure was arrived at by estimating the
cost of replacing unpaid care with the cost
of care from the formal sector. That is 1.9
billion hours of unpaid care provided in
2015 by family and friend carers of people
with disability, mental illness, chronic
illness or who are frail aged. The report also
notes that the time spent providing unpaid
care can reduce paid employment prospects
due to the lack of access to paid care and
low awareness of the needs of carers in the
workplace.
$60.3 billion is a difficult number to
visualise but it is about the same as the
combined Aged Pension Payments ($44
billion) and Disability Support Payments
($17 billion) in the 2015-16 Australian
Government Budget. Carers who are
focussed on providing care to family
members or friends often feel isolated and
alone in their caring role. This report
reminds us that the social and economic
contribution of carers in Australia is
significant. The service carers provide is
invaluable and carers deserve greater
recognition in the community and by
Government
More info The Deloitte Access Economics report
was launched by Carers Australia at Parliament
House, Canberra on 19th August 2015
www.ow.ly/ThoFe