Page 3474 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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mental health needs. But as we know, love can have its limits. Indeed, in December 2010 the Standing Committee on Health, Community and Social Services released its report Love has its limits, after looking into respite care services in the ACT. This was a major piece of work that really brought to the forefront the issues for the Assembly and the community, and I think it still holds value in the conversations we are having today.
Young carers in particular sometimes have trouble articulating the role that they play in their family when care needs are present. While it is estimated that more than 300,000 of Australia’s carers are young carers, with 150,000 under 18, we also know that that number is probably much higher. For a young person, caring for a family member can bring responsibility earlier than perhaps it should. It can impose on time that other children would spend hanging out with friends or doing homework or playing sport. It can also impact on their own wellbeing and their own health, especially if it leads to a lack of sleep and exercise and perhaps sacrificing proper meals.
I think it is very important to reflect on that particular pressure that can be placed on young people. However, they do assume a responsibility perhaps beyond their years. Again, they do it because it is the right thing to do, they do it out of love—all of those points that I was talking about earlier. A younger person in the role of carer may also be carrying responsibility for looking after themselves in a way that other young people would not. So we see that double effect there. And while many young people may grow and strengthen from this experience and learn new skills, it is not something that we would necessarily wish upon them over the longer term.
But perhaps more importantly, it is an experience that young people need supporting through so that caring can be a positive experience and that they do grow and strengthen from it rather than simply become a burden from it or perhaps being asked to take up responsibility ahead of their years. Of course, it is something that many would never want to stop doing but we need to make sure that it is not a burden that is beyond their young shoulders to carry.
Some carers are in a position where they need to support family or friends with long-term chronic conditions and sometimes it can be a temporary situation. However, these temporary situations can spin into long periods, putting people’s lives into turmoil, and often these people are not in a position to be able to organise government or community sector support.
Certainly here in Canberra we are well supported with a high rate of volunteering and we are lucky to have a strong community sector that can support our carers, and a government that, in turn, supports these groups. We have many government and non-government support agencies that offer practical, financial and emotional support, be that respite care, holiday outings or medical assistance and advocacy. Certainly I have been to events organised by—and I have been engaged by or lobbied by—some of those carer organisations who have done a very good job of representing the issues that carers face and it has given me a much greater insight into some of the challenges and responsibilities that carers do carry.
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