(16k)Transcript
13 August 2009
Interview with Peter Harrison, 1503 2BS Gold Bathurst
E&OE PROOF ONLY
SUBJECTS: News for Carers, Carers Payment, Carer Supplement.
PETER HARRISON: Chris good afternoon
CHRIS BOWEN: Good afternoon Peter, very good to talk to you.
HARRISON: A busy afternoon in Canberra or a busy morning in Canberra by the sounds of things.
BOWEN: Yes, they’re all busy to some degree or other when parliaments sitting Peter, that’s what people expect of us.
HARRISON: Now Minister tell us about some of the changes in carers and what we can see from the Federal Government in terms of support for carers.
BOWEN: Well you might recall Peter your listeners’ might recall the changes at the last budget which have come into force and we talk about that in our latest news for Carers Magazine.
One of the things your listeners might be interested in and they may not be getting any carers payments at the moment, is that we have changed the criteria for who can access the carers payment. They were too narrow and too strict and we had a look at that and thought that we should open that up a little bit.
So there’s now a more flexible arrangement to get carers allowance, of course you still need to go through a process to get it but we’ve had a look and we now no longer have a strict medical test but we now have a look at more the impact on the family, on what condition the individual who needs care might have, whether it be a child or an adult. So we changed those criteria, we’ve also had a look at situations where people might be going through a short term condition, they might not need carers payment in the longer run but they might have a condition which means that they need very intensive care for a short time, for at least three months but perhaps not for six months which would get them the permanent payment. So there’s now more flexibility there, so if people think that they might now be eligible for the carers payment if they’ve got a fulltime situation where they are caring for somebody they should certainly call Centrelink because the situation has changed and we have revised the conditions underlying our carer’s payment.
The number for people to ring of course is 13 27 17.
HARRISON: Minister, do you see, I suppose the more flexible criteria and the widening of criteria, is this a sort of recognition I suppose of the financial benefits to the community of having people caring for people in the home rather than perhaps in our hospitals or nursing homes?
BOWEN: Well look it is – carers do play an important role – not only for the people they care for and their families, but it’s also important for society and they also do play a very important role in meaning that people can stay at home which is often better for the individual but of course it also means that that bed in the public institution is free for somebody else – we do recognise that. We expect that because of these changes we’ve made, about another 19,000 carers across the country will get payment so it’s important for those families.
HARRISON: Yes, I think it makes a big difference to people on the ground for someone caring for their family and indeed at their home, what are some of the other news items that are coming for carers?
BOWEN: We have also introduced the carers supplement which is the bonus. You might remember this used to be a one-off thing, some years governments would give it, some years they wouldn’t, it just depended on the situation.
We’ve decided to make that a permanent payment so that will be $600 a year for each eligible person in their care. That’s over and above the carers payment and the carer’s allowance, that is a bonus paid now every year or automatically and that will paid in July every year from now on so that’s something people need to be aware of.
HARRISON: Excellent, certainly some good news for carers. Ministers, thanks so much for joining us.
BOWEN: Always a pleasure Peter, anytime.
Ends
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