Media Release by The Hon Larry Anthony MP

Anthony praises Australia’s carers

The Federal Minister for Community Services, Larry Anthony, today praised the hard work of Australia’s 2.3 million carers as part of National Carers Week and has called on the community to support their carers.

“The theme of this year’s Carers Week has been ‘share the care’ which highlights the need for more people in our community to support the important work of our carers,” Mr Anthony said.

Mr Anthony said carers play a vital role in our communities caring for friends and relatives such as children, the frail aged or someone with a chronic illness or a disability.

“Carers do a lot of work to maintain a person’s quality of life which allows them to remain in their home, ” Mr Anthony said.

“National Carers Week reminds us that being a carer is not an easy task and as a community we should be looking at how we can share the care.”

“Over the week Centrelink offices across the country have been promoting the services they provide to help support the important work of carers.”

Centrelink has a number of payments and services that provide support carers:

  • Carer Allowance: a payment of up to $75.60 a fortnight for carers caring for either a child or adult with a disability. It is not means tested.
  • Carer Payment: for carers caring for either a person over 16 with a severe disability or a child under 16 with a profound disability.
  • Centrelink Disability and Carers teams provide specialised and sensitive support and advice for carers.

Mr Anthony said the Bondi Centrelink Customer Service Centre had been awarded a Gold Carers Award from the Carers Association of NSW for excellent service to customers requiring carer information during the week.

“I congratulate Bondi staff for their work in provide a high quality service to carers in the Bondi region,” Mr Anthony said.

Mr Anthony said this reflects what is happening in other parts of the country where Centrelink works closely with State Carers Associations and other government departments to support and raise awareness of the role of carers in our communities.

We should take the theme of National Carers Week, ‘share the care’, and extend that throughout the year,” Mr Anthony said.