TRANSCRIPT
Meredith is a woman who wears many hats.
"So why am I standing here? I'm a carer, I'm a mum, I'm a partner, I'm a daughter, a not-so dependable friend, a colleague, a clinician, a disability and aged care adviser, and a really proud member of the Carers Australia Lived Experience Advisory Group."
The group has been advising the government on how it might better support the more than 2.6 million people across Australia who are unpaid carers.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says their perspective has been crucial.
"We do know of course that carers - particularly those unpaid carers caring for parents, caring for mums and dads, caring for indeed family members right across the board - often don't ask for help. And it's carer advocacy and carer organisations that lift their voices up and ensure that their needs are actually elevated."
Armed with advice from Meredith and other members of the lived experience committee, the Minister has unveiled plans for a new national strategy for carers.
"Our government is now committed to funding a new National Carers Strategy, which will establish a coherent national agenda to address the diversity of challenges faced by carers in looking after others, while looking after themselves. The strategy will focus on employment and financial security of carers, carer wellbeing, supporting young carers, and carers' recognition."
The strategy will provide a framework for coordination of carer policy across a number of Commonwealth portfolios, including aged care, disability, veterans’ affairs and mental health.
Carers Australia CEO Jane Bacot Kilpatrick says they're looking forward to contributing to the strategy.
But she says an initiative for carers announced at last year's Jobs and Skills Summit - and now officially launched to coincide with National Carers Week - will meet more immediate needs.
"Some of what we've heard - thank you Minister - is about planning for the future for carers... So whilst we'd be planning for those more robust, more coordinated frameworks for carers into the future, the Carer Inclusive Workplace Initiative is available today."
Seven out of 10 primary carers are women, while the average age is 54.
Over one-third of primary carers have a disability, which is twice the rate of non-carers.
These are all groups that traditionally have experienced multiple barriers to employment, ranging from simple access to discrimination.
Amanda Rishworth says the government accepts there's a particular need for such a program.
"People of working age who provide unpaid care are less likely to be employed compared to people without caring roles. It's 69 per cent of unpaid carers who have employment, compared to 75 per cent of people who are employed and don't have caring roles."
Ms Kilpatrick says the idea of the initiative is to provide support for workplaces and carers as they confront the issues that stand in the way of finding a job or continuing a career.
"Carers are an overwhelmingly untapped resource in our community, and the Caring Inclusive Workplace Initiative - or as we now affectionately call it, CIWI - is about creating a workplace where carers feel understood, respected, and supported in their dual role as a dedicated worker and a devoted carer. It's a workplace that understands the unique challenges that carers face and is ready to adapt to accommodate them."
Meredith says she is proud to have helped with the development of the initiative.
She says her decision three years ago to step away from full time work might have been different had such a strategy existed then.
"You see, if you have caring responsibilities - whether you're a CEO, whether you're a nurse, a barista, a Minister perhaps - there will be times you just have to leave work, in the middle of a meeting, go offline, sometimes just as you arrive at work, and hopefully not while giving a launch speech. But there are times you are needed and you can't predict or control this... So the Carer Inclusive Workplace Initiative would have assisted me enormously in this period of exploration... It helps people re-imagine what role, leave and attendance flexibility could really look like in an organisation or a team."
