Bills

Carers Recognition (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 15 October 2025.)

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:01): I declare that I will be the lead speaker on the Carers Recognition (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025. The Carers Recognition Act has been an important piece of South Australia's legislation since 2005. It acknowledges the exceptional role of unpaid carers in our community, it ensures government agencies are providing services that protect carers and it makes sure that agency staff are aware of carers' needs. Carers need to be consulted when programs and policies are planned.

The act also enforces the Carers Charter, which is a set of guiding principles that must be followed, principles like acknowledging the choice of carers, recognising their critical role in maintaining the fabric of our society and the crucial importance of carers' health and wellbeing.

It is also about ensuring carers have the same rights and choices, giving them the same opportunities as other South Australians. All carers play a vital role in our communities, and they change lives, but the vast majority are informal carers, often going unpaid and unrecognised. The need to ensure all South Australian carers are recognised cannot be overstated.

But at the moment the divide is obvious. There are 245,000 unpaid carers in South Australia, but according to DHS there are only 236,000 carers in our state, so the discrepancy highlights just how important it is to keep the act updated and ensure that it does what it is designed to do.

The act underwent a review in 2023 and it is the first full review since 2011 when a minor review was undertaken. The final report handed down in May 2024 makes a total of 24 recommendations. The commonwealth government also undertook an inquiry into carers' recognition and released the National Carer Strategy 2024-2034. Across both reviews over 2,000 carers were consulted. Both reviews played a part in piecing this bill together, but I am advised that some recommendations in the state review are at odds with the federal review, therefore not accepted by government and left out of this bill. I was not able to get a list of recommendations which were included and which are omitted from the minister's office, so there are important questions that I will be asking in committee just to clarify so that we have a much clearer understanding.

The primary components of the bill broaden and clarify the definition of 'carer', broaden the scope of the act's obligations and reporting requirements, require a review to be undertaken every five years, require all public sector agencies to comply with the act—currently, there are only seven agencies that have to comply—and update the Carers Charter to provide explicit recognition of informal kinship care relationships and other carers who were previously excluded from the legislation.

In general, I am very pleased to see the scope of 'carer recognition' expanded. In the charter there is explicit recognition of informal carers including grandparents, siblings, family friends, Aboriginal collective kinship care, and other family and kinship relationships. Many carers are currently unrecognised by the act including informal kinship carers. Right now it only covers those caring for someone with a recognised disability, a chronic illness or those diagnosed with mental health conditions, leaving out anyone who cares for someone who does not meet these conditions.

However, informal carers will still be excluded from the definition of a carer unless the person they care for meets the requirements of a care relationship. Many informal kinship carers care for children who do not meet these requirements. For example, Grandcarers South Australia's clients care for more than 2,200 children across South Australia. That is just children they know about. There is an estimate of approximately 7,000 children who are in care of informal kinship carers. Without them, these children would otherwise be in state care.

We want to see all of those who dedicate their time and effort be formally recognised for the exceptional role they play in our communities, especially in the vast majority of them who go unpaid.

I am advised that the government excluded the three recommendations from this legislation. I do want to understand just how those recommendations are at odds with the federal review, and we want to ensure that this piece of legislation is meeting the expectations of the review and the recommendation.

I want to put on the record that I thank the minister for her contact, the briefing. As I said, there were still some unanswered questions, which I feel warrants us to go into committee, so I look forward to that stage being presented.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, Minister for Women) (12:07): I am really pleased to rise today to speak in support of the Carers Recognition (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025, and I wholeheartedly thank the Minister for Human Services and her team in her ministerial office and in the department for their work to bring this bill to life and to bring this important piece of legislation to this place.

This is a really important bill which is about South Australia recognising and indicating our support for carers and making us a national leader in doing so. It aligns our carer's recognition framework with the National Carer Strategy, a strategy that helps to improve the lives of those who spend their lives helping others.

Carers and their dedication to the person or people for whom they care and our community must indeed be recognised, celebrated and supported. Carers embody the very best of our human family. Often, in an enduring way, they care for a loved one, offering support, kindness, commitment and strength, and always, unfailingly, love. Carers care for their loved ones in a diversity of circumstances, providing care to a parent, a sibling, a child or grandchild, a longtime friend, a partner or sometimes those who have more recently entered their lives. They often commence and continue their caring journey in circumstances where things can be emotionally, mentally and physically difficult.

I know some remarkable, inspiring carers who, despite their age or their own challenges or sometimes heartbreak at the circumstances their loved one finds themselves in, continue to care in many different ways. I see carers who are there 24 hours a day, providing every aspect of physical and emotional care. I see others who tirelessly advocate for their loved ones, others who take their person to multiple appointments, shop and cook for them, and parents who are alongside their children as they approach periods of debilitating mental or other ill health.

I am continually inspired by the dedication of these remarkable individuals. They give so much of themselves to ensure the person that they love is empowered to live their life and participate in every aspect of community life, is valued and is able to live with dignity and respect and know that they are not alone.

My portfolio as Minister for Child Protection also supports a range of extraordinary carers. Those carers are recognised and supported by the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, an important distinction to make. Carers are at the very heart of the Child and Family Support System and I deeply value their contributions. I very much look forward to their rights being further strengthened as our Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Act 2025 is implemented and as we continue our reform of the system and our deep listening to carers through a range of mechanisms across our state and via our brilliant Carer Council.

There are thousands of carers in my local community, each of whom inspires me and each of whom, as well as providing such excellent care to a loved one, strengthens the fabric of our community through doing so. I love to hear story after story of the difference these carers make providing practical care and love and empowering their loved one to live their life with dignity and in ways that provide them with opportunities to thrive.

Every carer is special. A very special one I mention today is my unbelievably strong mum. As some in this place know, my late younger sister suffered through debilitating mental illness for 33 years of her way-too-short life. For every single one of those 33 years, my mum was her primary carer, throughout the years when she also juggled work and many other commitments, and later throughout the years when she should have finally, after some pretty hard years, had some time to explore whatever pursuits retirement may have offered or simply to have just been able to put her feet up.

Anyone who has a loved one who has long-term psychosocial illness, in this case schizophrenia, knows all that that brings: lengthy periods of intense unwellness and hospitalisations; many sleepless and unpredictable nights; long days of despair; the management of medications; seeing your loved one becoming more socially isolated; and the need for encouragement to eat, to sleep, to hydrate, to shower, to dress, to just continue—the times when your loved one is just so very ill and keeping them with you minute by minute is a journey. The relentless advocacy, the exhaustion, is a journey taken that is fuelled some days by love alone.

As do many other carers—and certainly as did my mum's fierce band of long-term carer friends—somehow, amongst all of that, they continuously think about how systems can be improved for others and above all else see the strength and the beauty of the person they love and empower them in all that they do or choose not to do. In the face of all of this, my mum co-developed the Wellways program for carers of loved ones with mental illness, a brilliant and award-winning program that helped others to navigate systems and to find connection and support.

I say all of this not because I think that our circumstances are more special than anyone else's. I know that way too many people face this really hard journey. It is the caring story that I know best and one that my husband and I, in a much smaller way than my mum, contributed to, particularly in the later years of my sister's life, as she started to spend more time with us in our home, with her room and her place all set up ready for her to live longer term in the hope that we could finally provide just a little bit of respite for my mum.

I tell this story because it is an experience that I know many people can relate to. I say to every one of those people that through this bill and in many other ways we see you, we recognise you, we understand that the journey you traverse can be so very hard, and we applaud and we value you. This important bill seeks to improve support and better acknowledge and empower carer roles by strengthening and modernising the Carers Recognition Act. This will give back to those who give so much for others.

There are approximately 236,000 carers in South Australia, about 13 per cent of our population, often without the recognition they so rightly deserve. Carers provide essential dignity, support and compassion to those who need it most. Through direct consultation with carers, this bill incorporates their voices to reshape the legislation, enhancing reporting requirements and promoting responsiveness, accountability, consistency and transparency. It recognises carers as individuals with aspirations, rights and basic needs that can sometimes be overlooked in their role.

The carer definition aligns with national standards, reflecting contemporary relationships and that unpaid carers now include those supporting people with medical conditions, frailty, substance dependence or mental ill health. It focuses on care relationships, ensures inclusivity without hierarchies, and applies to anyone providing such care, unless excluded and covered by other legislation, as I have mentioned.

The Carers Recognition Act 2005 formally embeds, rightly, the Carers Charter, recognising carers' critical community role in maintaining social fabric, and the importance of their health and wellbeing. The charter specifically acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers, supporting their self-determination and unique kinship, cultural identity and relationships. It further values carers' contributions to finances, education, social standing, careers and wellbeing, with explicit recognition of grandcarers and young carers for their societal impact.

We must provide carers with appropriate, tailored support to sustain them. This bill helps to fulfil that responsibility, demonstrating our government's commitment and gratitude, while affirming carers' vital role in enabling those in need to thrive. Thank you so much, again, to the thousands of carers across our state. We see you and we appreciate you.

I give a special mention to the approximately 2,700 carers based in Reynell. Thank you for what you do and for making our space in the fabric of South Australia such a wonderful place to live, to learn and to play, and for making it a kind and connected place that is there for people. I thank Carers SA and Young Carers SA for their excellent advocacy in helping to shape this bill, and I commend this bill to the house.

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (12:18): I rise to speak in support of the Carers Recognition (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025, a bill that delivers on the government's 2023-24 budget commitment to report on the review of the Carers Recognition Act. Carers are individuals who provide essential care and support to family members, friends and members of our community, often quietly and often without the recognition or resources they deserve. This amendment bill is about modernising and strengthening the Carers Recognition Act. It seeks to improve carers' ability to self-identify, ensuring they are better supported, acknowledged and empowered in their roles.

This bill is the direct result of consultation with carers themselves. Their voices have shaped this legislation. The bill will strengthen the accountability of state government departments and expand reporting requirements under the act to promote greater consistency, transparency and responsiveness across government.

With this legislation, South Australia will become the first jurisdiction in Australia to align its carers recognition framework with the National Carer Strategy—a landmark move that positions our state as a national leader in carer recognition and support. The bill also incorporates recommendations from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs following its inquiry into the recognition of unpaid carers. These recommendations ensure our approach is informed by national evidence and best practice.

Crucially, this bill recognises carers as individuals in their own right: people with wants, needs and aspirations that are often overlooked when they take on the role of caring for others. The updated definition of 'carer' reflects contemporary care relationships and aligns with national standards. It removes the requirement for care to be ongoing and recognises a broader range of unpaid carers: those supporting individuals with medical conditions, mental ill health, frailty or substance dependence. Rather than listing specific carer types, the new definition focuses on the care relationship itself. This ensures inclusivity, avoids hierarchies among carer types and recognises the diversity of care arrangements across our community.

Embedded within the Carers Recognition Act 2005 is the Carers Charter, which serves as a formal acknowledgement of the vital role carers play in our society. While not legally enforceable, the charter articulates the values and principles that underpin carer recognition. It affirms carers' rights to make choices within their caring role, highlights the importance of their own health and wellbeing, and recognises their contribution to maintaining the social fabric of our communities.

Through this amendment bill, specific cohorts such as informal kinship carers, grandcarers and young carers are explicitly acknowledged within the Carers Charter, recognising their unique experiences and contributions. The charter also recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers should be supported in ways that respect their right to self-determination and reflect their unique cultural identity and kinship relationships. Importantly, the charter also recognises the social and economic value of carers, who often provide care at great personal cost to their careers, wellbeing, education, social lives and financial security.

Carers reflect the diversity of our communities, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that they are provided with appropriate, safe and tailored support services that meet their specific and unique needs. I commend the bill to the house.

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (12:22): If we measured a community's strength by the compassion of its carers, South Australia would be off the charts. In every street in my electorate there is someone holding everything together, not because they are paid to but because they care. That is why I rise today to speak in support of the Carers Recognition (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025. The Carers Recognition Act has served us well but our understanding of care has evolved. This bill brings our laws into line with the realities of modern life.

As we have heard today from previous speakers, there are around 236,000 carers in South Australia—13 per cent of our population. That means that in every street, every workplace and every school community there are people quietly performing acts of love and service every single day. They are the adult children supporting ageing parents, the parents of children with disability, the partners caring for their loved ones after an accident or a diagnosis, the neighbour who steps up when someone falls ill, and grandparents raising grandchildren.

In my own electorate of Davenport I have met many of these people. They do not seek attention; in fact, most of them do not even think of themselves as carers. They simply do what needs to be done for someone they love. A few weeks ago at a local coffee catch-up in Happy Valley I spoke with a woman who has spent the past decade caring for her husband after a stroke. She told me that her biggest challenge is not the medical side of things, it is the paperwork, the phone calls and the endless coordination between agencies that do not talk to each other. She said she sometimes feels invisible. This bill helps to change that.

It modernises the Carers Recognition Act to make sure carers are seen, heard and supported across every part of government. It strengthens accountability and reporting requirements, ensuring that when policies are designed or services are delivered carers are not an afterthought, because carers should not have to fight to be recognised. Their contribution should be embedded in the way that we do things.

This bill also updates the definition of carer to better reflect the world that we live in today. It removes the outdated requirement of care to be ongoing, recognising that carers' roles can be temporary, fluctuating or come and go depending on the situation. It expands recognition to people providing unpaid care to someone with mental ill health, frailty, substance dependency or chronic illness, reflecting the diversity of caring experiences across South Australia. In practical terms, that means that carers supporting someone through recovery from addiction or mental illness will finally be recognised under the act. That is an important and compassionate change.

Crucially, this bill has been shaped through consultation with carers themselves through lived experience. Organisations like Carers SA, Carers and Disability Link and community networks across our suburbs and regions all contributed to this review. Their feedback made clear that carers want to be able to self-identify early and access supports before they reach the crisis point. This bill delivers that. It creates a stronger framework for recognition and coordination across government and makes South Australia the first state in the nation to align its carers recognition laws with the National Carer Strategy, and that is something that we can be really proud of.

At the heart of the act is the Carers Charter, a statement of values that sets out how carers should be treated and supported. While it is not legally enforceable, the charter carries immense symbolic and practical importance. It acknowledges that carers have the right to make choices about their caring role, that their own health and wellbeing matters and that they play a vital part in the social fabric of our communities.

This bill strengthens the charter by explicitly recognising groups whose experiences have sometimes been overlooked: young carers, grand carers and informal kinship carers. I have met grandparents in Flagstaff Hill and Aberfoyle Park who are raising grandchildren full time. In fact, one is raising nine grandchildren on her own. They are doing the school runs, they help with homework and they are attending the parent-teacher interviews, often while managing their own health challenges. Their love is boundless, but they need recognition and practical support too.

The updated charter ensures that these families are visible in our laws. It also recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers, ensuring they are supported in ways that respect their right to self-determination and their unique cultural and kinship connections. That is an essential inclusion, one that honours the deep intergenerational caregiving traditions in Aboriginal communities.

Carers are not just a pillar of our community, they are an essential part of our economy. Nationally, the unpaid care provided by family and friends is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars each year. Without it, our health and social systems would simply not function. However, we also know that carers often pay a personal price: many give up paid work or reduce their hours, they face social isolation, interrupted education and financial strain. One local carer told me that she had had to leave her job because she could not find flexible work hours to fit around her son's therapy schedule. She said, 'I love my boy, but sometimes I just wish someone would see me too.' This bill is about doing exactly that, seeing carers as people in their own right, with ambitions, needs and hopes beyond their caring role.

This legislation also follows the recommendations of the House of Representatives inquiry into the recognition of unpaid carers, ensuring our reforms reflect national best practice. It strengthens transparency, requiring departments to publicly report on how they are implementing the Carers Charter. That means we can track progress, share good practice and ensure no agency falls behind when recognising carer needs. It ensures that carers' voices are heard consistently, whether they are engaging with health, education, transport or housing services, because being a carer should not mean that you have to start from scratch every time you deal with a new department. Our system should work together, not make life harder.

In Davenport, I have seen how community plays a vital role in supporting carers. Our neighbourhood houses, church groups and community centres all provide small but meaningful acts of respite: a coffee morning, a shared meal, a listening ear. All of those moments matter. This bill reinforces that same ethos—that caring is everyone's responsibility and that government should reflect the compassion and connectedness that already exist in our local communities.

Ultimately this bill is not just a technical update on an old piece of legislation. It is a statement of respect, recognition and commitment: respect for the countless hours of unpaid labour that sustain families and communities, recognition of the diversity of carers and the challenges they face and commitment to making sure that our systems, our policies and our services reflect their realities. As a state we pride ourselves on being compassionate and community minded. This bill will live up to that. It says to every carer, whether you are 14 or 84 and whether you are caring for a partner, a parent, a friend or a neighbour, 'We see you, we value you and you matter.'

To all the carers in my community, the quiet heroes in our suburbs, thank you. Your contribution is immeasurable, but today this parliament recognises it. Good governments listen, and this bill is the direct result of listening to the thousands of carers who asked to be seen, heard and supported. I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services, Minister for Seniors and Ageing Well) (12:30): The contributions by the members for Chaffey, Reynell, Gibson and Davenport are appreciated, and of course all of those remarks go on record in perpetuity, and I am really proud to be part of that. I also commend the bill.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

In committee.

Clauses 1 and 2 passed.

Clause 3.

Mr WHETSTONE: I refer to clause 3, which amends section 3—Objects.

Recommendation 1 of the review was to update the objects of the act:

(a) to increase recognition and awareness of carers and to acknowledge the vital contribution that carers make to the community; and

(b) to support carers in their role in the community…

Recommendation 1(b) is included in the charter, but 1(a) is not. Is there a reason this recommendation has not been added to the objects of the act?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: The recommendations were to deliver on support, recognition and public sector accountability, and we combined the two sections of support and recognition so that support was not left separately.

Mr WHETSTONE: Was recommendation 1(a) included at all? Where does it appear in the bill, or is that because it was amalgamated? That was a question and an answer, I think.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: It is there but it is all combined, as per my previous answer.

Clause passed.

Clause 4.

Mr WHETSTONE: I refer to clause 4(6). Minister, why was the definition of 'spouse' removed?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: This was to reduce confusion because there were people interpreting it as that they were excluded, and they are not. It was to reduce confusion that had been fed back to the people who were doing the review.

Mr WHETSTONE: What confusion is there with the definition of 'spouse'? Is it because there are so many definitions of 'spouse': legal spouse, commitment spouse, de facto spouse?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: It read previously that a spouse was not a carer if they were merely a spouse, so now a spouse can specifically be. Like many of the other areas within regarding definitions, to point out some things can raise attention and make people feel that others are excluded by default, so we are trying to avoid people thinking they are actually excluded and make sure they know that people can be included rather than excluded.

Clause passed.

Clause 5.

Mr WHETSTONE: I refer to clause 5(2)(b). Is this change to address recommendation 2(4)(a), which says children and young people who are primary informal kinship carers should be included as a category?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: It is not directly in response to the recommendation, but throughout the delivery, as we have discussed together, on this piece of legislation—one of the reasons why it did take some time for us to come was that we wanted to read the federal government's final definitions and their charter and make sure that there was not confusion. So there has been some broadening of that, but it is not directly in response to that. There was a piece of work that has brought together all of those things, and this brings us in line with the commonwealth.

Clause passed.

Clause 6 passed.

Clause 7.

Mr WHETSTONE: At clause 7(2), this amendment meets recommendation 12(a) of the review but does not fulfil recommendations 12(b) and 12(c), which are to require each public sector agency to report on the actions it is taking to support the wellbeing of its employees who are carers and to report on how the agency's employees are being trained and educated to recognise and support carers. Are these recommendations included elsewhere? If not, can you give me an understanding why?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: That level of detail and commentary is really granular and would be included in the reporting and the guidelines, rather than actually in the act itself. We have this bill, which will become an act, and we will have the charter as well that sits with that, and then there will be guidelines that will be developed for the public sector in terms of their obligations and their methods of reporting. Those particular components will be captured within that.

Clause passed.

Clauses 8 and 9 passed.

Schedule 1.

Mr WHETSTONE: Minister, we have had this conversation. Which recommendations from the review did the government accept in full, which recommendations were accepted in part and which recommendations were excluded?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: I have a report that talks to 14 recommendations being fully incorporated, six partially incorporated and three not included. One of the recommendations was referred through to another department for consideration, that being the Health and Community Services Complaints Act as a capture for that. Recommendations in general that have not been supported either did not align with the subsequent commonwealth inquiry findings, or further consultation on the amendments did not support them.

Those that were not supported were to add to the definitions a criterion of 'frailty due to age or other condition', because 'other condition' lacks clarity and would be captured by 'has a medical condition' that is already included; to include a definition of 'personal care', which was not supported by further consultation that supported a broad definition and noted conflicting views of what constitutes personal care by different cultural groups, and being a multicultural society that has been respected; and to change the wording around 'spouse' and 'domestic partner' in section 5, as we discussed—this explanatory subsection was removed as it caused confusion for stakeholders, who took it to be an exclusionary clause.

The partially supported ones, which we have also discussed, include amending the objects to also include 'support carers and their role in the community'—as we said, this act relates to recognition, and that may cause confusion. Also partially supported was to add a criterion for a child or young person if the person providing care is a primary, informal or kinship carer. The reason behind this is that informal and kinship carers have been explicitly included in clause 9 of the revised charter, noting that this recommendation also did not align with the commonwealth inquiry findings, which happened after the state review, and was not supported by further consultation.

Also partially supported was to ensure that when a care recipient moves to a residential facility, the person who has been providing all that care and support in the community continues to be recognised, so we have also inserted that into the Carers Charter in clause 10. There was also the charter giving greater emphasis to special needs of children and young people who are carers in relation to additional support, timeout and guidance, so a broader clause around the needs of young carers has been included in the charter at clause 8.

In relation to the recommendation to add a separate principle recognising carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, we have respected culture and the needs of that community, which is now reflected across multiple clauses in the charter: clauses 1, 4 and 11.

The final one refers to the fact that the specific needs of ageing carers with disability should be recognised. I spoke a little bit to that before about the care we are taking to not identify certain groups so that it generates a discussion about exclusion of other groups. Rather than a separate clause for each different cohort, on a broader clause it speaks to individual needs, which has been included as clause (12).

Mr WHETSTONE: Just to get a little bit more clarity on that, the charter used to read:

(1) Carers should have the same rights, choices and opportunities as other South Australians.

Is there a reason this has not been included in the new charter?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: I am not sure if the member has the charter, schedule 1, in front of him at this point but, if you were to line the two up, the previous charter has seven points. The new charter has 11 points and has a much expanded volume of references in it for guidelines for people to follow. Our judgement and that of other people that we have talked with is that that is actually a more inclusive and catch-all way of discussing the Carers Recognition Act and providing guidance to those who are following it.

Mr WHETSTONE: Similarly, the charter used to read:

(2) Carers should be supported by individuals, families, businesses and community organisations, public institutions and all levels of government in the choices they make in their caring role.

Is there a reason that this wasn't included?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: The best way to respond is to refer the member to the way of not being too specific in identifying certain groups, which can create a sense of exclusion for others. It is very important that all people who are providing care to someone, per the defined parameters, is part of that included group. We feel that that happens now through many of the changes throughout the act that we have discussed, but also through the charter.

It is often difficult when you have someone come into your electorate office, and they are looking for support, and they say, 'Yes, but it says this in the federal government, and it says this in the state government.' So as much as we possibly could we tried to line them up and work in a way that tries to minimise that confusion and ensure that people get the best possible support that they can throughout their journey.

Mr WHETSTONE: Thank you. Recommendation 15 calls for greater emphasis to be given to the special needs of children and young people who are carers, including in relation to additional support, time and guidance. The former charter recognised that: 'All children and young people have the right to enjoy life and reach their full potential.' Why is this new amendment seemingly weaker?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: It is good to put that on the record, so I appreciate the question. I refer the member to clauses (8) and (9) under the charter, which state:

(8) The specific needs of young carers (aged 25 and under) should be recognised, supported and acted on so that they have the support and opportunities needed to reach their full potential.

(9) The unique and complex roles of informal carers, which may include grandparents, siblings, family, friends, Aboriginal collective kinship care and other family and kinship relationships, should be recognised and supported irrespective of any ambiguities around guardianship and legal status.

So this is about catching all carers and ensuring everybody has a right to that support. Again, I refer back to all the other previous answers in terms of singling groups out.

Mr WHETSTONE: Finally, recommendation 16 of the review is to update the Carers Charter to include that young people and children who are carers are entitled to participate fully in education and training and are supported to do this. Does this clause fully meet that recommendation? I guess the question is: where is the recommendation fulfilled?

The Hon. N.F. COOK: There has been a bit of work that has been done over recent years as well to work with young carers across a number of our departments. We have a lot of young carers in our community who should be and are recognised for the excellent work they do holding families and communities together.

There has been work done in the education department to ensure that young people can identify safely as a carer and have a level of understanding and comfort displayed when they are unable to fulfil some of the obligations that are required by structures which are black and white. When you are a carer there are unanticipated responses and reactions that might be required and that does not allow for young people to do something in those black-and-white boundaries.

The Department of Human Services has acknowledged this by targeting and supporting and funding a program of around $800,000 a year, which specifically relates to the support of young carers. So, in terms of the words, all of these priorities are being delivered on and focused on, and under clauses 8 and 9 in the charter are the words 'reaching full potential'. That is, in our view, the statement we are being led by in order to be able to ensure that young people do get what is needed to reach their full potential.

Schedule passed.

Long title passed.

Bill reported without amendment.

Third Reading

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services, Minister for Seniors and Ageing Well) (12:53): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.