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Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill 2010
Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill
2010
Explanatory Notes
Short Title
The Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill 2010
General Outline
There are many Australian families in which a grandparent or grandparents
are the main carers of co-resident grandchildren.
These grandparents, many of whom have completed their child-rearing
days with their own children, step up to their grandchildren's need for
stability and continuity of care. In doing so, these grandparents may face
depletion of their financial resources due to the financial cost of caring for
their grandchildren; legal issues related to the guardianship of their
grandchildren; parenting issues such as potentially managing challenging
behaviour of their grandchildren, particularly where the children have
experienced trauma in their parental home or in the course of removal from
their parental home; social isolation; and physical, psychological and
emotional health issues.
The Carers (Recognition) Act 2008 (the Act) recognises the valuable
contribution by carers for people with a disability, people who are
chronically ill and people who are frail, and the social and economic
benefit these carers provide to the community. The Act provides for the
interests of carers to be considered in decisions about the provision of
services that impact on the role of carers. The Act also establishes the
Carers Advisory Council and the Queensland Carers Charter. Public
authorities must ensure the authority and its officers and employees have an
awareness and understanding of the Carers Charter and take action to
reflect the principles of the Queensland Carers Charter in providing
services of the authority which affect carers and the persons they care for.
The preamble to the Queensland Carers Charter recognises the important
role that carers play in the lives of people they care for and the significant
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Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill 2010
contribution they make to the social and economic wellbeing of the
community.
However, the Act does not specifically recognise particular groups of
carers, such as grandparents who provide full-time care for their
grandchildren. Given the importance of their familial role, the Bill would
amend the Carers (Recognition) Act 2008 to provide for the recognition of
grandparents who provide full-time care for their grandchildren.
Objective of the Bill
The objective of the Bill is to:
· Legislatively recognise the contribution of grandparents providing
full-time care for their grandchildren to the lives of their
grandchildren;
· Provide a framework for the consideration of the needs and interests
of grandparents providing full-time care for their grandchildren and
the children for whom they care in government policy, planning and
service delivery decisions relevant to their needs and interests;
· To recognise and support grandparents as full-time carers and assure
access to information that supports grandparents in their role as
carers; and
· Align the Act more closely with certain provisions of the Carer
Recognition Bill 2010 recently introduced into the Commonwealth
Parliament.
Reasons for the objectives and how they will be achieved
The reasons for the Bill's objectives are that:
· Grandparents providing full-time care for their grandchildren
undertake a selfless role by providing their grandchildren with
stability and continuity of care;
· Grandparents providing full-time care for their grandchildren are not
specifically recognised by existing legislation;
· There is a lack of information regarding access to supports for
grandparents who provide full-time care for their grandchildren; and
· There is no legislative requirement for public authorities to
particularly consider the needs and interests of grandparents providing
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Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill 2010
full-time care for their grandchildren and the children for whom they
care in policy, planning and service delivery decisions relevant to their
needs and interests.
The objectives of the Bill would be achieved through inclusion of
grandparents providing full-time care for their grandchildren within the
legislative framework of the Act.
Administrative cost to Government of implementation
Implementation of the Bill is unlikely to result in any significant additional
cost to Government.
Consistency with Fundamental Legislative Principles
The Bill would not conflict with fundamental legislative principles.
Consultation
Organisations representing grandparents and seniors and the Queensland
Carers Council were consulted in relation to the Bill.
Notes on Provisions
Clause 1 - This clause provides that the short title of the Bill would be the
Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill 2010.
Clause 2 - This clause provides that the Bill would commence on a date to
be fixed by proclamation.
Clause 3 - This clause provides that the Bill would amend the Carers
(Recognition) Act 2008.
Clause 4 - This clause amends the definition of statutory body in section 4
to align with the definition contained in the Financial Accountability Act
2009, in substitution for the repealed Financial Administration and Audit
Act 1977.
Clause 5 - This clause amends the definition of carer in section 6 to
provide that a grandparent is a carer for his or her grandchild if the child
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Carers (Recognition) Amendment Bill 2010
lives with the grandparent and the grandparent is the primary care-giver
and decision-maker for the child. However, the definition excludes
grandparents where the child's parent or parents remain the primary
care-givers and decision-makers, even though the grandparent cares for the
child while the parent or parents are working or the child, together with the
child's parent or parents, live with the grandparent.
Clause 6 - This clause amends section 9 to align the Carers (Recognition)
Act 2008 with the Carer Recognition Bill 2010 (Commonwealth) by
providing that public authorities must ensure that their human resource
policies are developed taking into consideration the Queensland Carers
Charter.
Clause 7 - This clause amends section 9, which provides for statutory
authorities to report on their compliance obligations under the Carers
(Recognition) Act 2008 in their annual reports, to substitute the Financial
Accountability Act 2009 for the repealed Financial Administration and
Audit Act 1977.
Clause 8 - This clause amends section 14 to increase the membership of
the Queensland Carers Council from 10 members to 12 members, one of
whom must be a grandparent carer and one of whom must be a
representative of grandparent carers.
Clause 9 - This clause amends the preamble to the Queensland Carers
Charter to recognise grandparents who are the carers for their
grandchildren. It also amends the Charter to add 2 new principles specific
to grandparent carers to be renumbered as item 10 and 11 respectively: first
to recognise and support grandparents as full-time carers; and secondly to
assure grandparent carers access to information that supports them in their
role of caring full-time for their grandchildren.
© State of Queensland 2010
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