Carers call for a new climate change – the Canberra declaration
The President of Carers Australia, Mr Ben Chodziesner, has compared climate change to the challenge of providing appropriate support for carers and their families, in launching Carers Australia’s election manifesto ‘If you don’t care, why should we?’
Mr Chodziesner described the complexity of the issues and the extent of the impact made the challenge of supporting carers ‘the climate change of social policy’.
“Climate change has been widely recognised as one of the greatest challenges to our nation’s future because we can all see converging factors leading to a widespread impact if we don’t act now” he said.
“This is also what we face if we delay taking action to support carers. We have a situation where everyone is in agreement that the current strains on unpaid carers are unsustainable. If solutions are not found, the impact will be felt by the entire community and the cost will be enormous.”
“The number of people needing care is growing faster than the number of those able to provide it. At the same time, the share of responsibility is also shifting from institutions to individuals, while the support offered is insufficient or impractical. This situation is not going to go away. It will only intensify if we fail to respond appropriately. The longer we leave it, the more it will cost.”
“We are asking candidates, if you don’t care about the issues that are important to us – why should we care whether you get elected?”
www.ifyoudontcare.com.au.
