Putting discounts in carers’ pockets

Peak carer association, Carers Queensland, has launched a program which combats the rising cost of living and squeeze on household resources for carers.

The CARE Program, a collaborative project with Carers Queensland and the business community, offers some discounts to:

• electricity
• internet
• mobile and home phone
• household and content insurance
• car insurance
• wound care products and mobility equipment, and
• emergency planning and family entertainment.

Members of Carers Queensland will automatically receive these discounts, and Carers Queensland encourages all Queenslanders to consider joining Carers Queensland for $10 to help Carers Queensland support the state’s carers.  

There are 494,200 carers in Queensland providing unpaid care and support to family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness or who are frail aged.

Unpaid carers represent a unique and largely unacknowledged economic resource. Access Economics has estimated that, in the absence of unpaid carers, $8.3 billion in funding would be required to provide equivalent resources for those currently receiving unpaid care in Queensland alone. Nationally this figure is estimated at over $40 billion a year.

“Supporting carers isn’t just the mark of a decent society and doesn’t simply represent another tick on the ‘to‐do’ list for government and the community but it makes good economic sense,” Carers Queensland president, Jim Toohey, says.

Carers Queensland’s second Quality of Life Audit, a benchmark estimate of the quality of life of carers in Queensland, published in October 2012, showed a 10% decrease in carer wellbeing between 2011 and 2012, with 55% of carers surveyed indicating they are dissatisfied with their life and/or circumstances.

About 47% of respondents live in a household where the income is $40,000 or less per year. This is considerably less than the median income in Queensland of between $49,452 and $56,680.

Many carers cannot work, nor achieve an educational qualification, because of their caring role. Mortgage and rent costs, increasing utility costs and food prices, and the affordability of therapeutic interventions are all concerns for carers.

All Queenslanders can support carers by simply becoming a member of Carers Queensland. To join, visit Carers Queensland or call 1800 242 636.