Working carers group urges local government lobbying before elections
A working carers newsletter has urged carers to lobby local government candidates to support and extend council activities, to back up carers and their families.
“Saturday the 13th is local council elections across Australia. This is a great opportunity to look into how your local council supports carers,” the newsletter, dated 2 September, states.
The editor writes that “In the past year, I have had many conversations with council staff whose job it is to support carers in their community.
“But given the diversity of councils across the country, I have found that they are all very different in their aims and responsibilities. Unfortunately my local council does not have a dedicated Community Services Worker to help carers, but those that do, soon realise that they are only scratching the surface when it comes to carers’ needs.”
“I have even had a discussion with one council staff member, who was fighting for her rights as a carer in her workplace. This worker was in the role of carer support for the community, and was also a carer in their family.
“When it came time for this person to seek special consideration for their personal caring role, they were not able to negotiate a compromise with their employer.”
“Despite local councils having very good carer conditions in their workplace documents, and the staff member’s role as carer support worker, this situation got worse untill the staff member had to leave the position and seek a new job that could fit around their caring duties.”
“This is the difficult situation we face in our society as we lose some of our best trained and brightest workers every year.
“Statistics show that one fifth of Australians expect to take on a caring role in the next five years. We need to find a way to keep these skilled workers in our local businesses.
“While every situation is different, acknowledgment of carers in most workplaces across Australia still has as long way to go.”
“With just over a week till the elections, now is the right time to ask council staff and the local candidates how the new council will be looking after the needs of carers in your community.”
