Unpaid carers in the Toowoomba region are being urged to join a group pushing for greater government support.
Spokesman for the Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group George Helon says there are thousands of Toowoomba residents who are not getting a fair deal from the Government.
“We are very eager to reach out to, and connect with the thousands of unpaid Toowoomba carers who may not know about our group and the help and services that are out there,’’ he said.
The Toowoomba-headquartered support group, which was launched in 2019 and now has more than 500 members, says there are more than 17,000 people in the Toowoomba region who provide care services but only 5000 receive any government support.
Mr Helon said even those who received government support were sacrificing their time and money to care for loved ones.
“It is estimated that those caring for family members actually save the government between $77.9 billion and $126.2 billion a year providing informal/primary care across Australia,’’ he said.
“Over the decades no government has faced the reality of the personal sacrifices and price we pay as carers head on – the actual human cost – but they’re happy to have us quietly working away in the background for next to nothing, saving them billions of dollars in unpaid care whilst we suffer physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.
“Carers are an inconvenient truth to governments; among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable living way below the poverty line!”
Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group has also launched a national petition calling on the government to provide a better deal for carers.
The change.org petition, which can be found here, has already been signed by 25,000 people but the organisers are hoping many more will join the campaign.
“Successive federal governments have spruiked that older Australians should be encouraged to live longer at home before moving into nursing homes; easier said than done when carers are not being duly recognised for their efforts and the burdens saddled upon them,’’ said Mr Helon.
“Sweatshops are illegal, slave labour is a crime, yet some carers receive as little as 46 cents an hour to look after an aged, infirm, disabled, or incapacitated person 24/7, 365 days a year.”
“We need to stop the exploitation of carers – now.”
