Victorian government announces $50m package for carers

The Victorian government’s $50 million funding package to ease the burden on carers will come into effect in the coming months.

The election promise includes 100,000 additional respite hours and discounts on public transport.

According to Carers Victoria, there are 730,000 unpaid carers across the state.

One in five adult carers have given up paid work, and young carers drop out of school at a faster rate than their peers, leading to lower incomes and chronic health conditions.

Laura Makhoul cares for her son Christian Semertzidis who is living with non-verbal autism. She also works five days a week.

“What would help me would be having some time out, so I can reset and come back in,” she said.

Her other son, 12-year-old Isaiah helps out too, taking charge when their mother is at work.

“I just help him around the house and if he needs something I will try and provide it for him,” Isaiah said.

The package also includes $3.5 million for carers to get half-price public transport, and grants to establish carer support networks will be available for vulnerable groups.

Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers Luke Donnellan said this could include people from the LGBTI community and migrant communities.

“Some of them are doing it really tough, so this announcement today goes a long way to helping improve the lives of those people,” Carers Victoria CEO Scott Walker said.

The opposition criticised the package for focusing too much on carers in metropolitan areas and not providing facilities for those in regional areas.