We understand current and emerging issues in the care sector, and we work with government, other peak bodies, service providers and private organisations to address these challenges. We make recommendations to improve the lives of carers and the community sector more broadly.
Carers Victoria played a pivotal consultancy role in the development of the Victorian Carer Strategy 2018–22 which addresses the unique and specific needs of carers across areas such as employment, health, education and financial disadvantage. Read more here.
Our policy documents are available to download on this page. Please share them to help deepen community understanding of carers and promote the needs to caring families.
We commend the government’s commitment to the Plan as an important step towards addressing abuse and mistreatment of older people, and have identified a range of areas in which we believe the current draft could be enhanced. In summary, we recommend that:
Our 2025 Victorian Budget Submission is just one piece of a broader suite of advocacy that Carers Victoria currently working on to improve supports for carers as we head towards an upcoming Victorian state election in 2026.
Carers Victoria’s Submission focused on the issues that carers have told us are most pressing.
In a tight fiscal environment, our submission this year proposes solutions that would make a significant difference to the lives of Victoria’s unpaid carers now, while also laying the foundations for services that will help meet their future needs.
We have recommended three initiatives to the government for investment in 2025-26:
Carers Victoria has also advocated for carers to be included in any cost-of-living relief packages or concessions the government might be considering.
Download the Victorian state-budget-2024.
Download the 2024-25 State Budget Submission here.
Carers Victoria’s 2023-24 Pre-Budget Submission highlights a range of opportunities for the Victorian Government to enhance the recognition of and support for Victoria’s carers.
With the new Victorian Carer Strategy on the horizon, the Submission highlights Government’s fundamental opportunity to reshape the system, guide investment, and prioritise the services that most benefit carers. It has been shaped by feedback from carers themselves. Simpler, flexible services for carers, cost of living relief, improved mental health and wellbeing services and support for carers in crisis are some of the key asks.
With the carer population growing rapidly and forecast to exceed 1 million Victorians by 2026, action is needed now to start growing and adapting supports to meet that changing landscape. commencing expansion of Victorian Government funded supports for carers is essential to meet growing need.
View the 2023-24 Pre Budget Submission here..
Carers Victoria has made a submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Inquiry into the recognition of unpaid carers. This submission, focussed on the Victorian context and outlines opportunities to enhance current national arrangements, drawing upon existing examples both in Victoria and beyond. These include:
Please read the submission for further detail.
Carers Victoria has made a submission to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Review (the Review). The Review offers an important opportunity to tackle some of the main limitations of the Scheme identified by carers. The submission shares a set of carer perspectives on the current Scheme, and sets out some opportunities to enhance current arrangements by:
The Review also offers an opportunity to enhance the overall design and operation of the Scheme into the future, by recognising and embedding the often unique perspectives and expertise that those in caring roles have developed through their interactions with both the Scheme and its interface with mainstream services. Incorporating carer perspectives into design and review activities has the potential to enhance overall system effectiveness by highlighting opportunities for improvement - without compromising individual participant choice and control.
Download the submission - Carers Victoria NDIS Review Submission 2023.
We welcome that the Bill recognises the role of carers, with clause m of the Inclusion Principles stating that “relationships between people with disability and their families, carers and other significant people are a crucial part of the lives of people with disability and should be preserved”.
However, Carers Victoria is keen to see genuine inclusion and representation of carers through legislation and/or supporting regulations, allowing their insights and expertise to help inform and shape the plans which impact their lives.
Carers make a critical contribution not just to the lives and families of the people they care for, but to our broader community. It is estimated that the economic cost of the support provided by Victoria’s carers is equivalent to over $19 billion every year.
Many carers have told us that their caring role is complex, time consuming, and it’s often confusing to navigate through systems to access and secure what they, and the person they are caring for, need. Carers talk about the negative impact that caring can have on their own health and wellbeing, and the challenges of securing and sustaining employment or engaging in study.
Our 2022 policy platform, “Care for Victorians”, sets out priority actions across five key pillars to start building towards a future where carers are healthy and care relationships are sustainable.
Together with The National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), Seniors Rights Victoria, Multicultural Centre for Women's Health (MCWH), Carers Victoria has submitted a response to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Support Needs for Older Victorians from Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds.
In light of a very broad Terms of Reference, the organisations collaborated to highlight significant issues around unrecognised care roles, elder abuse, barriers to digital services, disparities in access to health and aged care services, and lack of consistent data indicators around migration and ethnicity.
Our submission calls for better recognition and support of carers – both older carers and carers looking after older people, improving data quality, and addressing the disparities older Victorians from migrant and refugee backgrounds face in accessing health, dental care, aged care, and legal services relevant to elder abuse and family violence.
Carers Victoria's submission to the Review of the Disability Act 2006 recognises that the disability ‘landscape’ has gone through significant changes over recent years with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, changes to quality and safeguarding frameworks and an increasing and welcome emphasis on recognising and empowering Victorians living with disability.
What has, however, remained constant is the central role of unpaid carers in supporting Victorians living with disability.
This review offers an outstanding opportunity to recognise that role and better integrate it into the future Victorian disability ecosystem. Just like Victorians with disabilities, this group of carers are diverse, but they report common issues.
In reviewing the Disability Act and setting the new frame for Victoria into the future there is a unique opportunity to address some of these and build a future in which carers are better enabled to support Victorians living with disability to live their best lives.
Carers Victoria made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Victorian Government's Response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The submission was made in light of the Andrews Government's repair and recovery budget and highlighted our concerns the Government had not specifically addressed the immediate needs of carers which emerged during the pandemic and those which will be with Victorians long after 2020 is a distant memory.
Carers Victoria believes the Government’s pandemic response could have been better informed by viewing all carers as important stakeholders in their own right – not just as supports to people with care needs, building into the design of policies an analysis of the impact of policies on carers and people in care relationships, and including mitigation strategies to support all people in care relationships with complex needs as well as establishing direct feedback mechanisms to ensure adjustments can be made to better reflect carers’ needs.
We were pleased to see the Discussion Paper already acknowledging that young carers are a key part of Victoria’s young people. Our submission seeks to build on this recognition whilst recognising the diversity that exists amongst young carers.
Our submission makes the following recommendations:
The Australian Government recently made public the Final Report from the Productivity Commission’s (the Commission) Inquiry into Mental Health.
The Commission has demonstrated that it recognises the enormous contributions made by carers across Australia as well as the many challenges carers experience. Carers Victoria was encouraged to see the Commission reference our submission to the Inquiry and other publications throughout.
The NDIA is undertaking a review of the current support coordination service model.
Carers Victoria's submission recommends that the NDIA significantly reforms its provision of support coordination by recognising it as a reasonable and necessary support for carers. Doing so will build fairness and equity into the Scheme for carers.
Carers Victoria is proud to make this contribution to the Victorian Whole of Government LGBTIQ Strategy (the Strategy). For many years, Carers Victoria has worked to ensure that our carer services are LGBTIQ inclusive and that LGBTIQ carers feel supported in the community. This has recently been recognised through Rainbow Tick accreditation.
The limited research that is available suggests that LGBTIQ people are more likely to be carers than non LGBTIQ people. In a national survey of the health and wellbeing of 3,800 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Australians, more than one quarter of respondents identified as carers. Previous Carers Victoria research into the challenges LGBTIQ carers face compared to non-LGBTIQ carers suggests they are more likely to experience high rates of discrimination and victimisation, less likely to access any form of service and must manage heteronormative assumptions about their lives. This can result in LGBTIQ carers seeking support late and through crisis.
LGBTIQ carers may not have family who can support them, so they rely on other community members, friends, or partners to provide informal respite.
This submission contains detailed recommendations from research and consultations Carers Victoria has had with carers from LGBTIQ communities.
Carers Victoria strongly supports the establishment of an aged care worker registration scheme which is robust and prioritises the safety and dignity of older people as recipients of aged care services, their carer(s) and other family members.
Aged care worker registration is an important mechanism in addressing inadequate training and the significant level of harm which occurs every day against older people in their homes and residential aged care settings, their families and carers. Carers Victoria expects worker registration to be one mechanism in a broader strategy to increase quality and safety in the delivery of aged care services.
Introducing an Aged Care Worker Registration Scheme will be essential in sustaining Victoria’s over 700,000 family and friend carers. The Scheme will engender trust in workers who support older people with care needs. With a well-regulated sector and increased professionalism of the workforce, the community can avoid crisis-driven services for carers and instead provide early-intervention assistance.
It is very challenging for carers to balance their caring responsibilities with work and study. To succeed in their studies, carers require educational institutions to have a greater understanding of their experiences resulting in increased support and flexibility. Carers Victoria has chosen to focus its submission around the questions posed in the ‘Lifelong Learning’ section of the Issues Paper.
Carers Victoria submitted a response to the Office of Disability’s Consultation Paper regarding the next State Disability Plan for Victoria. As legislated in the Disability Act (2006), the Victorian Government is required to develop a plan to increase the inclusion of people with disability in a variety of domains. Carers Victoria’s main recommendation was the Plan be complementary to the Victorian Carer Strategy 2018-22. Other recommendations included better recognition of carers with disabilities, promotion of the Guardianship and Administration Act (2020) and leadership about the Government’s submissions to the Disability Royal Commission as a funder and provider of services and a broad understanding of how it intends to respond to the Commission’s recommendations.
The Legal and Social Issues Committee of Victorian Parliament held an inquiry into homelessness to look at the changing scale and nature of homelessness across Victoria; the many social, economic and policy factors that impact on homelessness; and the policies and practices from all levels of government that have a bearing on delivering services to people experiencing or at risk of homeless.
Carers Victoria’s provided the Committee with an in-depth description of the economic disadvantage many carers experience, especially older female carers and made recommendations aimed at increasing the availability of housing to rent or buy to carers on low incomes. The submission also made recommendations about increasing support for families of children with disability, adults living with ageing parents and people living with mental illness.
The recently established Disability Worker Registration Board of Victoria together with DHHS consulted on proposed registration standards and regulations due to come into effect 1 July 2020. Carers Victoria supports the establishment of Disability Worker Registration which was a recommendation of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Abuse in Disability Services (2015). Carers Victoria argued registration is an important mechanism to address the significant level of abuse, exploitation and violence which occurs every day against people with disability, their families and carers. The submission argued the proposed registration standards were unlikely to provide confidence to clients that Registrants will have minimum qualifications, be required to demonstrate or develop expertise in specific areas of practice or undergo adequate professional development to maintain their skills. While the proposed regulations will be implemented from 1 July 2020, the Government decided to postpone the introduction of registration standards until July 2021, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Carers Victoria hopes delay will enable the Board to develop more robust registration standards which put the safety of people with disability, families and carers first.
This national inquiry commenced in November 2018 with the purpose of understanding the effect of mental health on people’s ability to participate in and prosper in the community and workplace, and the effects it has more generally on our economy and productivity.
Carers Victoria has been working to ensure that the Productivity Commission (the Commission) understand the needs of carers, in terms of their role as a carer, but also relating to carers’ own health and wellbeing.
In December 2019, the Commission published its Draft Report. Carers Victoria has just submitted its response.
The response focuses on carers in mental health settings, at schools, in workplaces and the financial impacts of providing informal or unpaid care. Carers Victoria recommends the Commission further considers the needs of carers from diverse communities; issues relating to psychosocial disability and the NDIS; and issues of affiliate stigma experienced by many carers, especially mental health carers.
The Commission will provide a final report to the Australian Government on 23 May 2020.
For further information and to subscribe for updates see the Commission’s website.
Carers Victoria welcomes the Committee’s Inquiry into Expanding the Free Tram Zone.
Carers Victoria supports point one in the Terms of Reference of this Inquiry. Expanding the Free Tram Zone to cover the routes listed will ease the transport expenses of carers required to attend hospital for their own health care and/or for the person they are caring for.
The submission recommends additional actions which would make public transport travel more accessible for carers and people receiving care.
Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria is the new regulator of the commercial passenger vehicle industry which includes unbooked rank and hail taxi services and booked services (taxis, hire cars and rideshare vehicles). Carers Victoria recommended commercial passenger vehicle drivers in Victoria undertake disability awareness training and the Regulator:
Determine if it is appropriate driver’s obtain insurance for damage to passenger goods,
Regularly assess the viability of the WAV market and adjust payments as required, and
Appoint an economist skilled in thin markets to report on optimising the WAV market.
The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act is one of the most significant reform undertaken in the State’s history. It is intended to better support rental providers and renters to enter into mutually beneficial rental agreements and facilitate a fairer balance between their rights and responsibilities than current arrangements do. Carers Victoria endorsed many aspects of the proposed Regulations, such as the inclusion of information statements on unlawful discrimination in application forms – this applies to carers and people they care for. Other recommendations Carers Victoria made to better protect people who provide unpaid care to family members and friends include:
Carers Victoria has chosen to focus its submission on the mental health and wellbeing of Victoria’s 736,600 unpaid family and friend carers.
One in eight Victorians is an unpaid family or friend carer. It is critical the Royal Commission recommendations include measures and resources to improve the mental health of Victorian carers.
Carers Victoria made a submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria.
Carers needs are being represented in the regulation of the dynamic taxi, ride share and hire car industry.
The NDIS has used the private sector to provide services to people with a disability. Thin Markets occur where demand and supply do not deliver a good deal. Carers Victoria discussed how carers and the people they care for can be better off when they exist in a Thin Market e.g. living in isolated area.
Carers Victoria welcomes the opportunity to contribute the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Mental Health. Carers Victoria has chosen to respond to a selection of the questions raised in the Issues Paper.
