8 Jul 2019

Govt changes disability care scheme, but problems remain

From Morning Report, 6:46 am on 8 July 2019

The government says it is changing a contentious scheme that pays parents to look after disabled adult children.

It says it will widen the scheme to cover all disabled children and will also pay people to look after disabled spouses.

And the amount they will be paid will rise from the minimum wage to $20 to 25 an hour.

But there's been no promise to tackle the part of the scheme that's drawn the most consistent criticism from caregivers - the assessment process that calculates how many hours each carer is entitled to be paid for.

The Disability Commissioner is Paula Tersoriero. She talks to Corin Dann.