NMHCCF Submission on the Draft National Carer Strategy

Introduction

The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF) is pleased to provide the following submission to the Department of Social Services (DSS) relating to the Draft National Carer Strategy.

The NMHCCF has chosen to respond to this submission opportunity as Australia’s national voice representing lived and living experience of mental ill-health, and a Disability Representative and Carer Organisation (DRCO) for psychosocial disability in Australia. The NMHCCF believes that the Draft National Carer Strategy needs to be rewritten. It requires:

1. the input of a far wider array of carers, especially mental health carers,
2. taking a rights-based, equity for carers, and whole-of-family approach, and
3. that the following outlined gaps are fully addressed, integrating carers' roles and needs into broader policy frameworks:
   1. rural and remote carers.
   2. carer respite and superannuation.
   3. a lack of funding commitments in, and evaluation of, the draft strategy.
   4. carer inclusion across all government policies.

Synopsis of the Consultation Process to Date

The process to date has been tokenistic, with the information in the draft national carer strategy predominantly coming from three consultation groups and a National Carer Strategy Advisory Committee, which did not include a mental health lived experience carer. Further, the draft strategy is inconcrete, has no teeth, and the onus for finding carer support is predominantly put back onto carers. After all this consultation, the NMHCCF would like to see the ideas and approaches of Lived Experience implemented, with the appropriate recognition of the circumstances and support needs of mental health carers.

Key Recommendation

That the DSS rewrite the draft strategy in its entirety with the input of a far wider array of carers. The new draft strategy needs to take a rights-based, equity for carers, and whole-of-family approach, while addressing the outlined gaps and fully integrating carers' roles and needs into broader policy frameworks.

About the Submission

In this submission, the NMHCCF has provided a synopsis of the public consultation process undertaken by the DSS. The NMHCCF then analyses the recommendations it made in the consultation of developing the draft strategy against the recommendations outlined in the draft national carer strategy. The NMHCCF's analysis is scathing and bleak for both the way the consultation process has been conducted and the "watered down" draft national carer strategy.

In a second consultation with NMHCCF members, the following seven areas were unveiled as key critical components of a national carere strategy that were not included in the DSS's draft:

1. Carer recognition, equity, and human rights.
2. Whole-of-family and community-centred approach.
3. Lived Experience, diversity, and intersectionality.
4. Respite and support.
5. Superannuation and financial security.
6. Funding, evaluation, and accountability.
7. Policy integration and inclusion.

NMHCCF Submission on the Draft National Carer Strategy

NMHCCF Submission on the Draft National Carer Strategy