It's lovely to say a few words and thank you for coming to Kirribilli House. Welcome to Carers Australia and welcome to the carers of Australia. It is very fitting that here in Carers Week, carers and their representatives should be here and it's fitting that, as your Prime Minister, I should be paying tribute to the work that carers do.
As Mitch has pointed out, there are almost three million carers – they're young, they're old, they're relatives, they're friends, they're neighbours. They are people who give of themselves for others and the point about our life is that at some point almost all of us will either be a carer or need a carer and that's why it's so important that we constantly remind ourselves of the importance of those who care and the importance of those they care for.
Obviously, government has a very important role to help those who care and those they care for and we do that through the provision of a very wide range of services and a very wide range of benefits. What we can't ever do, though, is think that it's enough to say that government is doing its bit, because in the end life is not about what government does, life is about what we do. The life of Australia is not fundamentally determined by its officialdom, the life of Australia is fundamentally determined by its citizenry.
One of the things of our country is the way that our people when they see a problem, when they see an issue, they roll up their sleeves and they do what is necessary to help. Carers quintessentially have done exactly that. They've seen a problem – an issue – with someone they love, someone they know, and they've rolled up their sleeves to help.
It's a tough life being a carer. On the other hand, it must also be an incredibly satisfying life as well – to know that you are doing the right thing by someone you love; to know that you are doing the right thing by people who are important to you should be, amidst all the difficulties and the frustrations, it should be a source of tremendous pride and satisfaction.
I have a happy duty today and that is to confirm that Carers Australia will be the beneficiary of Pollie Pedal 2015 and I also have the happy task of handing over to Ara Creswell a ceremonial cheque to mark the formal conclusion of Pollie Pedal 2014.
I just want to tell one story, and I've probably told it before, so Ara might have already heard it. Government obviously provides some funding to Carers Australia to do various good things and that's as it should be and government money, as you know, comes with all sorts of rigorous accountability requirements. But it's nice to be able to give to Carers Australia some money which doesn't come with strings attached; it just comes from the Pollie Pedal riders and the sponsors of Pollie Pedal to Carers Australia for Carers Australia to deploy in whatever way Carers thinks fit. So, I'm very pleased to be able to hand over this Pollie Pedal cheque to you, Ara.
The story I promised, the first ever Pollie Pedal, the beneficiary was Youth Insearch, a Western Sydney charity that was looking after kids in trouble with the law, with truancy authorities and we were pedalling our little hearts out and we got about half way down from Byron Bay to Sydney. I think by that stage we'd raised about $10,000 and I rang the office of the then prime minister, John Howard, and I said, "Look, you know, myself and a number of other Members of Parliament are raising money for this very good cause. Can we please have a government contribution?" So anyway, the then prime minister chipped in with $50,000. At the end of the Pollie Pedal, Youth Insearch were very grateful. A few months later I said to the guy running Youth Insearch, "How's it all going?" and he said, "That 50,000 bucks from government, can I give it back?" because he said "the paperwork, the accountability, he said it was almost more trouble than it's worth!"
Anyway, he did keep the money in the end and I believe he did many useful things with it, but there is no paperwork associated with this, Ara – it's yours from Pollie Pedal.
Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen.
[ends]