Appeal for carers' bonus to stay
Posted Sun Mar 9, 2008 4:28pm AEDT

A wheelchair bound elderly woman from Tasmania's north has appealed to the Prime Minister to retain the annual bonus for carers.

Pat Stafford is alarmed by speculation the $1,600 payment will be scrapped in the Rudd Government's first budget.

The 79-year old has motor neurone disease and says the payment's been a godsend.

It helps keep a car on the road and pay the winter heating bills.

Mrs Stafford is cared for by her 80 year old husband.

"If it weren't for him being able to care for me I would either never get out of the house or I would be in an institution," said Mrs Stafford.

Tasmanian Liberal Senator Guy Barnett says the economic value of carers seems to have escaped the Prime Minister.

"They are the unsung heroes in our nation they provide billions of dollars in savings each year," said Senator Barnett.

He says almost 70-thousand carers in Tasmania alone rely on the bonus for quality of life.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday he had no intention of leaving carers in the lurch and that'll be evident on budget night.