In 1979 my mother, Val French, received a grant to survey the needs of rural Australians.

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She found that their greatest need was the same as those in cities: respite for carers, those who care day and night, year after year, for kids with disabilities, invalid partners, or aged relatives, often with no help.

Many were at breaking point. Others had broken, with a tragic suicide/murder as a result.

My mother then founded the Carers Association, which in years to come became national.

But Mum believed the most vital support was still missing: a 24/7 phone service across Australia to give help, referrals advice and sympathy to carers in a crisis.

So Mum headed off to Canberra, for a 20-minute appointment with then-prime minister Bob Hawke.

Mum hadn't finished her spiel in 20 minutes, or at least hadn't convinced the PM that a 24/7 service was vital.

Mum was never easily put off. She smiled: "Don't worry, prime minister. I'll come with you to your meeting. We can talk in the car."

She accompanied Bob Hawke to two meetings and to lunch, assuring him each time he protested that she wasn't in a hurry, and could talk to him in between his other meetings as long as needed.

She didn't quite say that he and his wife might find her an uninvited dinner guest too.

How do you get rid of a 160-centimetre elderly woman who simply will not leave?

I have often wished I could have seen Bob Hawke's increasingly desperate face, as Mum gave statistic after statistic.

Finally even Bob Hawke broke.

Mum had the funding for the 24/7 phone service for carers that would become Carer Gateway.

"He was such a lovely man,'" Mum told me later. "About two o'clock he called his secretary and said 'Val French can have whatever she wants! There's no need for her to even phone me!'"

Mum never did see the humour in that anecdote, a harried PM trying to escape Mum on a mission.

Her family could have told him: nothing stops mother.

That service for carers has been 24/7 ever since, a vital lifeline for families all over Australia - until now.

On Friday, July 17, I received an email claiming that if you rang the advertised Carer Gateway number, there was no one on call except in office hours. That night I rang to see if my informant was correct.

I rang Carer Gateway on Monday, July 20 to inquire why their service was........

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