Aged Care Minister denies he said COVID-19 aged care workforce retention bonus would be tax-free
He was backed by the Health Minister Greg Hunt – see this story
Senator Richard Colbeck says the Government never promised the $235 million payments to direct care workers in residential care and home care would not be taxed – despite Labor pointing out that the wording of Minister Colbeck’s press release said just that during a heated Question Time in parliament on Monday. Asked by Labor Senator Jess Walsh, who was previously the Victorian state secretary of the United Voice trade union, if the Minister stood by his statement that the bonus would “mean a payment of up to $800 after tax per quarter – paid for two quarters – for direct care workers”, Minister Colbeck said:
“We didn’t say that the bonuses would be tax free, because they’re not, and that’s not how these sorts of income bonuses work.” “We said ‘up to $800’ – and ‘up to $600’ – each quarter. Sixteen hundred dollars additional income to workers in residential aged care is a significant amount of money.” “We never said at any point in time that these support bonuses would be tax free. That was never said.” “We are quite proud of the fact that we continue to support residential aged-care workers and home-care workers as a part of our response to the COVID-19 process,” he added.
Minister Colbeck would not disclose however when the decision was made to tax the payments, saying simply it was a “decision of government”. He was backed by the Health Minister Greg Hunt – see this story.
