Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck. I refer to the minister who, when announcing the retention bonus for aged-care workers said, 'This will mean a payment of up to $800 after tax per quarter—paid for two quarters—for direct care workers.' Does the minister stand by this statement?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Walsh for the question. Senator Walsh is correct: we have made a specific decision as a government to provide support to residential aged-care workers—and some of those who are working in home-care services—to support them and, as a government, to indicate to them that they are important to us and to the community and we want them to continue to come to work, because, in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, we found that there were some, particularly, residential aged-care workers who said that they did not want to come to work, particularly in the circumstance where there was a COVID outbreak within the residential aged-care facility that they were working in.

One thing that we didn't say is 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 always said, in our statements, 'up to', and it was $600, so $1,200, into home-care services. 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.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Walsh, a supplementary question?

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer to the minister who, when announcing the retention bonus for aged-care workers, said it would provide 'two payments of up to $600 after tax per quarter—for two quarters—for those who provide care in the home'. Does the minister stand by this statement in relation to the payments being after tax?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's good that the senator, in her supplementary question, actually acknowledges what I just said in my response to the first question, where I said we said 'up to $600' and 'up to $800'. As I said in my first answer, we never said at any point in time that it would be tax free, because that is not how income bonuses work. In exactly the same way that JobKeeper is subject to tax, these bonuses are subject to tax. It's good that the senator has acknowledged, in her question, what I said in the answer to her first question, which was that these would be 'up to $800' and 'up to $600'.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Walsh, a final supplementary question?

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the guidelines for the retention bonus were released late on a Friday afternoon, it was revealed payment amounts were switched to being before tax. When and by whom was this decision made? Why, when it comes to the delivery of the retention bonus, has the government again failed to deliver on its spin?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The announcement that we made was consistent with the approach that we're taking to all income bonuses. And so, as I have said and as Senator Walsh indicated in her second question, we always said that these were up to $600 and up to $800 per quarter. The decision that was in the guidelines that were released was a decision of government. In direct response to the question that Senator Walsh has asked, that was a decision of government. We said all along that these bonuses would be up to $600 per quarter and up to $800 per quarter. And I'm quite proud of the fact that this government has chosen to support residential care and home-care workers in their efforts during the COVID-19 outbreak, because we understand the importance of these workers. At the last election, besides promises of a huge tax take, there was no money for workforce retention in the Labor Party's promises. (Time expired)