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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 9 Hansard (17 November) . . Page.. 2570 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Salary packaging is a great benefit to employees of the Canberra Hospital and the Calvary Hospital, in particular, because the Australian Taxation Office recognises these public hospitals as public benevolent institutions. Under the relevant Commonwealth legislation, public benevolent institutions are exempt from the payment of fringe benefits tax. Accordingly, most salary packaging arrangements for employees of these hospitals are not subject to taxation, the same as right across Australia. The ACT Public Service guidelines permit employees of the hospitals to package up to 30 per cent of their base salary, except executives, who are limited to 20 per cent. Employees of other agencies may package up to 50 per cent of the base salary, as I understand it.

All State and Territory public hospital systems, with the exception of Tasmania, already have FBT-exempt salary packaging in place for their employees or are intending to introduce salary packaging. Some hospitals interstate allow employees to package in excess of 30 per cent of salary. The Government, however, intends to ensure that the salary packaging arrangements are reasonable and has accepted the view of the Australian Taxation Office that salary packaging for hospital employees of 30 per cent of salary is reasonable.

Salaried medical officers at the Canberra Hospital and Calvary have had access to salary packaging arrangements since 1996. Directors of nursing were granted access through their certified agreements in 1997. It is proposed that other groups of employees will have access to salary packaging through new certified agreements which will be negotiated in the near future. All new certified agreements are required to provide for productivity and efficiency improvements, and salary packaging forms one of the benefits to employees in return for their contribution to the increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the ACT public sector.

Mr Berry, we have an opportunity to improve the working conditions and the effective take-home salary of workers within our health system. Of course I will look very closely at it and of course I will be very supportive of anything that I can do to assist in improving their working conditions.

MR BERRY: Perhaps the Minister was not listening, but I asked him what authority he had to offer a tax deal and who will enforce the changed income arrangement for workers if the tax arrangements change. I will add: Do you have the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, signed up for this deal? Have you considered the possible risk to other public benevolent institutions as a result of it?

MR MOORE: I think I made it very clear that the authority comes through a legal instrument such as a certified agreement or Australian workplace agreement. I did answer that part of the question. The part of the question that asks me to speculate about what will happen in the future in terms of what the Federal Government might or might not do is out of order and I do not intend to answer it. You can speculate as much as you like. The conditions are in place.

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