AFL grand final public holiday to impact aged care
The cost of an AFL grand final public holiday, to be introduced by the Victorian government, will impact hundreds of aged care providers in the state and its clients, claims Trevor Carr, Leading Age Services Australia – Victoria (LASA Victoria), chief executive.
The cost of an AFL grand final public holiday, to be introduced by the Victorian government, may impact hundreds of aged care providers in the state and its clients.
Mr Carr claims the Victorian government’s introduction of new public holidays, Easter Sunday and the proposed public holiday for grand final eve, impose severe cost imposts on the aged care industry.
“Victoria’s age care service providers are already under significant cost pressures from recent federal government budget decisions, they don’t need any further pressures imposed without an appropriate budget supplement to pay for a unilateral government decision,” Mr Carr says.
The economic impact of a new and additional public holiday on grand final Friday will reportedly reach $10 million.
“Aged care providers are grappling with the funding hole created by the cessation of the payroll tax supplement, a burden of $652 million on Australia’s aged care providers, the unfunded investment in ICT infrastructure needed to implement age care reforms, the meager 1.3% annual indexation to care subsidies, to name a few,” he says.
“The last thing providers need is a further $10 million cost burden imposed by yet another layer of government.”
Without the proposed grand final eve holiday, Victoria tops the nation with 13 public holidays compared to New South Wales 11, Queensland and Western Australia 10.
Mr Carr says the two new holidays were a pre-election populist commitment of the government.
“The taxpayer has picked up the tab for the wages impact in the public sector, but no consideration was given as to how the thousands of businesses outside the public sector, who provide an essential service like caring for our seniors, would meet the additional cost burden,” he says.
“We call on the Premier to appropriate taxpayer funding to age care providers outside the public system to meet the additional costs imposed by a populist, ill-considered policy decision designed to win votes, not provide a proper budgetary framework to care for our seniors.”
