2021-22 Federal Budget and retirement living
On 14 May Kirsten Arblaster and Paul Abbey, both tax specialists from PwC, delivered a high-level 2021-22 Federal Budget breakdown for Property Council of Australia members.
Discussing the business taxes and the additional allocation of aged care spending the moderator Brett Robinson, CEO of RetireAustralia, steered the conversation during the Q&A section.
Kirsten and Paul during their Federal Budget tax deep dive touched on how the government’s commitments are seeking to support business and stimulate growth in the economy while delivering tax reform into the future.
A highlight of the briefing was the discussion around aged care funding.
The 2021-22 Federal Budget has allocated an additional $17.7 billion over five years to fund the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, a full response to each of the recommendations has now been published.
The government have identified a five-pillar generational response that is to be delivered over a four-year period, Kirsten explained the significance of each of the pillars to industry:
- Home care: $6.5 billion over four years for an extra 80,000 home care packages,
- Residential aged care services and sustainability:
- $3.9 billion over four years to increase front line care; minimum front line care of 200 minutes per day (including 40 minutes with a registered nurse);
- $3.2 billion for a Basic Daily Fee supplement of $10 per resident per day
- Residential aged care quality and safety: $942 million over four years to improve safety, quality and availability of aged care services
- Workforce: $652.1 million over four years to grow and upskill the workforce including recruitment, upskilling and training for 33,800 subsidised training places; recognition and support for family and informal caregivers as an extension of aged care workforce
- Governance: establishment of new governance and advisory structures.
There are budget and tax implications for retirement living after the announcement of the 2021-22 Federal Budget.
As the recommendations are implemented the Retirement Living Council will continue to strongly advocate on behalf of the retirement living sector to ensure any spending is allocated as fairly and as sensibly as possible.