VICDOC Winter 2022 - Magazine - Page 31
THE POLICY DESK
AMAV
ADV CACY
—
No rest for the wicked as
diverse Issues such as payroll
tax, electronic prescribing and
health service information
sharing have all been on the
policy desk in recent months.
2022/23 STATE BUDGET
SUBMISSION
––
AMA Victoria’s 2022-23 State
Budget Submission was released
prior to the delivery of the
Victorian State Budget. The
submission emphasises the need
for a healthcare-led recovery
in Victoria; not only medical
recovery for Victorians whose
health has suffered during the
COVID-19 pandemic (whether
it be through mental illness,
the impacts of delayed and
or deferred physical care, or
through the virus itself), but
also economic recovery through
investment in essential health
infrastructure and services.
Our submission outlines
four separate but ultimately
interlinked components of this
vision: general practice, mental
health, deferred care and the
elective surgery backlog, and
public hospitals.
In the pandemic’s wake,
expenditure on health must
not be viewed as a drain on
Victoria’s finite resources, but
instead understood as sound
economic policy and investment.
After all, a sick population
cannot work, spend or
be productive.
Members can find the AMAV
Submission here.
PAYROLL TAX AND
MEDICAL PRACTICES
––
AMA Victoria has written to the
Victorian Government to express
significant concern regarding
recent developments in
payroll tax.
In the letter, we outlined
that our concerns commenced
following the Optical
Superstore decision of the
Court of Appeal in Victoria.
This decision held that payroll
tax be applied to money before
it is distributed to individual
optometrists, even though the
money was only being held on
their behalf.
Our letter noted that the
standard business procedures
caught by Optical Superstore
are incredibly common
throughout Victoria and are
now essentially the standard
for how medical care is
supported outside hospitals.
We also conveyed to the
Victorian Government that
doctors, like the rest of the
population, are struggling with
their own mental health and
physical health concerns and
that the additional burden of
a payroll tax liability that had
heretofore not been levied is
unfair and unreasonable in
the circumstances.
Furthermore, we noted that
imposing payroll tax in this
manner would necessitate many
If you have a policy
issue you would like to
discuss, or have some
feedback about our
priorities, please contact
LewisH@amavic.com.au
—
general practices abandoning
bulk billing and charging gap
fees to Victorian patients to
remain a sustainable and
viable business.
Accordingly, we have urged
the Victorian Government to
swiftly abandon retrospectively
applied current payroll tax
assessments on medical
practices relying on the
reasoning in Optical Superstore,
and to reform payroll tax
law to prevent this from
happening further.
In addition to our political
advocacy, we are working closely
with our financial services
partner, the Bongiorno Group,
and legal partner, Kennedys,
to develop alternative models
to ensure that practices avoid
falling afoul of mistargeted laws.
REVIEW OF WORKSAFE
VICTORIA’S MANAGEMENT
OF COMPLEX WORKERS’
COMPENSATION CLAIMS
––
In March, The Department
of Justice and Community
Safety released Peter Rozen
QC’s report: Improving the
experience of injured workers:
A review of WorkSafe Victoria’s
management of complex
workers’ compensation claims
(the ‘Rozen Review’), along
with the Victorian Government
Response: Victorian Workers’
Compensation System –
Independent Review |
Victorian Government.
VI CD O C WI NTER 2022
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