nsw premiere – Michmutters

New South Wales nurses say the tax office has claimed much of their $3,000 pandemic “thank you” payment after many were pushed into a higher tax bracket by working extra shifts during the latest COVID-19 wave.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrotet announced in June that public healthcare workers would receive the bonus to thank them for their increased workload due to COVID-19.

It came four months after thousands walked off the job to protest staffing levels that had pushed an already stretched system to its limit during the pandemic.

But according to Diane Lang, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association’s delegate at Bega’s South East Regional Hospital, the promised $3,000 had since been cut in half for many staff.

She said the reduced payment came at a time when many nurses were doing overtime and extra shifts to cover staff shortages caused by the latest wave of infections.

A close up of a woman wearing sunglasses. — Diane Lang says the thank you payment has been taxed significantly for some nurses.(ABC South East NSW: Adriane Reardon)

“For many nurses, completing overtime and ensuring the health system did not collapse during a wave of COVID and influenza cases placed them in a higher tax bracket than usual,” Ms Lang said.

“All those people who have done all those extra shifts and all that overtime have paid a lot of tax.

“We knew we had to pay tax, but we were under the impression it was going to be paid separately to our wages, so there’s a lot of angry nurses out there at the moment.”

NSW Health has been contacted for comment.

Taxed for hard work

Genevieve Stone is the secretary of the union’s branch at Wollongong Hospital where nurses were “heartbroken” after the full amount failed to land in their bank accounts.

“What we found is the nurses who worked overtime in that pay period were the ones who were taxed the most, and got the least amount of money,” she said.

“The pandemic has been dragging on for a ridiculous amount of time, and I think we were all hoping for a morale boost in the way of this payment.

“We were hoping to be more heard and appreciated, but that hasn’t happened.”

The front of a building with a sign saying Wollongong Hospital — The union says those who worked hardest were taxed the most and earned less.(ABC Illawarra: Tim Fernandez)

Ms Stone said a pay rise in line with inflation would be “much more beneficial” to the workforce than a one-off payment, with both senior and junior staff leaving the profession in waves.

“We’re always called martyrs and angels, but that overshadows that we are highly skilled workers,” she said.

“We go to university, we’ve got medical knowledge, we do manual labor and we deserve to be valued.

“We are haemorrhaging nurses.”

a man wearing glasses standing behind a microphone — NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet had planned to thank employees for their hard work during the pandemic.(abcnews)

Industrial action planned

A nurse for more than 40 years, Jill Telfer is the secretary of the union’s branch at Tamworth Hospital.

She said that while some of the tax could be returned next financial year, many nurses were still “very disappointed”.

“I wasn’t the greatest thank you I’ve ever received,” Ms Telfer said.

“What dropped into our pay was $2,700 as we had super taken out automatically and we were also taxed, so I received about $1,700, but many received much less than that.

“The payment was just like a pat on the head, because we are desperate to change our situation in our public hospitals.

“We would prefer we were offered a fair pay rise.”

Ms Telfer said further industrial action was planned and many, including herself, were considering an early retirement.

“I know good friends who have got positions elsewhere because they didn’t want to keep doing this,” she said.

“We were short staffed before COVID, but now it’s even worse and it’s just got to be fixed.”

Rugby league boss Peter V’landys has accused the New South Wales Premier of using “human tragedy” to renege on a handshake agreement to revamp suburban stadiums.

V’landys is threatening to move the NRL Grand Final from Sydney as a result, saying the sport had been “strung along” by the state government for three years.

He says Premier Dominic Perrottet this year promised to upgrade local grounds across the city as part of a deal to keep the game’s showpiece in the Harbor City until 2042.

“We shook hands. We looked each other in the eyes and we did a deal,” V’landys told Nine radio this morning.

“He said, ‘You don’t need to have it in the budget, I can do it outside the budget’. And he reneged.”

V’landys claims the deal included hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade aging stadiums in Manly, Cronulla and Leichhardt.

Mr Perrottet says circumstances have changed and his top priority is supporting people impacted by the state’s recent flood crises.

“Sydney will always be the home of rugby league,” Mr Perrottet said, and it would be on V’landys to justify to supporters any plan to move the competition decider.

two men in business clothes sitting on opposite lounges — Peter V’landys and Dominic Perrotte met to discuss the policy in April.(abcnews)

“The NSW government remains committed to upgrading suburban stadiums, however, following recent natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is appropriate that further investment in stadia is staged,” he said.

“The government has just received the Floods Inquiry Report, which will likely require a significant cost to the taxpayer, and I note right now there are still 1,366 people without a home in NSW due to flooding.

“It should come as no surprise that my top priority is, therefore, supporting those devastated by the major floods across NSW.”

Mr Perrottet said the government had spent and committed $1.8 billion on sporting infrastructure for rugby league clubs, including centers of excellence and three new stadiums.

“The new state of the art Allianz Stadium will open next month, Parramatta has a new, modern stadium and there is a commitment to build a new Penrith stadium so that the Western City has a world-class sporting venue,” he said.

“Sydney will always be the home of rugby league and, if Peter V’landys wants to take the Grand Final away from his home, then he can explain that to the fans.”

However V’landys hit back, accusing Mr Perrottet of making excuses for backing out of the deal.

“I used other excuses back then [in negotiations] to reduce the amount he was going to spend on these community assets,” he said.

“They’ve left it right until two weeks before we have to sell tickets to the grand finale.

“To use human tragedy to spin themselves out of it is unheralded in my eyes.”

The rugby league supreme says the sport’s administration could now seek to revive scrapped plans to redevelop Stadium Australia at Homebush for $800 million.

Those plans were shelved, with the money to be spent on the suburban grounds policy instead.

“It’s a legally binding agreement that we had with the state government,” V’landys said.

He said disagreed that the game should fund stadium upgrades, arguing suburban infrastructure was a “community asset” that could inspire kids to play the game.

V’landys said the proposals for Manly and Cronulla, “combined”, weren’t as much as the $300 million commitment to building a new stadium in Penrith.

Yesterday, the Sports Minister and Penrith MP, Stuart Ayres, said that building a new stadium in his electorate fit with the government’s three cities plan for Sydney.

Mr Ayres this morning resigned as a minister after weeks of pressure linked to former deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a lucrative trade position based in New York.

West Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis backed V’landys’ stance, saying the club would be “bitterly disappointed” if the agreement to revamp Leichhardt Oval was dumped.

“Leichhardt was supposed to get looked after and we’ve been putting together a compelling argument for a new stadium as well,” he said.

“The stadium policy from Peter V’Landys is absolutely the right one.”

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