The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) welcomes the New South Wales (NSW) Government's bonus to public sector health care professionals but says it should be tax-free and adopted by every jurisdiction in the country.
"I am pleased to see NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announce frontline health workers will receive a $3,000 bonus to recognise the extensive sacrifices we have made throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," ACN Acting CEO Yvonne Mckinlay FACN said.
"In January, ACN wrote to the Premier outlining our proposal for a one-off tax-free bonus for nurses as a means of retention and compensation for all they endured over the last two years. We have also had productive discussions with the Australian Greens at the Federal and NSW levels.
"The NSW announcement is the first step, but it fails to sufficiently recognise how much our profession has endured throughout the pandemic. Today, we continue our calls for any pandemic bonus to be tax-free and for the other jurisdictions to follow suit and provide a bonus to all nurses.
"As the national voice of the nursing profession, ACN constantly hears stories from our members and nurses outlining the dire situation they are facing as a third winter of managing high COVID-19 cases approaches. Losses of senior nurses, rampant furloughing of staff, and lack of support are putting extreme pressure on the mental health and wellbeing of nurses across the country.
"If NSW and the other jurisdictions are serious about tackling our nursing workforce crisis, they'll listen to ACN's calls to make COVID-19 bonus payments tax-free and available to all nurses in Australia."
