In our May 2018 special edition newsletter, we discussed the tax policies of the major political parties in Australia at that time. This was back when newspapers and online media were fervently covering the major issue being proposed by the Labor party; that of cancelling tax refunds arising from excess imputation (or franking) credits.

As the Federal election is drawing ever nearer (and the prospect of a change in Government seems ever more likely!) we thought that we should revisit some of the more significant policy proposals as some of you may be substantially affected by them if they become law (and could apply from 1 July this year!)

Bob Deutsch Senior Tax Counsel of the Taxation Institute of Australia recently said “The next Federal election is looming as one of the most important elections in recent times particularly having regard to the differences between the two alternatives on tax policy.”

We have summarised the major parties tax policies for you and given some brief explanations in each of the following links:

The StewartBrown December 2018 Aged Care Financial Performance Survey incorporates detailed financial and supporting data from over 965 residential care facilities and over 27,164 home care packages (503 home care programs) across Australia. The quarterly survey is the largest benchmark within the aged care sector and provides invaluable insight into the trends and drivers of financial performance at the sector level and at the facility or program level.

In February 2019, The Australian Department of Health (the Department) released the discussion paper “Managing Prudential Risk in Residential Aged Care” in consultation with the residential aged care sector and the broader community on the issue of managing prudential risk in residential aged care.

The existing framework in place under the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) supports this objective, however two recent reviews have recommended that the prudential framework be strengthened (Ernst and Young and the Tune Review).

The Department has invited submissions from all interested stakeholders to gather the sector’s views on the options for better managing prudential risk in residential aged care.

Please see below for the StewartBrown submission on managing prudential risk in residential aged care.

The listed aged care providers Estia, Regis and Japara have recently released their six months results to 31 December 2018. StewartBrown has reviewed the Listed Providers Financial Reports and a summary of this analysis can be found in this report. This listed aged care providers financial performance update focuses solely on the three listed providers in order to provide a timely snapshot and commentary on their results.

Click here to download the report.