Pharmacy Daily | Guild likes red tape cut

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has said it strongly supports the move by the Minister for Small Business, Bruce Billson, to relieve business of the requirement to act as the paymaster under the Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme. The Government estimates the removal of the onerous paymaster requirement would save businesses $44 million and the not-for-profit sector a further $4 million. Under the terms of the new bill, employers will still have the right to have a role in paying workers their government-funded parental leave entitlement if they choose to do so. The Commonwealth Parliament passed the Paid Parental Leave legislation on 17 June 2010 in an attempt to recognise the need to enhance the wellbeing of young children in infancy by providing better support for their parents to take time away from work. The Guild was always disappointed with the legislation as it stood because it placed additional administrative burdens on the small business owner to manage the scheme along with all their other administrative requirements. Guild members report that they have had to pay employees on PPL before they have received the funds from the Family Assistance Office. They also say that they have had to employ additional staff in their payroll areas to deal with the interaction with FAO. The pharmacy workforce is 87 per cent female so the instance of PPL is high in the pharmacy sector noted the Guild, now urging parliament to support the bill. While in opposition, Billson made several unsuccessful attempts to have the paymaster function as an opt in for small business.

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