Topping
up the Top End
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Air
Force families who are posted to the north of Australia,
such as this family at Tindal, will receive extra benefits.
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Photo
by CPL Ashley Roach
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*
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Figure
in brackets is the amount the new allowance
varies from the old allowance.
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Members
without dependants who live out receive 50 per
cent of the accompanied rate.
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Members
without dependants who live in barracks receive
35 per cent of the accompanied rate.
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By
Andrew Stackpool
ADF
families in the Top End will receive up to an extra $4400 and
more travel benefits each year.
About 11,000 ADF members and their families will be entitled to
the new Remote Locality Conditions of Service package, which has
been increased by $35 million to $80 million a year.
Director Service Conditions Group Captain John Price said the
new package would put more money in the pockets of ADF members
in the form of ADF District Allowance.
“It is intended to recognise the challenges and additional
costs to members and their families when they serve in these remote
localities,” he said.
The new package aims to reduce the impacts of climate and geographic
isolation with increased allowances and travel benefits, and make
postings to this part of Australia more attractive.
The changes include replacing the current
four-grade structure, used to identify the level of entitlements
allocated to each location, with a five-grade structure incorporating
a new Grade E rating for very remote locations. The grades are
based on the isolation, harshness of climate and cost of living
at each location.
Members accompanied by their dependants will be paid 100 per cent
of the new ADF District Allowance rate. Members without dependants
in the posting locality, who live out, will receive 50 per cent
of the accompanied rate, and members who live-in on base will
receive 35 per cent of the accompanied rate.
Part of the increase is the incorporation of the air-conditioning
allowance that was previously provided as a separate allowance
at some locations. That allowance had variable Fringe Benefits
Tax reporting implications for ADF members, depending on their
personal financial circumstances and location.
This change will particularly benefit members who own their own
homes in some remote localities, who were previously excluded
from receiving any financial assistance through air-conditioning
allowance. The new arrangements put more responsibility on members
to ensure that they budget for their electricity accounts during
the wet season.
The new allowance is assessed by the ATO as income and therefore
subject to income tax. Other Government agencies such as Centrelink
and the Child Support Agency will continue to use the value of
benefits such as ADF District Allowance and Remote Locality Leave
Travel to assess members’ entitlements and/or obligations.
The increased rates of ADF district allowance became payable in
fortnightly salary from September 1.
From February 1 next year, members in remote locations will receive
extra travel benefits. Members with dependants in the more remote
locations will receive an additional remote locality leave travel
entitlement each year, while members without dependants in all
remote locality locations will receive an extra leave travel entitlement.
Members with dependants who are serving in more remote locations
will receive an additional free air trip to any capital city in
Australia to obtain respite from the climate and isolation of
their posting. In certain circumstances, two family members nominated
by the member, but who are not living there, may travel to the
remote location instead.
Members without dependants will now be able to take their existing
remote locality leave travel entitlement without forfeiting their
recreation leave travel (next-of-kin travel) entitlement.
The amount of additional recreation leave accrued each year in
most locations is being reduced slightly. Most members will still
accrue between 25 and 35 days leave a year.
Meanwhile, the Shoalwater Bay Training Area has been reclassified
as a Grade A locality from Grade B. This will mean a reduction
in allowances in the future, but the 23 members currently posted
there will not be affected.
Rockhampton/Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA)
In
the new grading structure SWBTA has reduced from a Grade B to
a Grade A locality. Members posted to SWBTA prior to September
1, 2005, will be retained on the old allowance rate for the remainder
of their posting.
Members posted in from September 1 will receive reduced entitlements
as follows:
