NO.047

The Government has established a GST Start-Up Assistance Office.

The Office, working to the supervision of the New Tax System Advisory Board and

including private sector advisory panels, will help small and medium enterprises,

charities and education bodies prepare for the introduction of the GST.

The GST Start-Up Office will administer the delivery of $500 million in Government

assistance for small and medium enterprises, charities, education bodies through:

An education and information program on business skills

for The New Tax System;

Assisting key industry and professional organisations to

deliver information and assistance to their members;

A ‘train the trainer’ program to increase the

number of people able to train others to provide advice on business skills and the GST;

and

Direct assistance to individual enterprises to prepare

for the GST.

These initiatives are drawn from the work of the Small Business Consultative Committee

which was established to identify the needs of small business with the transition to the

GST, and also separate consultation with charity and education groups.

The Office will begin disbursing funding of $130 million to assist key industry and

professional organisations deliver GST related information to their members and around $7

million to the ‘train the trainer’ program. The Government will announce

allocation of the remainder of the $500 million shortly.

The specific assistance measures and programs provided by the GST Start-Up Assistance

Office will be developed in consultation with two private sector advisory panels, one

covering small and medium businesses and the other the charity/education sectors. This

will ensure that the assistance provided is tailored to the needs of each sector.

The members of the advisory panels have extensive experience and networks within their

sectors and include:

Business Advisory Panel

Ian Baldock – Chair, Council of Small Business

Organisations of Australia;

Wendy Craik – Executive Director, National Farmers’

Federation;

Gregory Evans – Policy Manager, The Australian Gas

Association;

Mitch Hooke – Executive Director, Australian Food and

Grocery Council;

Phil Naylor – Chief Executive Officer, Australian

Retailers’ Association; and

Angela Ryan – Tax Director, Australian Society of

Certified Practising Accountants.

Community Sector Advisory Panel

Pauline Iles – Director, Australian Nursing Homes and

Extended Care Association;

John Landau – Chief Executive Officer, Royal Blind

Society, NSW;

Father Brian Lucas – Archdiocesan Secretary and Financial

Administrator, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney;

Di Mildern – Chair, Non-Government Schools Funding Review

Committee;

Geoff Sam – Chief Executive Officer, Ashford Community

Hospital; and

Peter Veenker – Chief Executive and Director,

Canberra Institute of Technology.

Futher details on panel members is attached.

Those representative organisations around Australia which are able to undertake

education and information programmes for their members in small and medium enterprises,

charities or the education field will be eligible for funding. The Office will shortly

write to such organisations inviting proposals. Proposals will be assessed by the Advisory

Panels. The New Tax System Advisory Board will also shortly announce further details on

the other assistance programs which are being developed.

For further information on the GST start-up assistance contact (02) 6263 4405.

CANBERRA

13 August 1999

Media Inquiries: Niki Savva (03) 9650 0244

is the Chair, Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia and

is the Executive Director, Queensland Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association. He is

also the Chair, National Association of Retail Grocers of Australia and a member of the

Small Business Consultative Committee.

is the Executive Director, National Farmers’ Federation. She is a

former Executive Officer of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

is the Policy Manager, The Australian Gas Association and Deputy

Chair of the Small Business Consultative Committee. He is a former Executive Director of

the Wool Council of Australia and also runs a woolgrowing enterprise in southern New South

Wales.

is the Executive Director, Australian Food and Grocery Council. He

is a former Executive Director of the Grains Council of Australia.

is the Chief Executive Officer, Australian Retailers’ Association.

He is a former Executive Director of the Retailer’s Association, Queensland Limited.

is the Tax Director, Australian Society of Certified Practising

Accountants and represents ASCPA on the Business Coalition for Tax Reform, the Small

Business Consultative Committee and the CCH GST Editorial Board.

is Director, Australian Nursing Homes and Extended Care Association

(ANHECA) Ltd. and a Board Member of ANHECA – WA. She is also a Proprietor/Director of

Nursing at St Michael’s Retirement Village and Nursing Home Community in North Perth and

is a Justice of the Peace in Western Australia.

is the Chief Executive Officer, Royal Blind Society, NSW. He also

chairs the ACROD Ltd. Tax Group (and represents ACROD Ltd. on the Australian Tax Office

(ATO) Charities/Non-Profit Advisory Committee) and is a former First Assistant

Commissioner, Withholding and Indirect Tax, ATO.

is the Archdiocesan Secretary and Financial Administrator,

Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. He is a member of the Australian Catholic Church Tax

Working Group and also the ATO’s Charity/Non-Profit Consultative Committee.

is the Chair, Non-Government Schools Funding Review Committee. She is

a former First Assistant Secretary in the Departments of Education, Training and Youth

Affairs, and Transport and Regional Development.

is the Chief Executive Officer, Ashford Community Hospital. He

is a former President of both the Australian College of Health Service Executives and the

Australian Private Hospitals Association, and has served as Chief Executive Officer of

both private and public hospitals.

is the Chief Executive and Director, Canberra Institute of

Technology. He is currently the Chair of TAFE Directors Australia, and Director/Member

representing the Minister on the Board of the national company “Australian Training

Products”.