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About the payment

The Government Top-Up Payment is calculated based on years of service in the native timber industry and is comprised of:

  • four weeks of pay for each year of service in the native timber industry
  • unused sick leave (up to 152 hours)
  • reduced by the genuine redundancy amount received from final employer.

This payment has a maximum cap of $150,000 including any genuine redundancy paid by the employer.

Employees over the age of 45 years will receive a further 3 weeks of pay for every year of service in the industry after the age of 45. This payment is calculated separately from the Government Top-Up payment and has a cap of $50,000.

Weekly pay rates will be based on:

  • For common law employees of native timber businesses, their most recent ordinary rate of pay (pro-rata for part-time and casual contract employees).
  • Contractors and business owners may calculate an average annual salary for the best two financial years from 2018-2019 to 2021-2022. From this they can determine a weekly pay rate. This will be capped at $120,000 per annum.

Years of service in the native timber industry is calculated by:

  • Summing all eligible periods of employment and rounding down to the nearest whole year. For example, if an employee has worked for 5 years and 6 months, their years of service will be recorded as 5 years.

How to access the Victorian Forestry Worker Support Program

Native timber industry employees and their family members

Visit ForestWorks or contact 1800 177 001 for more information.

Contractors and businesses

Contact the Forestry Transition Information Line 1800 318 182

Eligibility

Evidence requirements

Evidence requirements may differ depending on your employment type.

Genuine Redundancy

The Fair Work Ombudsman says a Genuine Redundancy is when:

  • the person’s job doesn't need to be done by anyone
  • the employer followed all consultation requirements in the award, enterprise agreement or other registered agreement
  • the decision to terminate employment was at the employer's initiative.

A dismissal is not a Genuine Redundancy if the employer:

  • still needs the employee’s job to be done by someone else (for example, hires someone else to do the job)
  • has not followed relevant requirements to consult with the employee about the redundancy under an award or registered agreement
  • could have reasonably, in the circumstances, given the employee another job within the employer’s business or an associated entity (redeployment)
  • was not the decision maker, and termination occurred at the employee’s own initiative
  • made a contrived arrangement to reemploy the employee after termination, either between:
    • the employee and the employer, or
    • the employer and another entity.

Payment process

  • Once all required evidence and documentation have been submitted to the Service Provider or the Department, the application for your Government Top-Up Payment will be assessed. A representative from the Worker Support Team will contact you to inform you whether the application has been approved or if additional information or actions are needed to support or verify your application.
  • Once approved, a test payment will be issued to you within 10 business days to verify the bank account to which the payment will be made.
  • Following verification, you can expect to receive your Government Top-Up Payment swiftly.

Tax treatment of Government Top-Up Payments

The ATO published a Class Ruling for the Victorian Forestry Worker Support Program on 6 November 2024. This ruling clarifies that, under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, eligible employees receiving a Government Top-Up Payment may qualify for tax-free and concessional tax treatment up to certain limits, as long as the criteria are met.

The Class Ruling applies to employees in the following categories:

  • Full-time
  • Part-time
  • Casual
  • Piece rate
  • Seasonal

Only eligible employees receiving a Government Top-Up Payment can access genuine redundancy tax-free and concessional tax treatment.

Independent contractors that receive a Government Top-Up Payment are not eligible for tax-free or concessional tax treatment.

If you receive a Government Top-Up payment, you will need to report it correctly in your tax return. You are encouraged to seek personal financial and tax advice.

The ATO Class Ruling can be viewed or downloaded from the ATO website.

A fact sheet explaining the ruling is also available

Impact on other government payments

Redundancy, annual leave, long service leave, sick leave or parental leave payments may impact other government payments you receive.

There may be a waiting period before you can receive an income support payment from Family Assistance, Centrelink or other Government programs after you receive a payment from your employer or the Victorian Government.

You are encouraged to contact Services Australia to find out how long your waiting period will be before you spend your redundancy payment. You may also have a waiting period depending on the amount of other liquid assets (for example, money, shares) you have available.

Please visit Services Australia for further information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Page last updated: 13/12/24