🇦🇺 Benefits in Australia

💡 What to expect for employee benefits when you hire in Australia through Toku. Toku provides supplemental private healthcare on top of Australia's public Medicare system and handles all administration. This guide covers coverage, costs, and what you and your employees need to do.

At a Glance

Statutory Benefits

Australian employees are covered by the public Medicare system, and Toku maintains mandatory workers' compensation coverage for all employees as the employer of record. The supplemental health plan below is an extra Toku provides on top of these statutory protections.

Note that in Australia, employer-provided healthcare is a taxable benefit. Tax is declared annually through the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) process, which Toku's payroll provider handles - nothing appears as a monthly payroll deduction.

Supplemental Health Through Toku

Toku offers private healthcare through a GU Health group policy (effective 15 July 2026, replacing the previous Bupa arrangement), brokered by DKG Insurance Brokers, combining two products:

• Superior Gold Hospital: in-hospital treatment at Gold level - the same tier as the previous Bupa cover, so transferring employees saw no downgrade.
• Corporate Health 80 Extras: dental, optical, physiotherapy, and allied health, with dedicated per-category limits. Key Extras limits (AUD, per person per year): general dental $1,800; physiotherapy $600; pharmaceutical prescriptions & psychology $300; therapies $400 (remedial massage sub-limit $300, acupuncture, Chinese medicine); aids & appliances $400; exercise physiology $600; orthotics $300. Because each category has its own dedicated limit rather than drawing from one shared pool, members can claim up to $1,900 per person per year across these categories.

Extras limits are fresh from day one — GU Health does not apply portability deductions for corporate groups. Coverage applies to treatment in Australia only. Employees on visas are covered under the overseas visitor (OVC) product: Optimum Gold Hospital with Med $250(S)/$500(F) Excess + Corporate Health 80. Network providers (including Ramsay, St Vincent's, GenesisCare, and St John of God hospitals) can be found at guhealth.com.au/find-a-provider.

From the end of August 2026, the plan is complemented by a Corporate Health / EAP platform including an Employee Assistance Program (3 sessions), same-day psychology appointments, 24/7 in-the-moment mental health support, GP telehealth, online prescriptions and pharmacy delivery, annual digital health checks, and a wellbeing hub.

Costs & Who Pays

Employee-only coverage is fully sponsored. The plan is a fully funded arrangement: GU Health invoices the employer for the full premium, and where an employee adds dependents by selecting the family tier, the dependent portion is recouped through payroll deduction each pay cycle. Premiums vary by income tier and state.

Enrollment

Enrollment is not automatic. Employees self-enrol via the GU Health online portal (members.guhealth.com.au/dkgsme) using the access code provided by Toku, choose the single or family tier, and complete the mandatory fields. Employees switching from an existing insurer should not cancel their old policy first - during enrolment they provide their current fund details, and GU Health requests a clearance certificate, cancels the old policy on their behalf, and carries over served waiting periods (waived where the new benefit is equivalent or lower; a wait may apply to any increase in benefit level).

---

Last verified July 2026. This guide is for general information and doesn't constitute legal or tax advice. Questions? Contact [email protected].