Can Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action employees bring their own novated lease finance?
The enterprise agreement does not restrict it
The Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024 expressly permits an employee to salary package a novated lease using pre-tax salary. It does not name a salary packaging provider, a financier, a funding source or an approved panel — the word “financier” does not appear in the Agreement at all, and “novated lease” appears exactly once, in the clause that grants the entitlement. The Agreement therefore neither grants nor refuses a choice of financier: it is silent on who provides the finance. Silence is not the same as permission, and an operational policy or a procurement contract sitting outside the Agreement could still impose conditions — but it does mean any exclusivity does not come from the industrial instrument, and an employer relying on one should be able to say where it does come from.
What you need to do
Ask Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action payroll the question below — One email settles it. We have written it for you — it names no provider, so it is a neutral question about your own arrangement rather than a request to use anyone in particular.
Get a finance quote to compare — Price the car you are actually looking at. You need a real number to put next to the bundled quote — the difference is almost entirely in the interest rate, and that is the part the bundled quote does not itemise.
Hand the approval to your salary packaging administrator — They need written finance approval, the dealer invoice and the lease schedule. We send all three in the format administrators file without asking twice, and we chase what is outstanding rather than leaving it with you.
Everything else stays as it is — your salary packaging administrator continues to run your payroll deductions, running-cost budgets and FBT reporting exactly as before. Nobody at work has to do anything differently.
The question to send payroll
Copy this as it is. It names no finance provider, so it asks about your own arrangement
rather than requesting anyone in particular.
I'm looking at taking out a novated lease. Could you confirm whether I'm able to arrange the finance on the vehicle myself — sometimes called a self-managed or BYO finance novated lease — and have our salary packaging provider administer it, rather than using the financier bundled into the quote? If that's possible, what does our salary packaging provider need from the financier to set it up?
Send the question — then tell us what they say
The question above is written to be forwarded as it is. Whatever comes back is worth having: a yes means you can go ahead, and a no with a reason tells us what the restriction actually is, which we will publish here so the next person starts ahead of where you did. Send us the reply.
The swap that could save you thousands
The loan hiding inside your Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action lease carries a quiet markup.
Swap it for a millarX loan — that's it. Nothing else changes, nobody at work does anything
differently, and the difference stays in your pocket.
A novated lease is two things. You only need to change one of them.
Every novated lease is finance (the loan on the car) plus management (payroll deductions,
budgets, running costs). Your Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action administrator handles the
management brilliantly — but the bundled finance usually carries a hidden margin. BYO swaps
just that part.
Your journey, step by step
Quote — MILLARX
Finance approval — MILLARX
Finance settlement — MILLARX
Car collection — YOU
Paperwork to salary packager — MILLARX HELPS. Our automated system guides you through it
Ongoing management — PACKAGER
millarX handles
The vehicle finance & competitive rate
Setting up the lease paperwork
Getting the deal packaged & handed to your salary packager
Pre-tax / post-tax payroll deductions with your employer
Ongoing account management & support
Common salary packagers include Smart Salary, Maxxia and Paywise. Your employer confirms which one applies.
What your salary packager asks for — and how we make it easy
A BYO lease asks your administrator for the same paperwork any novated lease does. The
difference is who chases it. Here is every item they'll want, and what happens on our side
of it.
Written confirmation your finance is approved
We send the formal approval — lender, amount, term, residual — the day it comes through, in the format administrators file without asking twice.
The dealer quote or tax invoice for the car
We check the invoice is made out correctly before it goes anywhere, then forward it. A wrong purchaser or GST treatment is the single most common cause of a delayed settlement.
The lease documents and lease schedule
millarX prepares and settles the lease, so the schedule showing rate, term, residual and repayment already exists when they ask for it.
A deed of novation for you and your employer to sign
The administrator issues it. We complete the finance side, explain the two pages that matter, and chase the signatures — the employer execution is arranged through your administrator, not by you.
The exact repayment and start date, to set your payroll deduction
We confirm both in writing and time settlement so your first deduction lands on a full pay cycle rather than a part one.
A comprehensive insurance certificate noting the financier
We give you the exact wording your insurer needs to record millarX as the interested party, so it is right the first time.
Your running-cost budget — kms, fuel or charging, servicing, tyres, rego
This one stays entirely with your administrator. BYO changes the finance only, so the budget you set with them is untouched.
Can Victorian public service employees use their own novated lease finance?
The Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024 expressly permits an employee to salary package a novated lease using pre-tax salary. It does not name a salary packaging provider, a financier, a funding source or an approved panel — the word “financier” does not appear in the Agreement at all, and “novated lease” appears exactly once, in the clause that grants the entitlement. The Agreement therefore neither grants nor refuses a choice of financier: it is silent on who provides the finance. Silence is not the same as permission, and an operational policy or a procurement contract sitting outside the Agreement could still impose conditions — but it does mean any exclusivity does not come from the industrial instrument, and an employer relying on one should be able to say where it does come from.
Victorian public servants are routinely told the finance bundled into their packaging provider’s quote is the only option. The enterprise agreement that governs their employment does not say that.
The Agreement devotes one clause to salary packaging, headed simply “Salary Packaging”. This is the operative sentence, in full:
“An Employee may enter into a salary packaging arrangement with the Employer using pre-tax salary in respect of superannuation, a novated lease and/or other approved benefits under State or Federal legislation.”
The clause continues with a sentence about salary sacrifice to State Government defined benefit superannuation schemes, and a sentence providing that the costs of packaging — including employer administrative costs — are met from the participating employee’s salary. Neither bears on who provides the finance.
What the clause does not say
This is where the clause does its real work for an employee who has been told they have no choice. It does not require the use of a nominated salary packaging provider. It does not name an exclusive novated leasing company, a financier, or an employer-appointed panel. The only express limitation is that the benefit be an approved benefit under State or Federal legislation.
That is not an inference drawn from the clause in isolation — it holds across the whole document. The word “financier” does not appear anywhere in the Agreement. Neither does “self-managed”. “Novated lease” appears exactly once, in the sentence quoted above, and it is the only standalone use of the word “lease” in the Agreement. The 23 uses of “provider” all refer to providers of goods and services, training providers or accommodation providers; none concerns salary packaging. The two uses of “panel” both refer to Workload Review Panels.
Who the Agreement covers
Worth checking before you rely on any of this, because Victoria has several public sector agreements and only one of them is this one. The Agreement states:
“This Agreement applies to and covers: (a) the State of Victoria in respect of all Employees (as defined in clause 2 - Definitions and interpretation); and (b) all Employees whose employment is, at any time when this Agreement is in operation, subject to this Agreement; and (c) the CPSU.”
So the employer party is the State of Victoria, not your individual department. If you are a teacher, a nurse, a paramedic or a police officer, a different agreement covers you and this note does not apply — your payslip or your HR intranet will tell you which one.
We are not going to overstate it. Nothing above creates a legal right to bring your own finance. Operational policy, a procurement contract or a departmental instruction outside the Agreement could still impose conditions, and any of those could be perfectly valid.
What it does establish is where the exclusivity is not. It is not in the enterprise agreement. So if you are told an employee-arranged novated lease is not permitted, that restriction is coming from somewhere else — and it is entirely reasonable to ask where.
If you have been told you must use the bundled finance, this is the question to put in writing to your HR or payroll team:
“The Salary Packaging clause of the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024 expressly permits an employee to enter into a salary packaging arrangement with their employer using pre-tax salary in respect of a novated lease. The Agreement does not prescribe a particular salary packaging provider, financier or funding source. Could you please clarify the policy, contractual or legislative basis on which an otherwise compliant employee-arranged novated lease would be refused?”
Ask for the answer in writing, and for a copy of whatever instrument it relies on. If it turns out there is a genuine restriction, we would like to see it too — we publish what we establish about each employer, including the restrictions. Send it to us either way.
Source: Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024.
Department of Treasury and Finance (Victoria). The “Salary Packaging” clause quoted above is on page 82; the coverage clause is in the opening part of the Agreement. Approved by the Fair Work Commission on 12 August 2024.
Already holding a bundled quote? Prove it against ours.
Drop the quote in and we'll line up every contracted dollar against a millarX BYO lease —
in plain English, no email needed to see the result.
Compare your quote.
People who BYO'd and kept the difference
I cannot speak highly enough of the team at MillarX, and the founder Ben. Like a lot of people, I was locked into a particular novated leasing company as dictated by my employer. The car finance portion of the contract they offered did not look competitive compared to other options. I thought that I just had to accept it and look at the savings in income tax as a bonus to offset the fact the finance portion of the arrangement was not as sharp as some other lenders. A work friend put me on to MillarX, and all the info they have on their website about BYO finance. The staff I spoke to at the novated leasing company were either willfully opaque or perhaps just woefully ill informed, but three different people I spoke to made it sound like that was NOT an option, but Ben explained it all to me and once I understood, I had the confidence to call back and insist I speak with someone about the BYO finance option. Ben saved us over $10k in repayments on the car loan over 5 years!! Ben is very patient, transparent and aims to make you feel informed and empowered to make smart choices. Do not accept a terrible interest rate out of the gate from a novated leasing company — find out if you can BYO finance, and make sure you contact Ben for a quote.
Fleur Bedford — 5-star Google review
GOATed novated leasing experience. Full transparency, no pushy sales tactics, and reasonable rates. Can't thank the team enough for sorting out my NL in 2 business days. Incredible.
Hudson Yao — 5-star Google review
Fair questions
Is BYO finance actually allowed under my salary package?
Yes. Salary packaging rules govern how the lease is administered, not who provides the finance. Administrators package externally-financed leases routinely.
Is a self-managed novated lease the same as BYO finance?
Yes. Self-managed, BYO (bring your own) finance, finance-only, employee-arranged and externally financed all describe the same arrangement: you source the finance on the car and your existing salary packaging administrator continues to run the deductions. Providers differ over which word they use, so being told they do not offer one of them is often a vocabulary mismatch rather than a policy. If one term is not recognised, ask again using another.
Does the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement allow employees to choose their own novated lease financier?
It does not address the question either way. The Agreement’s Salary Packaging clause provides that “An Employee may enter into a salary packaging arrangement with the Employer using pre-tax salary in respect of superannuation, a novated lease and/or other approved benefits under State or Federal legislation”, and the only express limitation is that the benefit be an approved benefit under State or Federal legislation. The Agreement does not name a salary packaging provider, a financier or an approved panel — the word “financier” does not appear in it at all, and “novated lease” appears exactly once, in that clause. So the Agreement neither grants nor refuses a choice of financier. A restriction may still exist in operational policy or a procurement contract outside the Agreement, but it does not come from the Agreement itself.
My department says I have to use their salary packaging provider’s finance. Can I ask them to justify that?
Yes, and it is a reasonable request to make in writing. The Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024 permits salary packaging a novated lease and does not prescribe a provider, financier or funding source, so any requirement to use particular finance comes from somewhere other than the Agreement. Asking which policy, contract or legislative provision it rests on is a normal question about your own employment conditions. Note that the salary packaging administrator and the financier are two different roles: your employer can have a contracted administrator without that contract deciding who lends you the money for the car.
Which Victorian public sector employees does this cover?
The Agreement “applies to and covers: (a) the State of Victoria in respect of all Employees (as defined in clause 2 - Definitions and interpretation); and (b) all Employees whose employment is, at any time when this Agreement is in operation, subject to this Agreement; and (c) the CPSU.” In practice that means Victorian Public Service employees. Teachers, nurses, paramedics and police officers are covered by their own separate agreements, and nothing on this page applies to them — Victorian Department of Education teaching service employees have a dedicated page on this site.
Will my administrator push back?
It's business as usual for them — we hand over the documents in the format they expect, and we deal with them directly so you don't have to.
Does anything change for payroll?
No. Your pre-tax deductions, running-cost budgets and reporting all continue through your administrator exactly as before.
What if I leave Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action?
Same as any novated lease — the finance travels with you. You can re-novate with a new employer or continue repayments directly.
I work part-time / casual — does this still work?
If you're eligible for salary packaging with your employer, you're eligible to BYO the finance. The saving works the same way.
Where does the saving come from?
The finance bundled into a novated quote usually carries a margin on top of the lender's rate. BYO replaces that finance with a transparent millarX loan on the same car and the same term — the management side of the lease is untouched.
Ready to keep the difference?
Request a BYO finance quote — we'll price the car you're looking at and show you exactly
what to hand your Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action administrator.
enquiries@millarx.com.au · 1800 498 500 · ABN 15 681 267 818 · ACL 569484