QLD election: LNP announce $5000 grants for tradies

Both the LNP and Labor are promising grants worth thousands for under-pressure tradies. Here’s how chippies, plumbers and sparkies would be able to access the cash.

LNP candidate for Gaven Bianca Stone, Shadow Minister for Small and Family Business Brent Mickelberg, and tradie Josh Nantes at Highland Park on Thursday October 10. Picture: Keith Woods.

The LNP has announced that if it wins government grants of $5000 will be made available to tradies to help with their bookkeeping.

However Labor have hit back – saying they have already promised to pay out more.

Speaking at a worksite in Highland Park on Thursday, in the hotly contested Gold Coast seat of Gaven, Shadow Minister for Small and Family Business Brent Mickelberg said $8.8 million would be spent on the grants over two years.

“We know that many construction businesses, including sole traders, are doing it really tough at the moment. The housing crisis is placing massive pressure on our chippies, on our electricians, on our plumbers right across the state,” he said.

“One of the messages I’ve heard is they’d like a little bit of help so that they are able to build their capability when it comes to financial management.

“ … This will provide $5000 grants. There will be no requirement for businesses to also make a co-contribution. This is about assisting them to get the skills and the knowledge and the capability that they need to make their business more successful.”

The grants would be available for the purchase of software and training to help with paperwork such as issuing quotes and invoices, which local tradie Josh Nantes said could be difficult and time consuming.

“A lot of us spend a lot of time on the tools, working eight hours a day. We come home, tired and exhausted, not knowing how to manage and run these operating systems which you use to invoice and send all your quotes off. It’s very difficult and it’s time consuming if you don’t know how to do it properly,” he said.

“I personally myself have struggled plenty with it, to the point I was doing it a very long and hard way for a year and a half, and it ended up putting me in a place where I had to spend thousands of dollars to get an accounts lady in to fix it up properly.

“So a grant like this is only going to help young people like myself be more time efficient and people starting off business to really understand what it takes.”

LNP candidate for Gaven Bianca Stone, tradie Josh Nantes and Shadow Minister for Small and Family Business Brent Mickelberg at Highland Park on Thursday October 10. Picture: Keith Woods.

LNP candidate for Gaven, Bianca Stone, said supporting tradies was important in the context of the housing crisis affecting the area.

“It’s important to support our construction and trade industry. Tradies are doing it tough and we need them to build all of those houses that we need here on the Gold Coast, particularly with the housing crisis impacting so many people, including the ones that are currently living under the M1, next to the skate park – there’s about five tents down there at the moment,” she said.

“My son is a tradie, I know plenty of tradies in the industry, they are really good at what they do – they are great carpenters, they are great electricians, they are great plumbers. They’re really good at trades. But sometimes they lack the skills when it comes to business.

“These $5000 grants will really help provide them with those skills so they can stay afloat and they can flourish into the future.”

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon – who is Ms Stone’s rival for the seat of Gaven – hit back following the LNP’s announcement, saying Labor was already providing similar grants and had promised to increase their value if re-elected.

“Make no mistake, this is a cut to small business support. Labor is already providing $5,000 in financial grant support through Business Basics and will increase it to $7,500. We announced this last month,” Ms Scanlon said.

“So either the LNP haven’t done their homework, or they don’t care and will cut it anyway.

“We don’t discriminate either – Labor’s grants are available to all (eligible) small and family businesses in Queensland.

“The LNP’s grant is only limited to the construction sector.

“It’s unbelievable that after four years to plan for this moment, the LNP’s only real plan is a $2,500 cut.”

Follow @keithjwoods

Originally published as QLD election: LNP announce $5000 grants for tradies