NSW Covid: Financial support for businesses announced amid lockdown
Billions of dollars in cash support for NSW businesses and workers unable to operate due to Sydney’s Covid lockdown have been announced. Full details here.
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Help is on the way with a multi-billion dollar rescue package to save thousands of businesses and jobs in a lifeline for NSW as the state stares down a longer-term lockdown.
Workers will have access to payments of up to $600 a week, and businesses handed cash boosts of up to $10,000, with the government funding sufficient to cover between four and eight weeks of lockdown – but authorities hope Sydney will be back on its feet sooner.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the package alongside Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet on Tuesday, confirming at least $5.1 billion of support.
Mr Morrison said it is “in the national interest” to upgrade support for “protracted” lockdowns.
“It’s in the national interest that we now put in place an upgraded set of arrangements for co-operation with the states and territories that will first be put in place here with NSW when lockdowns enter into more protracted situations,” he said.
Asked what would happen if the health advice necessitated the lockdown continuing until the majority of the population was vaccinated, Mr Morrison said it was his “hope and ambition” that lockdowns across the country would not extend “like we’re seeing” in NSW.
As revealed by The Daily Telegraph, workers who have lost more than 20 hours of work per week will now get $600 a week, and those who have lost less than 20 hours will get $375 per week.
But while those Commonwealth payments only apply to workers in defined “hot spot” regions, the NSW government is pouring in extra cash to extend them right across the state.
Mr Perrottet has been concerned about worksites in places like ski fields where workers were stood down but could not access the Commonwealth payments.
Businesses will have access to a cashflow boost scheme, entitling them to between $1500 and $10,000 a week to cover 40 per cent of their payroll payments, with businesses eligible if their turnover is 30 per cent down on an equivalent two-week period in 2019.
The new payment will also be available to sole traders and not-for-profits in NSW with an annual turnover between $75,000 and $50 million. For non-employing businesses, such as sole traders, the payment will be set at $1000 per week.
Crucially, after demands from Mr Perrottet, businesses will need to maintain their full-time, part-time and casual staffing level as at July 13 to receive the payment – meaning they cannot reduce their headcount, putting jobs at risk.
The deal was struck after a tense meeting on Monday between Mr Morrison, Ms Berejiklian, Mr Perrottet and Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, which finished in the evening and was followed by longer discussions between the two treasurers.
The negotiations took extra time to determine how to get the money out the door quickly. One source said they did not want money landing in bank accounts in mid-August.
Businesses will be able to register their interest for the “cash booster” scheme with payments expected “as close” to July 19 as possible.
Mr Morrison said the payments to individuals were available immediately.
“You can get that payment right now,” he said. “You don’t have to have lost your job, you don’t have to have left your employer. If you lost those hours, you can access that payment right now.”
The state government will also defer all payroll tax liabilities for the next two months and extend and expand small business grants. Any landlords who provide rental relief for tenants will be able to gain access to rebates and a reduction in land tax. There will be a $75 million performing arts sector package and $26 million for the accommodation sector. The NSW government will put more money into helping rough sleepers, and $5 million for mental health.
The federal and state governments will also deliver a $17.35 million mental health support package for NSW.
Central Coast tourism operators had mixed feelings about the new supports.
Blake Hadley, who owns West Gosford trampoline centre Flip Out, said the cash payments would help pay his staff but weren’t enough to help cover the “big costs that have accumulated and been lost”.
“It’ll help cover wages, but it doesn’t cover rental costs, the perishables, or the loss of income from having to close. I’ve lost over six figures within a few weeks,” Mr Hadley said.
Tree Adventures marketing manager, Bec Williams, said the Ourimbah adventure park normally attracted 400 to 500 people a day during the school holidays but had lost all of its bookings since lockdown.
“This [package] ... actually translates into something we can use to maintain existing staff,” she said.
CASH SUPPORT FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES
From week four of the lockdown a new small and medium business support payment to be implemented and administered by Service NSW.
Eligible businesses will receive 40 per cent of their NSW payroll payments, at a minimum of $1500 and a maximum of $10,000 per week.
Business operators will be eligible if their turnover is 30 per cent lower than an equivalent two week period in 2019.
The new payment will also be available to sole traders and not-for-profits in NSW with an annual turnover between $75,000 and $50m.
To receive the payment, businesses will be required to maintain their full time, part time and long term casual staffing level as of 13 July 2021.
For non-employing businesses, such as sole traders, the payment will be set at $1,000 per week.
Businesses can register their interest from 14 July 2021 at www.service.nsw.gov.au
The assistance will end when current lockdown restrictions are eased or when the Commonwealth hotspot declaration is removed.
PAYMENTS TO WORKERS WHO LOSE HOURS INCREASE TO $600
Mr Morrison also announced the Covid-19 Disaster Payment for employees who lose work from week four a Covid-19 lockdown will be increased from $500 to $600 a week people who lose more than 20 hours.
People who lose less than 20 hours will be eligible to receive $375 a week, up from $325.
The payment was previously only available to people in a Commonwealth declared hotspot, but will now be extended to anyone who loses work due to the lockdown.
The NSW Government will cover the cost of any payments to people in parts of the state not declared a Commonwealth hotspot.
The payment will also now roll over each week continuously for the duration of the lockdown, rather than require people to reapply each week.
The criteria have also been changed to make a person eligible for the payment, including where they are still working, provided they have lost more than 8 hours or a full day of work.
This arrangement will be available to other states and territories for future lockdown as a result of a Commonwealth declared hotspot.
COMMONWEALTH BUSINESS TAX RELIEF
The federal government will also provide additional support through the tax system, by:
- Making NSW small business grants, including the new small business payments, tax exempt.
- Providing administrative relief to NSW taxpayers facing hardship, including reduced payment plans, no interest charged on late payments and varying instalments on request.
MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT
The federal and state governments will deliver a $17.35 million mental health support package for NSW including:
- A boost for crisis and mental health services including for Lifeline, free 24 hour support via Sonder and counselling for peri-natal depression and anxiety
- Funding for mental health support for vulnerable and culturally and linguistically diverse communities
- Assistance for young people through headspace, Kids Helpline and the Butterfly Foundation
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