State budget 2021: Dine and Discover vouchers could be repackaged

The Dine and Discover $25 vouchers could be extended in the NSW budget in an effort to revive one particular area of Sydney.

Dominic Perrottet has left the door open to extending the $25 Dine and Discover vouchers for just the CBD only in the upcoming state budget, as he stepped up calls for Canberra to suspend fringe benefits tax to revive Sydney.

It can be revealed Mr Perrottet has written to Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg asking him to consider a “temporary, targeted exemption from the Fringe Benefits Tax to incentivise spending and economic activity in the Sydney CBD”.

It comes after the idea was last week raised at the Treasurer’s CBD summit.

In the letter, Mr Perrottet noted that continued travel and movement restrictions were holding back the return of activity to the CBD even as the NSW economy experienced a strong recovery.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says Dine and Discover vouchers could be used again in the CBD. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Mr Perrottet, who is currently preparing for the NSW budget, told The Daily Telegraph he was examining several proposals that would extend stimulus measures, which were steps the state government could take on its own.

“I will always look at ways we can readjust the stimulus measures to meet need,” Mr Perrottet said.

“There’s no doubt restaurants, bars in the city are doing it tough, particularly Monday to Friday.”

He said: “I know with stimulus packages there is generally an under spend and you need to keep going. I’m continually reassessing where the need is and where tin investment for impact needs to be”.

He said one option was repurposing the $25 dine and discover vouchers to he CBD. He noted the government had already committed to $100 accommodation vouchers to bring people back into the city.

Nathan Moore and Catherine Gallagher at the Glenmore Hotel in Sydney, where the Dine and Discover vouchers could be used. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“We could repurpose dine and discover to just service the CBD as a next step,” he suggested, adding that here was proof the measures were slowly working.

He pointed to The Rocks region, which relied heavily on foreign tourists with patronage collapsing in the face of the pandemic.

“In April 2020, foot traffic dropped by 95 per cent in the rocks. It is now back to 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and that’s with international borders still closed,” Mr Perrottet said.

Mr Perrottet said he acknowledged that the federal government faced their own fiscal pressures, but urged them to look at levers such as fringe benefits tax.

“When city bars and restaurants go well, Sydney goes well off the back of that - there’s a dual benefit,” he said.

“Let’s look a trial for a period of time. It could even be limited to just the Sydney CBD for the purposes of a trial.”

General Manager of The Glenmore Hotel at The Rocks, Lincoln Baker, said trade was still down but the Dine and Discover vouchers had helped.

“We are definitely still struggling and anything we can do to stimulate spending here would be really welcomed,” he said.