Covid Qld: $4m in fraudulent business grants written off

Businesses who double-dipped in Covid-19 grants will not have to repay up to $4 million after the Government decided not to pursue them. VOTE IN OUR POLL

The Queensland government will write off about $4 million in potentially fraudulent grants handed to double-dipping businesses during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Department of Employment and Small Business director-general Warwick Agnew revealed his agency would not pursue about 400 businesses that received payroll tax relief and adaptation grants, noting the effort required.

The cost of the claims were $4 million and only a handful of businesses were likely to have been entitled to both.

Mr Agnew said the department had informed the Queensland Audit Office of the effort that would be required to identify ineligible businesses and recover the funds.

He said the office did not disagree with the decision, but issued recommendations to improve grants programs and the sharing of businesses’ confidential information within the public service.

The schemes were also oversubscribed, meaning businesses that may have been entitled to grants could have missed out due to the fraudulent claims.

Opposition small and family business spokesman Brent Mickelberg called for the government to recoup the cash, saying the write-off added salt to the wounds of families struggling with cost-of-living pressures.

“Many eligible Queensland small businesses who missed out on these grants are feeling rightly cheated,” he said.

“The fact that the government is not even bothering to investigate fraudulent claims shows they simply do not care about wasting millions of dollars.”

Originally published as Covid Qld: $4m in fraudulent business grants written off