Gladys Berejiklian admits Service NSW scrambling to ‘get money out the door’

Gladys Berejiklian says the government is in such a hurry to get cash relief to small businesses, it is overlooking one criteria.

Gladys Berejiklian has hilariously admitted the NSW government perhaps isn’t being as strict as it ordinarily might be with eligibility criteria for small business relief – in order to “get the cash out the door”.

The state government is offering between $7500 and $15,000, depending on a business’s losses, if they can prove they have been operating in NSW before June 1, have paid less than $10 million in wages as at July 1 last year, and have an annual turnover between $75,000 and $50 million for the previous financial year.

However, as NSW recorded 262 locally acquired cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, Ms Berejiklian let slip that due to a barrage of calls and issues with the Service NSW website, applications were probably not being checked as vigorously as they normally would be.

“We need to cut out any red tape in terms of the form filling,” she said.

“Normally, you have some integrity measures in place to make sure that people are being honest, but we would rather forego to make sure we're getting money out the door.

“I probably shouldn’t have said the last sentence, but you know what I mean.”

Some small business owners have reported they are struggling to get through on the phone to Service NSW or to navigate the website. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Ms Berejiklian was asked by a reporter what was being done to help small business owners struggling to get through on the phone to Service NSW or navigate the website.

“We asked the treasurer (Dominic Perrottet), the treasurer says it’s (Customer Service Minister) Victor Dominello … Who in your government is responsible for making sure that businesses don‘t go down the drain with the lockdown?” the reporter asked.

“I did receive from preliminary advice to say our systems will be improving from tomorrow,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We ask people to be patient in terms of the wait times. At the end of the day, you know, I'm the premier, so the buck stops with me. I have to make sure we make the processes as efficient as possible, as streamlined as possible.”

Eligible businesses must also have had no other government support for business costs, and to have retained all their employees since July 13.

Grants are available in three sizes: $7,500 for a decline of 30 per cent or more; $10,500 for a decline of 50 per cent or more; or $15,000 for a decline of 70 per cent or more.

The grant was introduced to soothe some of the financial pains felt by businesses because of the lockdown in Sydney and restrictions in other parts of the state.