NSW offers lifeline for coronavirus locked-down businesses

Businesses on Sydney’s northern beaches will receive up to $5000 from the state government under a hardship scheme.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the northern beaches community had been pivotal to controlling the spread of COVID-19 during a critical time for the city. Picture: Getty Images

Businesses on Sydney’s northern beaches will receive up to $5000 from the state government under a hardship scheme aimed at paying off overheads they incurred during the region’s three-week lockdown.

The funding will include $3000 grants for small businesses that have suffered a 30 per cent decline in turnover due to the restrictions, and $5000 grants to businesses whose losses amounted to a 50 per cent decline.

Officials said the payments were designed to help with unavoidable costs that fall outside the scope of existing grants, such as payments for utilities, rent, and financial or legal advice. They did not provide an amount for the scheme’s cost or an estimate of how many businesses were ­expected to benefit.

The compensation package had been sought for weeks by business owners and was spurred in part by a report by the NSW Small Business Commissioner.

Initial deliberations within government were geared away from providing direct compensation because of the precedent it would set for others elsewhere across the city whose earnings had suffered during the pandemic.

This included businesses in the CBD whose takings were slashed as a result of Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s request that consumers avoid the city on Boxing Day, ­depriving retailers of their traditional surge in sales.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the northern beaches community had been pivotal to controlling the spread of COVID-19 during a critical time for the city.

Initially contained to the northern beaches, the virus eventually emerged in other parts of the city, including the eastern suburbs, the inner west and southwest, raising concerns that further lockdowns might be needed.

Finance Minister Damien ­Tudehope said the tiered approach was taken because some businesses were impacted more severely than others. “The grants are designed to cover unavoidable costs for which no other government backing is available,” he said. “I’d like to thank the local businesses for their resilience and ­patience and for working with the NSW Small Business Commissioner.”

Enacted during a time when thousands of visitors were likely to have entered the northern beaches area during the Christmas and New Year period, the three-week lockdown prompted the region to be split into two zones with varying restrictions for residents. The subsequent decline in foot traffic devastated business owners.

The grants are comparable to those offered by the Victorian government following the easing of its lockdown restrictions; sole traders were offered $3000 to help cover overheads and hospitality businesses were eligible for $5000 to pay for outdoor dining equipment.

Labor Treasury spokesman Walt Secord said the compensation was a “pittance”. “The Berejiklian government promises big but delivers very little,” he said. “Often these programs … are ­impossible to access.”

In addition to the grants, the government said it would be targeting stimulus measures towards the northern beaches, including promoting local attractions.

The government’s Dine and Discover program, announced in the November budget, and which will provide consumers with $100 worth of vouchers to spend at cafes, restaurants and cultural events, will also be trialled in the area.