On Thursday 15th July, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews both came to an agreement to offer support to Victorian workers located in the latest covid-19 hotspots who will lose income due to the new restrictions.
Victorian workers who have lost between eight and less than 20 hours of work will receive a payment of $375, while individuals who have lost more than 20 hours work will be paid $600.
There are now no restrictions placed on who is eligible to receive the payment, due to the assets test being scrapped in early July. Previously, recipients of the disaster payment had to prove that they had less than $10,000 in savings. This boundary has since been removed.
However, eligibility for the individual payments is still based from the second week of a lockdown onward, the first week will also be covered “on an arrears basis” on application to Services Australia, seven days after the commencement of the lockdown.
The new agreement is in line with Scott Morrison’s comments made on Thursday 15th July, where he proposed a “streamlined set of financial supports” for residents and businesses located in a Commonwealth-designated covid-19 hotspot or those subject to lockdowns enforced by states or territories.
On Friday 16th July 2021, over 40 percent of the Australian population was in lockdown.
Victoria’s latest set of restrictions apply to the Greater Melbourne, Moorabool Shire, City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliff and Surf Coast Shire regions. It’s the fifth lockdown the state has imposed since the beginning of the pandemic.
With Victoria’s lockdown currently only scheduled to last for five days, support for businesses currently falls under the state government’s remit, starting on day one. If the lockdown is extended, the Commonwealth intends to implement economic support for business owners in line with the new package that is currently being distributed in NSW.
The state’s support for businesses in lockdown this week is expected to be very similar to the Circuit Breaker Business Support Package that was introduced by Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas for Greater Melbourne’s fourth lockdown, which ran from 28th May to 17th June.
the Circuit Breaker Business Support Package totalled $250 million and introduced a structure of grants that delivered targeted funding to hospitality businesses, event organisers, and small and medium-sized businesses with an annual payroll of up to $10 million.
The support measure also offered liquor licence and food certificate holders between $3,500 and $7,000 per premises. Other businesses were eligible to receive payments of $2,500 or $5,000. Grants ranging from $500 to $150,000 were available for the organisers, suppliers and hosts of live events.
The new federal model for economic support for businesses in an extended lockdown foresees aid of between $1,500 and $10,000 for businesses with annual revenue of up to $50 million. Businesses must, however, maintain their regular staffing levels and demonstrate a fall of at least 30 percent over a similar two-week period in 2019.
More Information About The NSW State Government’s Recently Announced Support To Help Businesses During Greater Sydney Lockdown
The NSW Government has announced a major economic support package worth billions of dollars serving a purpose to help businesses and individuals right across the state who have been impacted by the latest covid-19 lockdown.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the NSW Government was offering support in as many areas as possible, with payroll tax cuts for eligible businesses, up to $75 million in support for the performing arts sector and $26 million for the accommodation industry.
The support package will now be up to a total of $5.1 billion, this includes more than $1 billion from the Commonwealth as part of a business and employee support program.
The business grants program announced at the end of June has also been expanded, with grants between $7500 and $15,000 available to eligible businesses with annual wages up to $10 million.
A new grant program has also been introduced for smaller micro businesses with turnover between $30,000 and $75,000.
Thousands of employees will also be protected with NSW committing half of a new $2.1 billion business and employee support program to be delivered together with the Commonwealth.
Businesses in NSW will benefit from payroll tax waivers of 25% for businesses with Australian wages of between $1.2 million and $10 million that have experienced a 30% decline in turnover.
From Sunday 18th July, the Covid-19 Disaster Payment will also increase from $500 to $600 each week if a person has lost 20 hours or more of work a week, or $325 to $375 each week if a person has lost anywhere between 8 and 20 hours of work.
The increased payment will be available to NSW individuals outside Commonwealth-declared hotspots in Sydney if they have lost hours and satisfy the eligibility criteria.
The payment will be a recurring payment for approved recipients for as long as the Commonwealth-declared hotspot and lockdown restrictions remain in place. This will remove the need for recipients to re-claim for each seven-day period of a lockdown.