ACT expands SME COVID support

Under lockdown, hospitality and licensed venues such as cafes, restaurants and food courts must remain closed except for takeaway and delivery, while nightclubs must also remain closed but can trade as an off-licence venue.

Essential retail and business premises can remain open but must provide click and collect arrangements wherever possible.

As such, the COVID-19 business support grants have been increased by $10,000 for employing businesses and $3,500 for non-employing businesses where their turnover has declined by 30 per cent or more due to the COVID-19-related restrictions.

Businesses must be able to demonstrate their primary operation in the ACT, have an annual turnover of more than $75,000, be registered for the GST, and have a total payroll of less than $10 million.

They will also need to provide evidence of a 30 per cent reduction in their turnover.

Businesses that have already made an application do not need to make a new application as the new payments will be automatically applied if they are eligible. First payments are likely to be made in the coming days, according to the ACT and Commonwealth governments.

The package will be split on a 50-50 basis between Commonwealth and the ACT governments, with the ACT government to administer the program, similar to arrangements in place for businesses in other jurisdictions impacted by the lockdowns.

The Commonwealth and ACT governments previously announced that they will provide funding of up to $10,000 for employing businesses and $4,000 for non-employing businesses over the three-week lockdown period where turnover has declined by 30 per cent or more as a result of the COVID-19 health restrictions when the lockdown was extended to 2 September in the territory.

Commenting on the support measures, federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said: “The Morrison Government understands the significant impact extended lockdowns have on individuals and businesses in the ACT.

“That is why we have increased our economic assistance through expanded businesses support with the ACT Government and continuing the COVID-19 Disaster Payment for individuals.”

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr explained that the territory has yet to see the public health risk reduce to a point that could safely end the lockdown.

As such, he said: “The COVID-19 Business Support Grant will help businesses suffering from significantly reduced turnover as a result of the necessary health restrictions to keep the transmission potential of COVID-19 below one.”

ACT senator Zed Seselja said that the expanded support was necessary to support ACT businesses and jobs amid the lockdown.

He said: “The Commonwealth has come to the table and is ensuring Canberra businesses can access the urgent support they need.

“While the Commonwealth Government has stepped up to support Canberrans, I would continue to urge the ACT Government to support those sectors that can safely reopen by putting in place a clear plan to do so.”

Several states and territories have rolled out support packages in the past few weeks amid continued lockdowns and disruption to business operations, including Melbourne and regional Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Queensland, the ACT, the Northern Territory, Tasmania, and Western Australia.

In addition, the eligibility for the SME Recovery Loan Scheme was recently expanded again to assist small-to-medium enterprises (SME) with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and associated lockdowns.

While the loans were originally open to JobKeeper payment recipients between 4 January 2021 and 28 March 2021 (which was extended at the end of March to cover SMEs impacted by floods), Mr Frydenberg recently announced that both of these requirements will be removed for SMEs to be eligible under the scheme.

[Related: Government opens up criteria for SME Recovery Loan Scheme]