The State Government today announced a further $282.5 million in financial support for Victorian businesses following strong advocacy from the Victorian Chamber.
The Victorian Chamber has been in discussions with the State Government to expand and increase the Lockdown Five support package to better reflect the sacrifices that businesses have made to stay closed on the public health advice. Measures we advocated for and the Government has adopted include:
- An additional $4200 for eligible Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund recipients
- An additional $2800 for Business Costs Assistance Program recipients
- An additional $3000 for Alpine hospitality, retail, accommodation and experience operators that were eligible for grants of up to $15,000, on top of any entitlements under the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund or Business Costs Assistance Program
- Support of up to $25,000 and $10,000 for eligible public events and public events suppliers, respectively, through an extension of the Impacted Public Events Support Program.
The State Government has also confirmed a new round of the Live Performance Support programs, with funding of up to $7,000 for presenters and up to $2,000 for suppliers.
Available for regional areas and metropolitan Melbourne, a new round of the Sporting Clubs Grants Program will provide community sport and active recreation organisations $2,000 grants for events that haven't been able to go ahead or will be cancelled or postponed.
Discussions between the State and Federal Governments have confirmed that most microbusinesses not registered for GST will be eligible for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment of $600/$375 per seven-day period. The State Government will create a concierge service to assist these businesses in accessing this support.
While the Victorian Chamber is pleased to see the State Government is listening, more needs to be done to alleviate the rent burden, particularly for those businesses with massive rent bills that continue to pile up while they remain shut and unable to draw an income. The exclusion of businesses directly and indirectly impacted by restrictions from support based on industry classification is also yet to be addressed. We will continue to advocate on these pressing issues and are having ongoing discussions with the State Government to support Victorian businesses.
To be attributed to Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Paul Guerra:
"The Victorian Chamber has been working closely with the State Government on this extension and expansion package of support for Victorian businesses.
"We are pleased that the State Government has today announced that the majority of our recommendations have been acted upon to see impacted businesses through this devastating time
"We will continue to advocate for impacted businesses not currently eligible under the various ANZSIC business sector codes to ensure they get the support they so desperately need and more needs to be done to alleviate rent pressure, especially for those renting high-value premises.
"As we've said time and again, the best support we can give business is to enable them to trade in a viable way, so let's get through these next few days and get back to zero community transmission - and then the government should allow business to shift back to pre-lockdown settings."
