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In the wake of Victoria’s fourth lockdown, the small business organisation has called for sustained federal small business support, like New Zealand’s COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment.
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COSBOA calls for national targeted support scheme as lockdowns continue
01 June 2021
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The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia on Monday called on the Morrison government to introduce renewed federal support for small businesses crippled by the financial impacts of ongoing state-wide lockdowns around the country.
COSBOA urged the national cabinet to consider implementing a scheme similar to New Zealand’s COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment, where as soon as the nation’s COVID-19 alert level increases to level 2 or higher for seven days or longer, businesses can access support.
COSBOA chief executive Peter Strong said while New Zealand doesn’t have state politics to reckon with, Australian leaders should look to them as an example, and work together to usher in a similar scheme.
“Our friends across the Tasman are ahead of us in this area,” Mr Strong said. “Yes, not having states does make it easier for them, but our states and territories can still choose to work together through the national cabinet. Instead they have chosen to turn inwards and play politics.”
New Zealand’s COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment scheme offers eligible businesses access to the lesser of either $1,500 plus $400 per full-time equivalent employee capped at 50 employees, or four times the actual revenue decline experienced by the applicant.
Mr Strong said the government should consider to adopt similar provisions for Australian businesses, as further lockdowns are likely.
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“We’re more than 12 months on from the start of the pandemic and have experienced multiple local lockdowns in almost all of our capital cities,” Mr Strong said. “We know that they will happen again.
“There’s no excuse for not having a nationally consistent business support payment ready to be activated when a lockdown is called.”
Mr Strong pointed to reinstating a loss in turnover support mechanism, similar to that employed by JobKeeper, so that businesses aren’t excluded from support, as they were in Victoria through the state’s Valentine’s Day lockdown.
“Assessing eligibility according to loss in turnover is another thing that New Zealand is doing right,” Mr Strong said. “We did that right at the national level with JobKeeper, but after its Valentine’s Day lockdown, Victoria decided to limit support to certain ANSZIC codes.
“That meant certain small businesses that really did suffer — for instance, in allied health and complementary medicine — couldn’t even apply for financial support. It’s just not right.”
Nodding again to New Zealand, COSBOA urged the Morrison government to implement a national alert system to alleviate confusion related to who classifies as an essential worker, what an essential business is, and to standardise activities permitted under lockdown, at varying degrees.
“The public should know ahead of time what they can and can’t do under stage two restrictions, stage three restrictions, stage four,” Mr Strong said.
“Small business owners in all sectors need to know when they can open and when they can’t. That way when a state government calls for a ‘stage three’ lockdown, everyone knows what that entails.”
COSBOA’s calls for renewed federal support echo those from across the accounting profession, the political spectrum and the nation’s union.
CPA Australia’s manager of external affairs, Jane Rennie, last week called for co-ordinated national support for Australian businesses, as Victoria entered a state of lockdown which the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated would cost the state’s businesses $1 billion.
“Given the potential for future lockdowns, we think there should be a co-ordinated national scheme to provide support for affected businesses,” Dr Rennie said.
“This could be co-ordinated through the national cabinet and triggered when a lockdown is announced. This would provide businesses with greater certainty and allow them to plan and operate with more confidence.”
It’s a sentiment which was echoed by Tony Greco, general manager of technical policy at the Institute of Public Accountants, who said other targeted options would need to be considered to protect businesses from the damaging impacts likely to cripple some of the state’s businesses.
Susan Franks, senior tax advocate at Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, also called for sustained support to keep otherwise viable businesses open, which she said should be bolstered by a more rigorous vaccine rollout.
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