The Victorian Transport Association has welcomed additional financial support announced by the Victorian Government at the weekend to assist businesses that have been hit hard by trading restrictions.
The $3 billion relief package includes a mix of cash grants, tax relief and cashflow support. While much of the detail around how to qualify for assistance has yet to be released, specific headline relief measures to note includes:
- $1.1 billion in cash grants though the Business Support Fund for businesses with payrolls up to $10 million;
- $1.7 billion in payroll tax deferral for businesses with payrolls of up to $10 million for the full 2020-21 financial year;
- Establishment of a $251 million Licenced Venue Fund for hospitality businesses and licenced venues, as well as the waiver of liquor license fees for 2021;
- $137 million in deferral of charges including liquor licence fees, the congestion levy and increases to the landfill levy;
- $100 million of relief for sole traders in grants up to $3000 from the Sole Trader Support Fund; and
- Grants of up to $20,000 to support alpine resort businesses cover their resort and other fees.
Additional details about the support package for businesses is at www.business.vic.gov.au
“The package also includes provisions for supporting Victorian exporters with a $15.7 million export recovery package to address logistics and supply chain issues caused by Covid-19 and establish new export channels,” says VTA CEO Peter Anderson.
“Freight and logistics, as an essential service, has been spared much of the pain and hardship caused by Covid-19, however customers of transport have not been so fortunate.
“The support will assist hospitality, tourism, manufacturing, non-essential retail and other sectors of the economy – who are all consumers of freight – and it is important that as an industry we support our customers as best we can through this difficult time,” he says.