COVID-19 Resources

The support line (13 28 46) has been expanded to provide specialist advisers and extended hours to support small and medium businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also send an email.

The Hotline operates seven days per week, and provide an additional two hours a day of support outside standard operating hours for the first month, answering calls from 7.00am to 11.00pm AEST.

During these challenging times businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 need readily available access to advice so they can fully understand the assistance available to them and their employees.

Coronavirus Information and Support for Business  

While this is a difficult time for business, you still need to look after your customers. Know your customer rights and how to keep them supporting your business. Find out here.

Effective marketing gives your customers a reason to purchase from you instead of your competitors. Under the challenges of COVID-19, it can also help you to keep your customers loyal to your business. Find out how to market your business under COVID-19. 

All PM media annoucements

On Tuesday 12 May the Treasurer outlined in an address to Parliament the devastating impact COVID-19 has had on the Australian economy and the Australian way of life. Treasury is forecasting:

• GDP to fall by over 10% in the June quarter - our biggest fall on record
• The unemployment rate to reach around 10%, or 1.4 million unemployed in the June quarter – a 5% increase in 3 months compared to the three years it took to rise by the same amount during the early 1990s.

However through this Australians are showing remarkable resilience and character.

Read the Treasurer’s full statement here.

On Friday 8 May the National Cabinet finalised a three-step plan roadmap to gradually remove baseline restrictions to allow the reopening of the Australian economy.

The three-step plan provides a pathway for states and territories to move towards COVID-safe communities in a way that best suits their individual circumstances, their current public health situation and local conditions (see Queensland’s plan in the article below).

The more Australians downloading the COVIDSafe app, the quicker restrictions will ease and businesses can reopen across the country. To download the app please visit: www.covidsafe.gov.au

For the detailed roadmap, click here and summary roadmap click here.

24 July Statement from the National Cabinet — A Domestic Border Control Freight Movement Protocol has been agreed. This will allow freight to move safely and efficiently and further work will be carried out to minimise COVID-19 risks for workers and the community.

The ATO has set up an Emergency Support Infoline - 1800 806 218. The Infoline provides tailored advice to support small business who may be having difficulties meeting their tax and super obligations.

Small businesses can contact the ATO to defer some payments and vary instalments that are due. These include income tax, activity statement, pay as you go (PAYG) instalments, FBT and excise payments by up to six months.

Sole traders and self-employed Australians who are PAYG instalments payers, may vary their PAYG instalments on their activity statement. They may do this by lodging a revised activity statement before the instalment is due and before the tax return for the year is lodged. Sole traders and self-employed Australians who vary their PAYG instalment rate or amount can also claim a refund for any instalments made during the 2019–20 financial year.

Where PAYG instalments are varied, the ATO won't apply penalties or charge interest to varied instalments for the 2019–20 financial year and if a mistake is made in working out the PAYG instalment, the sole trader and self-employed Australian may correct it by lodging a revised activity statement or varying a subsequent instalment.

Click for more info on COVID-19 ATO Support

COVID-19 FAQs answers some common tax and super questions about COVID-19.

The ATO will accept a temporary simplified method (or shortcut method) of calculating additional running expenses from 1 March 2020 until at least 30 June 2020. They may extend this period, depending on when work patterns return to normal.

Click for info

Join in to the ATO’s free webinars to help your business get up to date with your tax obligations across a range of general and industry-specific areas, including how to set up your myGovID to login online.

JobKeeper Eligibility Update

On August 7, the Government announced further changes to the JobKeeper payment. Businesses will now only need to show their GST turnover has fallen in one quarter, instead of two, to qualify for the extension of the scheme, which is due to come into effect at the end of September.

Last month the Government announced the extension of the JobKeeper Payment by a further six months to 28 March 2021. The payment rate will be reduced and a lower payment rate will be introduced for those who work fewer hours. Learn more about the JobKeeper Payment for employers and employees or sole traders and other entities.

For help with the JobKeeper payment, the Small Business Association of Australia has posted easy to follow step-by-step JobKeeper Guides:

• JobKeeper for Business Owners
• JobKeeper for Sole Traders

Bridging Finance

On 23 April 2020, the Treasurer announced the CBA, NAB, Westpac and ANZ banks agreed to establish dedicated hotlines for their customers to call to receive the bridging finance necessary to pay their staff ahead of receiving the JobKeeper Payment.

The hotlines are as follows:

• CBA: 13 26 07
• ANZ: 1800 571 123
• NAB: 1800 JOBKEEPER
• Westpac: 1300 731 073
• St George: 1300 730 196
• Bank of Melbourne: 1300 784 873
• Bank SA: 1300 669 472

The banks have also agreed to bring to the front of the queue all bridging finance applications. This means any business that is eligible for the JobKeeper Payment can now ring the dedicated hotline for the bank and ask for the bridging finance necessary to pay their staff.

New eligibility requirements for employees that are 16 and 17 years old

Employees that are 16 and 17 years old who identified as eligible under the original eligibility criteria for the first three JobKeeper fortnights (from 30 March until 10 May 2020), may no longer be eligible employees under the JobKeeper wages subsidy scheme from the JobKeeper fortnight 4 commencing 11 May.

This means that full-time students are no longer eligible employees, unless (as of 1 March 2020) they are also independent, from JobKeeper fortnight 4. However, employers can still claim for those 16 and 17 year olds who had already identified as eligible employees for JobKeeper fortnights 1 to 3 from 30 March up until 10 May 2020.

What employers need to do

Employers will need to provide their 16 and 17 year old employees with the new JobKeeper Employee nomination notice and have them complete and return it as soon as possible to confirm if they meet the new eligibility criteria and that they agree to be nominated for JobKeeper fortnight 4 commencing on 11 May.

If your 16 and 17 year old employees are no longer eligible, you will no longer be able to identify them as an eligible employee from JobKeeper fortnight 4 which commences 11 May.

Where to go for more information

Download the JobKeeper employee nomination notice

If you create your own employee nomination notice make sure it contains the new eligibility requirements for 16 and 17 year olds

Visit www.ato.gov.au/general/JobKeeper-Payment

Alternative tests for JobKeeper payments from Australian Tax Commissioner

Businesses who only opened recently or were affected by other events or circumstances in the past, including selling or restructuring the business, or were affected by drought or other natural disasters can now do an Alternative Decline in Turnover Test so they are not disadvantaged in demonstrating the 30% reduction in turnover criterion for the JobKeeper payment.

More information can be found here.

Payroll tax exemption on JobKeeper Payments

Administrative arrangements have been fast-tracked to ensure payroll tax assessments do not include JobKeeper payments, providing additional effective relief of $360 million over six months to Queensland-employing businesses.

Details in the Premier’s media statement

Superannuation guarantee amnesty ends on 7 September — The Australian Tax Office is reminding businesses that the super guarantee amnesty is a one-off opportunity to correct past unpaid super guarantee amounts and avoid significant penalties. The six month amnesty for employers will end on Monday 7 September 2020.

Tax Time 2020 toolkit for small business — The Australian Tax Office has developed a directory and factsheets for small businesses, as part of their support for the sector.

Employers need to demonstrate actual GST turnover has fallen against a comparable period and two tiers of payment rates now apply.

The Australian Government has released modelling of how COVID-19 could spread through the Australian population under different scenarios. This modelling helps governments take action to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prepare our health system.

The Australian Government is providing information about COVID-19 initiatives in more than 60 languages. This can be accessed via the following links:

Translated Coronavirus Resources

Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Information for the Australian community

The government has announced temporary changes to visa arrangements to help farmers access the workforce they need to secure Australia’s food and produce supply during COVID-19.

The Department of Home Affairs have established a webpage that will be updated regularly with information about Australia’s immigration and border arrangements during the COVID-19 outbreak. The information is being updated on a regular basis, including answers to frequently asked questions: COVID-19 and the border

The Residential Tenancies Practice Guide for the temporary requirements and protections for tenancies impacted by COVID-19 is now available. It will help property owners and their tenants in their discussions to negotiate a way through the next six months.

Leases and tenancies continue to be a major issue for landlords and businesses. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman is offering a mediation service to assist small business operators to resolve complaints and disputes. Call 1300 650 460 to register.

Beyond Blue has a free 24/7 service to help you deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Find online information, self-help tools, phone counselling and tips to run your small business. 

TAFE Queensland is offering free online COVID Safe Training for dining services and beauty therapy services. The training program has been developed to provide all staff in industries requiring a COVID Safe Checklist with training to help ensure a COVID Safe work environment.

Australia TradeCoast - the region's game plan to re-ignite global exports webinar 

The TCI Recovery Playbook, developed by the TCI Network, is a dynamic guide to help economic development and cluster organisations navigate towards economic recovery.

Through a 3-phase model - from short-term crisis management, to living with the pandemic and finally igniting new growth - the TCI Recovery Playbook focusses on the different roles and priorities that these organisations will have to adopt. The Playbook will help organisations handle the quickly shifting demands, guiding towards anchor short-term actions in a long-term plan, while reflecting on the role they have to play in the overall policy response to the COVID-19 crisis.

SafeVisit is an entirely free, locally developed and easy universal platform that can be used by businesses and organisations for contact tracing purposes. SafeVisit is used to check in customers or visitors to businesses in hospitality, retail, professional services, commercial offices, clubs and associations. It can also be used for schools, universities and industry bodies.
 
Developed within the Brisbane Junior Chamber of Commerce under the auspices of the Chamber collective’s Local as Queensland and Park Collect, SafeVisit has clocked 60,000 unique checkins and continues to see exponential growth since its launch on 31 July.
 
Download SafeVisit for free at www.safevisit.com.au 

JobKeeper Eligibility Update

On August 7, the Government announced further changes to the JobKeeper payment. Businesses will now only need to show their GST turnover has fallen in one quarter, instead of two, to qualify for the extension of the scheme, which is due to come into effect at the end of September.

Last month the Government announced the extension of the JobKeeper Payment by a further six months to 28 March 2021. The payment rate will be reduced and a lower payment rate will be introduced for those who work fewer hours. Learn more about the JobKeeper Payment for employers and employees or sole traders and other entities.

For help with the JobKeeper payment, the Small Business Association of Australia has posted easy to follow step-by-step JobKeeper Guides:

• JobKeeper for Business Owners
• JobKeeper for Sole Traders

Bridging Finance

On 23 April 2020, the Treasurer announced the CBA, NAB, Westpac and ANZ banks agreed to establish dedicated hotlines for their customers to call to receive the bridging finance necessary to pay their staff ahead of receiving the JobKeeper Payment.

The hotlines are as follows:

• CBA: 13 26 07
• ANZ: 1800 571 123
• NAB: 1800 JOBKEEPER
• Westpac: 1300 731 073
• St George: 1300 730 196
• Bank of Melbourne: 1300 784 873
• Bank SA: 1300 669 472

The banks have also agreed to bring to the front of the queue all bridging finance applications. This means any business that is eligible for the JobKeeper Payment can now ring the dedicated hotline for the bank and ask for the bridging finance necessary to pay their staff.

New eligibility requirements for employees that are 16 and 17 years old

Employees that are 16 and 17 years old who identified as eligible under the original eligibility criteria for the first three JobKeeper fortnights (from 30 March until 10 May 2020), may no longer be eligible employees under the JobKeeper wages subsidy scheme from the JobKeeper fortnight 4 commencing 11 May.

This means that full-time students are no longer eligible employees, unless (as of 1 March 2020) they are also independent, from JobKeeper fortnight 4. However, employers can still claim for those 16 and 17 year olds who had already identified as eligible employees for JobKeeper fortnights 1 to 3 from 30 March up until 10 May 2020.

What employers need to do

Employers will need to provide their 16 and 17 year old employees with the new JobKeeper Employee nomination notice and have them complete and return it as soon as possible to confirm if they meet the new eligibility criteria and that they agree to be nominated for JobKeeper fortnight 4 commencing on 11 May.

If your 16 and 17 year old employees are no longer eligible, you will no longer be able to identify them as an eligible employee from JobKeeper fortnight 4 which commences 11 May.

Where to go for more information

Download the JobKeeper employee nomination notice

If you create your own employee nomination notice make sure it contains the new eligibility requirements for 16 and 17 year olds

Visit www.ato.gov.au/general/JobKeeper-Payment

Alternative tests for JobKeeper payments from Australian Tax Commissioner

Businesses who only opened recently or were affected by other events or circumstances in the past, including selling or restructuring the business, or were affected by drought or other natural disasters can now do an Alternative Decline in Turnover Test so they are not disadvantaged in demonstrating the 30% reduction in turnover criterion for the JobKeeper payment.

More information can be found here.

Payroll tax exemption on JobKeeper Payments

Administrative arrangements have been fast-tracked to ensure payroll tax assessments do not include JobKeeper payments, providing additional effective relief of $360 million over six months to Queensland-employing businesses.

Details in the Premier’s media statement

Registrations are now open for the Australian Government’s small business wage subsidy, to cover 50% of the apprentice’s or trainee’s wage paid during the 9 months from 1 January to 30 September 2020.

This will help businesses retain their existing apprentices and trainees through the Government’s $1.3 billion Supporting Apprentices and Trainees package.

For more information on how to apply, including eligibility, contact an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN) provider.

Freight acccess for agriculture and fisheries exporters

The instant asset write-off threshold has been increased from $30,000 to $150,000 and expanded access to include businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million). This applies from 12 March 2020 until 31 December 2020, for new or second‑hand assets first used or installed ready for use in this timeframe.

If your small or medium-sized business employs staff and has an aggregated annual turnover under $50 million, you may be eligible for two sets of cash flow boosts up to $100,000.

These payments are designed to help keep your business operating, pay rent, electricity and other bills and retain staff.

Small to medium-sized businesses, not-for-profit organisations, sole traders, partnerships, companies and trusts may be eligible if they had an ABN on 12 March 2020 and continue to operate.

The cash flow boost provides a tax free payment to employers and is automatically calculated by the ATO.

No new forms are required. Eligibility will generally be based on prior year turnover.

Supporting apprentices and trainees

Assistance to the Aviation Sector

The Australian Government will support Qantas and Virgin Australia Groups to operate a minimum domestic network. 

The Government will provide initial support to our airline industry through an estimated $715 million package of relief from a range of taxes and Government charges.

This package will support our aviation sector through an unprecedented period of disruption to international and domestic air travel.

Support will be available to businesses conducting commercial and aeromedical aircraft operations that are subject to the taxes, fees, charges and costs covered by the package.

The aviation sector will be supported through relief from a range of taxes and Government charges between 1 February and 30 September 2020.

The 2020 round of the Regional and Small Publishers Innovation Fund has been brought forward and is now open, providing up to $5 million in grants. Applications are invited from regional and metropolitan publishers and content service providers of public interest journalism. The closing date for the funding round is 22 May 2020.

Support for Coronavirus-affected regions and communities

There is now nationally-consistent, industry-specific work health and safety guidance on COVID-19, accessible via a central hub provided by Safe Work Australia. Australian workplaces will be able to use this central hub of WHS guidance and tools to help manage health and safety risks posed by COVID-19.

99 awards have had temporary changes to allow unpaid pandemic leave and annual leave at half pay.

There has been an increase in COVID-19 themed cyber activity towards websites designed to either install software or steal personal information and banking details. Learn more about protecting yourself here. 

In preparing for the revival of businesses and industry, SafeWork Australia has developed a website with guidelines and information across 23 industries so that businesses can return to work in a COVID-safe environment. It provides guidance for preparing plans and protocols to cover:

1. Undertaking daily business (what to expect for both customers and employees)
2. Preventing the spread of COVID-19
3. Responding in the event of an incident involving an infected customer or employee
4. Recovery after incidents including cleaning and testing the workplace.

All business and NFP workplaces are encouraged to take a close look at the extensive information and tools available on the SafeWork Australia website.

To support the tourism industry through COVID-19 and to support businesses to rebuild their operations, the Australian Government is waiving and reimbursing the cost of permits and licence fees for commercial tourism businesses operating in Commonwealth National Parks for the period of 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2021.

This support is being made available through the Australian Government’s $1 billion Relief and Recovery Fund.

Find out more here.

The Australian Government has developed a Continuing Your Business Guide -  a step-by-step guide providing positive steps you can take now to help keep your business operating and to plan your recovery. 

The Australian Government has committed more than $4.7 million to provide small regional businesses affected by COVID-19 with access to free and confidential financial counselling. Learn more about assistance for affected regions, communities and industries.

If your business has been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, you may be eligible for financial assistance or other types of relief. Use this tool to discover what support is available from the Queensland and Australian governments.

Trade Mark COVID-19 Helpine

The Australian Government’s HomeBuilder program will assist the residential construction market by encouraging the commencement of new home builds and renovations this year by providing all eligible owner-occupiers (not just first home buyers) with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home. 

The HomeBuilder program, subject to eligibility criteria, is expected to provide around 27,000 grants at a total cost of around $680 million.

Eligible employers can now access free independent legal advice to assist with coronavirus related workplace issues through the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Workplace Legal Advice Program..

The Government, Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have taken coordinated action to support the flow of credit in the Australian economy, in particular for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme will provide support for these businesses. Under the Scheme, the Government will provide a guarantee of 50 per cent to small and medium enterprise (SME) lenders for new unsecured loans to be used for working capital. This will enhance these lenders’ willingness and ability to provide credit, which will result in SMEs being able to access additional funding to help support them through the upcoming months.

Indigenous Business Australia - COVID-19 Support provides Indigenous businesses with funding and specialist advice to help them recover from the impact of COVID-19.

This useful infographic is updated every day and is an easy way to view the latest coronavirus data visually.

Access daily infographic

The Australian Government's Medical Research Future Fund will provide $25 million in funding for new COVID-19 clinical trials involving high-quality research into the virus.

Applications for funding are now open and will close on 23 September 2020. Research will be conducted over three years and is expected to commence from early 2021. 

$2 billion to extend a range of COVID-19 health measures — The Australian Government has announced that millions of Australians will continue to receive medical care and support in their own homes with more than $2 billion to extend a range of COVID-19 health measures for a further six months, to 31 March 2021. Medicare-subsidised telehealth and pathology services, GP-led respiratory clinics, home medicines delivery, public and private hospital services will all be extended, as well as further investments in PPE.

$500 million paid to keep Australian apprentices and trainees on the job — The Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidies have supported more than 51,000 employers and 89,000 apprentices or trainees. The subsidies are available through to 31 March 2021 and claims for medium-sized businesses open on 1 October 2020.

Digital hub to support small business mental health — The Ahead for Business digital hub has relaunched with an expanded range of resources to support your mental health and wellbeing as a small business owner. 

Easing of Greater Brisbane restrictions 

In light of new coronavirus restrictions involving Greater Sydney and parts of NSW, and discoveries that some crucial customer log-in details at Queensland venues are illegible, the Queensland Government is now requiring businesses to move away from paper-based check-ins and adopt QR codes or electronic check-ins.

Businesses will therefore need to act quickly to adopt an electronic check-in system; two such systems that are free, quick, easy to use and are developed in Queensland are SafeVisit and SecuRDT.

SafeVisit is a free, universal platform that can be used by businesses and organisations for contact tracing purposes. SafeVisit is used to check in customers or visitors to businesses in hospitality, retail, professional services, commercial offices, clubs and associations, schools, universities, industry bodies and more. Developed within the Queensland and Brisbane Junior Chamber of Commerce in partnership with CCIQ, SafeVisit has clocked up 970.2K check-ins across 1606 vendors.

SecuRDT asks patrons to download the app from the App Store and businesses to print a QR code containing business mobile using an online service or via the SecuRDT.com website. Privacy is assured as there is no online database. Patrons register contact details on their mobile device once only on “install”. The QR code contains a single business mobile contact number. This allows the same app to be used across all business establishments, the only difference being the mobile number encoded in the QR code. SecuRDT was developed by Brisbane software company Datamaster which develops custom software solutions from their office in Toowong.

Protecting health, creating jobs, working together and growing the economy are pillars of the next phase of Queensland’s Economic Recovery Plan released by the Premier on 20 August. The plan identifies 6 priorities for recovery and future focus: safeguarding our health; backing small business; making it for Queensland; building Queensland; growing our regions; and investing in skills. 

RDA Brisbane has provided input to Brisbane’s Economic Recovery Taskforce and the Regional Recovery Strategy for the SEQ region and will continue to engage in the coronavirus response, recovery and feedback to government.

The COVID-19 Fiscal and Economic Review provides an update on Queensland’s economic and fiscal estimates over 2019-20 and 2020-21 that incorporate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to date. The report also outlines the Queensland Government’s economic strategy.

Queensland Health advice on COVID-19

Coronavirus payroll tax relief

Queensland border restrictions

Power bill relief

Market Diversification and resilience grants

Latest updates and alerts

If you’re not sure what your business is eligible for, the Queensland Government has released an online tool to discover what support is available for your type and size of business. It will be expanded shortly to include Federal Government assistance as well.

Roadmap to easing restrictions

Vital new guidelines to ensure the safety of seasonal workers are now in place.

These include requirements that seasonal workers entering Queensland will need a border pass and details of where they had been for the previous two weeks, written confirmation of a job in Queensland and where they plan to reside.
 
Seasonal workers from a declared COVID-19 hotspot must also self-quarantine for 14 days at their own or their employer’s expense before starting their employment.

You can find a range of COVID-19 resources for the agriculture sector and other businesses here.

Sport and recreation COVID Safe Restart Plan — $51 million plan to assist community sport, including grants for clubs, participants and peak bodies.

The Queensland Government needs vital goods and services to help Queenslanders during the coronavirus pandemic, and is committed to providing Queensland businesses with the opportunity to provide these goods and services wherever possible.

Find out what is needed and how your manufacturing business can get involved.

RDA Brisbane congratulates Queensland’s Small Business Champion, Maree Adshead, who has been announced as the Queensland Small Business Commissioner, to help small business recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Small business tenants and landlords whose trade has been affected by COVID-19 can seek assistance with resolving lease disputes and access a free mediation service offered by the Commissioner.

The Office of the Queensland Small Business Commissioner can be contacted on
1300 312 344 or visit www.business.qld.gov.au/qsbc

COVID-19 hotspots

Queensland Government targets 25% of PPE for frontline health and essential workers to be purchased from local manufacturers.

Moratorium on commercial lease evictions extended to end of 2020 — A 3-month extension to emergency response regulation protects leaseholders who fall behind on their payments due to the effects of COVID-19. The Queensland Small Business Commissioner offers additional support for small businesses including informal resolution and mediation for affected leases.

Since the pandemic began, businesses have been required to keep contact information for a minimum of 30 days. This has been required so that our contact tracers can move quickly and trace anyone who might have come into contact with someone with COVID-19. This requirement is set out in the Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction.

Contact information means information that is:

1. the name, phone number, email address, and the date and time period of guests, patrons and staff; and
2. provided to a public health officer within a stated time, if requested by a public health officer; and
3. securely stored, not used for any other purpose; and
4. deleted after not less than 30 days and not more than 56 days.

Businesses must take reasonable steps to ensure that the contact information collected is accurate.

New electronic record keeping requirements

As of 1:00am Wednesday 23 December, all businesses in the hospitality industry (such as pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafés) in Queensland must comply with new electronic contact information collection requirements per the Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction. The Direction will be updated to reflect this requirement. This is due to the high risk nature of the hospitality industry.

Over the coming weeks, it will be determined whether these expanded electronic record keeping requirements will be rolled out across other industries. This will be decided based on a risk assessment of other businesses and venues.

What will this mean for businesses?

• Businesses must now move away from paper-based record keeping methods; and
• Businesses need to have an electronic form or other digital method to capture contact information.

Who does this apply to?

This new restriction will apply to all Queensland businesses in the hospitality industry (such as pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafés).

If these businesses already have an electronic or digital means to do this, we are not asking them to implement another system.

What electronic means?

There are a variety of electronic methods businesses can use to adhere to restrictions.

These could vary from:

• QR codes
• Online fillable forms
• Online booking systems
• Digital spreadsheet

If a business already has an online booking system that captures patron information, there is no need for a secondary form of digital record keeping. This restriction is ensuring that all businesses in the hospitality industry are moving away from paper-based record keeping, and that the digital information can be provided in a timely manner upon request.

It is imperative that contact tracers can use legible and accurate information to contact people.

For more information click here.

Support for Business

Council Updates and Impacts

Rates relief for businesses and residents experiencing hardship

Helping local business get back on their feet is a priority of the Brisbane Economic Recovery Plan released by Brisbane’s Lord Mayor this month. The plan demonstrates Council’s commitment to supporting the rebuild of our economy, outlining support, strategies and initiatives to assist in the city’s recovery. The Plan’s Themes for Recovery have been informed by busines surveys and extensive stakeholder consultation, and include rates and fee relief; buy local support; red tape reduction; community groups; skills, training & jobs; infrastructure; and investment. 

The ED Toolbox has created an online COVID-19 business resilience survey.

The survey, which is anonymous and takes 3-5 minutes to complete, will measure the coronavirus impacts on small to medium businesses and not-for-profit organisations in Australia.

Survey results are progressively added, and can be viewed here.

On behalf of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA), RDA Brisbane is inviting you to participate in a short survey to find out what has changed for Australian workers with regard to their skills needs since COVID-19. If you’re a current or recent Australian worker over the age of 18, tell us your views in this 10-minute survey. Have your say – then please share the survey with your networks.

START SURVEY >> 

The Australian Government has launched the COVIDSafe app to help keep Australians safe from further spread of coronavirus through early notification of possible exposure. While COVIDSafe app use is voluntary, all Australians are encouraged to download the app to help effectively protect Australians and ensure quick response to any new cases of COVID-19.

• General information on the App
• Download for iPhone
• Download for Android

An app is now available to access direct information on a range of features including health advice and updates on the measures that are being put in place by state and federal governments. To access this information:

• Go to WhatsApp and type in aus.gov.au/whatsapp
• Apple App store: Coronavirus Australia app
• Google Play: Coronavirus Australia app

Support for exporters

The coronavirus epidemic is placing huge strains on vital trade and investment activity. To help international investors, Austrade has launched a new COVID-19 update site that highlights the latest investment-related news – including stimulus packages – and explains regulatory changes.

The Australian Government has launched a new $110 million initiative to help aquaculture and agriculture businesses export produce. If you are an exporter in the agriculture and seafood sectors needing assistance getting product to market, get further details and register your business requirements here.

Australian exporters impacted by the COVID-19 crisis will now have access to business-saving loans between $250,000 and $50 million, under a new $500 million capital facility to be administered by Export Finance Australia.

The new COVID-19 Export Capital Facility will target loans to established and previously profitable exporters who, due to COVID-19, are unable to gain finance from commercial sources.

The Export Council of Australia (ECA) is collecting information and resources to help Australian businesses involved in trade prepare for and mitigate any effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business.

The Australian Government has established a $500 million COVID-19 Export Capital Facility to assist previously profitable Australian exporters whose businesses have been impacted by COVID-19.

Exporters will be able to access loans from $250,000 to $50 million under the Facility. The Facility will complement other measures announced by the Government which enable banks to support new and existing clients.

Exporters should contact their banks in the first instance to determine what assistance may be available to them.

The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme is a key Australian Government financial assistance program for aspiring and current exporters. Administered by Austrade, the scheme supports a wide range of industries.

On 1 April 2020, the Federal Government announced an increase in funding for the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme. Funding for the scheme will increase by $49.8 million in the 2019-20 financial year, allowing exporters and tourism businesses to get additional reimbursements for costs incurred in marketing their products and services around the world.

This supplements the additional $60 million already committed by the Government, and brings EMDG funding to its highest level in more than 20 years at $207.7 million for the 2019-20 financial year.

In addition to increased EMDG program funding, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham has waived the EMDG export performance requirements for 2020–21. This will ensure businesses will not have their EMDG reimbursement reduced should their export income fall due to COVID-19.

To further assist exporters in 2020–21, the Minister has determined the Initial Payment Ceiling Amount (IPCA) to be $100,000. This is the highest IPCA since the scheme’s budget was capped in 1997–98, and a significant increase from the $40,000 IPCA set for the past five years.

Early Childhood Education & Care Relief Package

Measures to help renters

Income support for individuals and households

Temporary early release of superannuation

Support for retirees

Beyond Blue has a free 24/7 service to help you deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While many businesses have been adversely affected by COVID-19 and are reducing their workforces, there are some areas of the economy which have an increased demand for workers.

This includes jobs in health and care sectors, transport and logistics, some areas of retail, mining and mining services, manufacturing, agriculture and government sectors, among others. 

Jobs Hub

The Australian Government has announced the next step in the gradual return of mutual obligation arrangements from 28 September.

Industry Planning and Preparedness (Community Services Industry Association Qld)