Federal Labor calls on the Morrison Government to do more for struggling small businesses in bushfire affected areas by offering a targeted program of wage assistance for employers.
\nSmall businesses in fire devastated areas around the country are desperate for financial help right now. Concern is mounting that the Morrison Government\u2019s small business package is not getting to businesses that need it most, nor having the desired result.
\nThese small businesses in fire affected areas are facing a cash flow crisis \u2013 while shopfronts are still standing, many have lost their livelihoods due to the ongoing bushfires, and are facing continued economic uncertainty, severely impacting their ability to employ staff.
\nThat is why the Government should consider extending eligibility and access to wage assistance programs for small businesses significantly directly and indirectly affected by the bushfire crisis.
\nWage assistance was provided to North Queensland communities of up to 26 weeks at the NewStart rate by the previous Labor Federal Government when tropical Cyclone Yasi hit in 2011. Why has the Morrison Government not considered this response already?
\nIn addition to targeted wage assistance, Labor also continues to call on the Morrison Government to set up a Prime Minister\u2019s Business Taskforce, as was created after the 2011 Queensland floods and brought together 10 eminent business people to provide a direct line of ongoing advice to Government.
\nWe also call on the Government to provide greater financial counselling for small businesses by increasing the number of financial counsellors available, while introducing a voucher scheme for accredited accountants to assist small businesses with accessing bushfire recovery commitments such as grants and loans, and revising their business plans.
\nOver the past few weeks, the cameras may have left and the fires may have abated, but communities still need assistance. It is imperative that businesses remain viable and local workers maintain their jobs.
\nLabor\u2019s suggestion can be picked up and adopted by the Morrison Government now to mitigate the pain and suffering from the current emergency, and help rebuild resilient communities in areas facing a downturn as a result of the disaster.
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Federal Labor calls on the Morrison Government to do more for struggling small businesses in bushfire affected areas by offering a targeted program of wage assistance for employers. Small businesses in fire devastated areas around the country are desperate for financial help right now. Concern is mounting that the Morrison Government\u2019s small business package is … Continue reading “WAGE ASSISTANCE SUPPORT FOR BUSHFIRE AFFECTED SMALL BUSINESS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}