❓ The Treasurer outlines WA's $1 billion relief package for small businesses impacted by COVID-19, including payroll tax waivers, $2500 payments via Synergy, and fee waivers for affected industries, complementing the Commonwealth's JobKeeper package.
AnsweredQoN 208Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS — SMALL BUSINESS —
RELIEF MEASURES
208. Mr Y. MUBARAKAI to the Treasurer:
I refer to the state government's response to the
impact of COVID-19 on the WA economy. Can the Treasurer outline to the house
how the $1 billion in additional relief measures announced today will support
small businesses over the coming months?
RELIEF MEASURES
208. Mr Y. MUBARAKAI to the Treasurer:
I refer to the state government's response to the
impact of COVID-19 on the WA economy. Can the Treasurer outline to the house
how the $1 billion in additional relief measures announced today will support
small businesses over the coming months?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Jandakot for his question. We have not
seen anything like this before. Certainly no-one alive today has seen this sort
of impact. I guess the fact that we are so globalised and so interconnected
means the impacts will be more dramatic. There has effectively been a sudden
halt to global output almost overnight. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development's best modelling at the moment is that we are looking at about a two per cent reduction in global gross
domestic product for each month that these global restrictions are in place. That is not even taking into account the likely long-term health spends
that will take place around the world, but also no-one is entirely certain
about the impacts of what has been announced around the world in the form of
very, very large spend packages from a range of different governments. We have
been working very closely with the
commonwealth government to ensure that our announcements and spends at a state
government level complement the commonwealth government. As the Premier
just pointed out, there is no doubt that the commonwealth government has the capacity to do the sorts of
things it did yesterday with the JobKeeper package, and with a central bank and the ability to buy bonds et cetera means
it has a much greater capacity to provide that sort of support. I want to acknowledge the JobKeeper package. It is something we have not seen before
in Australia, but it is something that will go a long way towards relieving the
anxieties that we are seeing around Australia. That is why our package announced today complements that perfectly. We
want to ensure that businesses and households in Western Australia can
batten down the hatches over the next few months to get through what will be
the clear, direct impact of COVID-19 on the broader economy.
By way of an aside, I want to make this point: the economy is
not something that is esoteric; the economy ensures that our supermarkets are
fully stocked with food. That is what delivers it there. We want to make sure
that we protect that as much as we can.
In addition to our previous announcements and complementing
the commonwealth government's announcement, today we announced a range
of things including a waiver of payroll tax for those with a payroll under $7.5
million from 1 March until 30 June, and then,
of course, the $17 500 payment will come through in July in support of those businesses. That is very important. I have
said in this place, on radio and wherever I can that it has been very difficult to try to target those businesses that are below the payroll tax threshold. All
state Treasurers have struggled with this. Looking at all the packages
announced by state Treasurers, they have not been able to target those
businesses. The fact that we have Synergy as a state-owned entity has allowed
us to do that today, via a $2 500 payment into some 95 000 small businesses.
For some of those, that will effectively mean nearly 12 months of their power
bill will disappear. For some, of course, it will not cover as much—it
depends on their average power use—and also I expect in slower economic times that will go somewhat further, but
that is a significant spend, nearly $250 million, supporting those
smaller businesses.
I have already mentioned
the payroll tax waiver. We have also allocated $100 million. Clearly, there
will be industries more affected by COVID-19 than others. Most
industries will have a licence or some form of fee that they pay to the state
government. We want to ensure that we can waive those fees on those industries
that are particularly impacted. The Premier has outlined what we are doing in
respect of ensuring that people are not disconnected from power and water in
the event that they cannot pay those bills, and similarly some relief around
Keystart. We will have more to say around protecting tenants from eviction
during this period. I think that complements very nicely the commonwealth government's
announcements around bankruptcy and insolvency efforts. What it has effectively done in its first package announcement is ensure that letters of demand cannot
be acted upon immediately. Normally, it is 21 days—that has been pushed
out to six months. An eviction moratorium for a similar period is more than
appropriate. That is why the JobKeeper package from the commonwealth is so
important. That should hopefully mean that many employers can keep employees
on. They can hopefully negotiate with their landlords an alternative rent
arrangement to keep them there and to keep things ticking over while everybody
is battening down the hatches during this period. It is clear that all
governments around the globe will have a significant health spend. There is no doubt about that. We have
allocated $500 million for our health spend and other frontline services.
I want to finish with this point:
we also need to have the capacity to ensure that we can recover out of this
because, ultimately, we need to be able to recover. It is pointless blowing all
the fiscal capacity now, bearing in mind that I
think the state and commonwealth packages have provided the perfect support for
this period of ''hibernation'', to borrow the commonwealth's
word, or as I have been saying, to allow households and businesses ''to
batten down the hatches'' during this period. We are already working on
what a recovery might look like, but I suspect that will be a significant spend
over consecutive budgets as we go about recovering from what will no doubt be
perhaps the biggest economic and health shock that we will see in our
lifetimes.
seen anything like this before. Certainly no-one alive today has seen this sort
of impact. I guess the fact that we are so globalised and so interconnected
means the impacts will be more dramatic. There has effectively been a sudden
halt to global output almost overnight. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development's best modelling at the moment is that we are looking at about a two per cent reduction in global gross
domestic product for each month that these global restrictions are in place. That is not even taking into account the likely long-term health spends
that will take place around the world, but also no-one is entirely certain
about the impacts of what has been announced around the world in the form of
very, very large spend packages from a range of different governments. We have
been working very closely with the
commonwealth government to ensure that our announcements and spends at a state
government level complement the commonwealth government. As the Premier
just pointed out, there is no doubt that the commonwealth government has the capacity to do the sorts of
things it did yesterday with the JobKeeper package, and with a central bank and the ability to buy bonds et cetera means
it has a much greater capacity to provide that sort of support. I want to acknowledge the JobKeeper package. It is something we have not seen before
in Australia, but it is something that will go a long way towards relieving the
anxieties that we are seeing around Australia. That is why our package announced today complements that perfectly. We
want to ensure that businesses and households in Western Australia can
batten down the hatches over the next few months to get through what will be
the clear, direct impact of COVID-19 on the broader economy.
By way of an aside, I want to make this point: the economy is
not something that is esoteric; the economy ensures that our supermarkets are
fully stocked with food. That is what delivers it there. We want to make sure
that we protect that as much as we can.
In addition to our previous announcements and complementing
the commonwealth government's announcement, today we announced a range
of things including a waiver of payroll tax for those with a payroll under $7.5
million from 1 March until 30 June, and then,
of course, the $17 500 payment will come through in July in support of those businesses. That is very important. I have
said in this place, on radio and wherever I can that it has been very difficult to try to target those businesses that are below the payroll tax threshold. All
state Treasurers have struggled with this. Looking at all the packages
announced by state Treasurers, they have not been able to target those
businesses. The fact that we have Synergy as a state-owned entity has allowed
us to do that today, via a $2 500 payment into some 95 000 small businesses.
For some of those, that will effectively mean nearly 12 months of their power
bill will disappear. For some, of course, it will not cover as much—it
depends on their average power use—and also I expect in slower economic times that will go somewhat further, but
that is a significant spend, nearly $250 million, supporting those
smaller businesses.
I have already mentioned
the payroll tax waiver. We have also allocated $100 million. Clearly, there
will be industries more affected by COVID-19 than others. Most
industries will have a licence or some form of fee that they pay to the state
government. We want to ensure that we can waive those fees on those industries
that are particularly impacted. The Premier has outlined what we are doing in
respect of ensuring that people are not disconnected from power and water in
the event that they cannot pay those bills, and similarly some relief around
Keystart. We will have more to say around protecting tenants from eviction
during this period. I think that complements very nicely the commonwealth government's
announcements around bankruptcy and insolvency efforts. What it has effectively done in its first package announcement is ensure that letters of demand cannot
be acted upon immediately. Normally, it is 21 days—that has been pushed
out to six months. An eviction moratorium for a similar period is more than
appropriate. That is why the JobKeeper package from the commonwealth is so
important. That should hopefully mean that many employers can keep employees
on. They can hopefully negotiate with their landlords an alternative rent
arrangement to keep them there and to keep things ticking over while everybody
is battening down the hatches during this period. It is clear that all
governments around the globe will have a significant health spend. There is no doubt about that. We have
allocated $500 million for our health spend and other frontline services.
I want to finish with this point:
we also need to have the capacity to ensure that we can recover out of this
because, ultimately, we need to be able to recover. It is pointless blowing all
the fiscal capacity now, bearing in mind that I
think the state and commonwealth packages have provided the perfect support for
this period of ''hibernation'', to borrow the commonwealth's
word, or as I have been saying, to allow households and businesses ''to
batten down the hatches'' during this period. We are already working on
what a recovery might look like, but I suspect that will be a significant spend
over consecutive budgets as we go about recovering from what will no doubt be
perhaps the biggest economic and health shock that we will see in our
lifetimes.
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