- Queensland State Government $4 billion three-point plan towards assisting business, households, and health
- Immediate rebate to all businesses for February and March payroll tax and three-month payroll tax holiday for SMEs
- $500 power bill rebate for sole traders and SMEs
- Liquor licencing fees waived
- Assistance for displaced workers
- $200 rebate on household utilities
Today the Queensland Premier and Treasurer announced a $4 billion economic plan to provide further support to businesses, households, and health services in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Every bit counts and this is hard cash off the bottom line for many businesses that will help ease some pressure in an exceptionally devastating period for our business community.
The $740M payroll tax relief and electricity rebate in particular are much welcomed announcements for a number of local businesses and something the business community was strongly advocating for as identified in the Economic Action Plan we delivered to our State and Federal MPs last week. It's great these calls were heard.
Another one of the challenges our business community identified, which was addressed today, includes waiving liquor licencing fees for venues that have had to close their doors due to recent restrictions and granting permission to businesses with on premise licences to now offer takeaways, which were also valuable initiatives announced by the Premier and Treasurer.
We do acknowledge that several of our small to medium sized operators don’t pay payroll tax or are sole traders and their needs will therefore need to be considered in the development of future initiatives. We look forward to contributing to these discussions as they progress.
We thank Scott Stewart, Aaron Harper and Coralee O'Rourke for their engagement with our business community in the development of these measures in a particularly fast moving environment.
We will continue this dialogue to not only work together in the response to the immediate crisis but to also secure the project pipeline that will help the North get back to work and the economy on its feet after the health crisis abates.
State Government Economic Response includes:
Payroll tax
$740 million in payroll tax refunds to provide Queensland businesses with immediate cash flow, along with a payroll tax holiday for small and medium business, and an extension of our payroll tax deferral to ensure no Queensland business needs to pay payroll tax in the 2020 calendar year. (scroll down for further details)
Displaced Worker Fund
$500 million to assist workers who lose their job or income and to help them find jobs in the core industries such as health care, agriculture, food production, transport, cleaning and mining.
Utilities and rent relief
- $500 rebate to sole traders and SMEs on their power bill
- Rent relief for businesses who rent premises from the State Government
Household relief
$200 credit to offset cost of power/water on households
Health
$1.2 billion health response plan to expand fever clinics, emergency department capacity, acute care services, and regional aeromedical services for our remote communities
Payroll Tax details:
- Almost 13,000 Queensland small and medium businesses (with payroll up to $6.5 million) will receive a refund of payroll tax payable for the previous two months. SMEs will also receive a payroll tax holiday, with no payroll tax to be paid, for the next three months.
- Large businesses in Queensland (with payroll above $6.5 million) that have been directly or indirectly impacted by COVID-19 will be eligible for a refund of payroll tax payable for the previous two months.
- All Queensland businesses will be granted a deferral of payroll tax for the remainder of 2020, extending the Queensland's Government’s previous six-month deferral to the rest of the calendar year.
UPDATE ON QUEENSLAND BORDER CLOSURES
The Premier also provided an update on Queensland borders which will be closed by midnight this Wednesday by road, air, sea and rail.
- Exemptions for freight, essential purposes, and for those who work across the border in the Tweed and New England area for example
- State Government looking at providing permits on those vehicles
- Teams of police will be on the borders
- Family visits are discouraged
- If Queenslander's cross the border after midnight Wednesday they will need to quarantine for 14 days
