Government support only goes so far

The owner operator of Sailaway, Steve Edmondson, said although it is good news that the state and federal government were collaborating on 50/50 funding to assist businesses impacted by lockdowns and Covid-19, it only goes so far.

Edmondson was responding to the Commonwealth and Queensland governments agreeing to a 50/50 funding arrangement that will see business support grants rise to $600million.

Any business that has experienced a decline of more than 30 percent - regardless of whether they experienced a direct lockdown – is eligible for the one-off payment.

“It’s good news that the two levels of government are working together and collaborating and they recognise that there is an issue. But the problem is that these one-off payments are not in perspective with the commitment to keep staff and your operation running when you’re isolated from all markets,” said Edmondson.

Edmondson said he agrees with the measures being taken but can’t understand why the support doesn’t reflect the effects of these measures.

“It’s insane. We’re 95 percent affected and I don’t think the politicians have got their head around that. It appears that we’re not going to have tourism return to normal until we reach the government’s vaccine rate and it’s going to take 104 days at today’s rate to get to that 80 percent,” he said.

Concerns for local businesses are not just around the revenue drop either as staffing levels have been problematic for some time.

“We invested heavily in staff acquisition and retention throughout the year and we just got to the level required; restaurants got to five days a week. It’s taken months to get back on track and within a few days it could all fall off the cliff,” said Edmondson.

Warren Entsch

The Federal Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, admitted the funding is going to fall short for people in FNQ.

"It all depends on how quickly the borders open up. It’s highly unlikely Victoria will come out, NSW hasn’t peaked yet, Canberra lockdown has just been extended with another 19 cases and Northern Territory is entering a three-day lockdown today. So the short answer is probably not,” said Entsch.

Entsch said that he would like to see more funding for tourism affected businesses and this decision paves the way for more funding.

"We needed to start somewhere and what this has done is it’s got the Queensland government now to agree to a 50/50 support package with the federal government in line with all other states. This is not something that is going to be fixed overnight. I’ve got no doubt additional support will be required but at least we’ve now got the mechanism in place to allow that to happen,” he said.

Mayor Michael Kerr

Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr said the support doesn’t go far enough but believes the federal government needs to do more.

“No, I don’t believe it does enough. While the grants certainly lend a helping hand to many businesses, it is simply not enough to solve the problems many business owners are facing.

“A Jobkeeper-style program is what is needed and I urge the Federal Government to consider a more suitable package for this region,” said Kerr.

Businesses in Port Douglas have been decimated by recent border closures that have come in what is traditionally the busiest months of the year.

Tourism body

Chief executive officer at Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, Tara Bennett, welcomed the funding boost but also said more is needed.

“We’re pleased to have been heard and we welcome this announcement, however, concern remains that these measures may not be enough to save local businesses. For example, a one-off payment of $25,000 for a business with a wage bill of 10 million dollars is negligible,” Bennett said.

"We’re really looking for wage support and ongoing cash flow measures until borders open and the visitor economy returns.”

Mayor Kerr also believes that the current situation is unviable for much longer.

“Many business owners are finding it really difficult to survive right now. Without steady cashflow, it is hard for many operators and businesses to exist. The time for help is now,” he said.

“Council is closely monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 and is now advocating heavily to all levels of government. We need to ensure our community continues to get funding for important projects so the burden doesn’t fall back onto our ratepayers.

The package

As part of the package additional support for businesses that have had a decline in turnover of more than 30 per cent will include:

A $1,000 one-off grant to non-employing sole traders across Queensland; &
Tiered payments based on payroll size for all businesses across Queensland:

• A $5,000 one-off, top-up grant to small business with payroll of less than $1.3 million
• A $10,000 one-off, top-up grant to medium sized business with payroll between $1.3 million and $10 million
• A $25,000 one-off, top-up grant to large sized tourism and hospitality focused businesses with payroll of greater than $10 million.

State member for Cook, Cynthia Lui, was approached by Newsport but was unavailable for comment.