Victorian Premier announces further assistance for business

Eligible businesses will receive a one-off grant of $2,000 to cover costs incurred through the loss of perishable food and produce or cancelled bookings. The grant will be available to eligible businesses with payroll of up to $3 million, and will extend to include businesses with no employees, covering sole traders or those who trade in family partnerships or trust entities. Eligible businesses will be defined by their ANZSIC code, covering hospitality, events and tourism sectors (as well as some selected retail). A list of eligible ANZSIC classes can be found at the Government website.

Registration for this grant is open now and will close 16 March 2021 or when program funds are exhausted.

Licensed hospitality venue fund – circuit breaker action payment

Eligible businesses that received a grant through the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund will receive a further one-off payment of $3,000 to help with costs incurred as a result of the circuit breaker action. Businesses that receive this payment will not be eligible to receive a grant from the Business Costs Assistance Program above.

These grants will be allocated automatically and there is no application process required. If your business is eligible, you will be contacted in due course.

Victorian accommodation support program

The new Victorian Accommodation Support Program is an expansion of the Regional Tourism Accommodation Support Program and includes tourist accommodation premises in Greater Melbourne previously excluded from the scheme. This will support accommodation providers whose bookings were cancelled due to the circuit breaker action to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The $16.2 million program supports tourism accommodation providers, with a grant of one of two tiers of support, for those with demonstrated booking cancellations between Friday 12 February and Wednesday 17 February 2021:

• Tier 1: Funding of $2,250 (ex GST) per Accommodation Premises experiencing 10 or fewer cancelled nights.
• Tier 2: Funding of $4,500 (ex GST) per Accommodation Premises with 11 or more cancelled nights.

The Victorian Accommodation Support Program will open soon, but you can register your interest in the program now.

Regional travel voucher scheme and Melbourne travel voucher scheme

An additional 10,000 Regional Travel Vouchers have been announced for the existing regional tourism scheme, and a new Greater Melbourne Travel Voucher has been announced which will comprise 40,000 travel vouchers to support travel in Greater Melbourne. This brings the total number of vouchers for both Regional and Greater Melbourne travel schemes to 200,000.

For more information on the above announcements, please refer to the following links.

• Business Costs Assistance Program
• Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund – Circuit Breaker Action Payment
• Victorian Accommodation Support Program
• Travel Voucher schemes

Please contact your local Bentleys advisor for further information. We are doing everything we can to help businesses come out of this challenging time in good shape.

Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and should not be relied on as advice. It does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. You need to consider your financial situation and needs and seek professional advice before making any decisions based on this information.