The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have proposed a ‘Jobs@risk’ initiative, providing Government support to businesses to allow them to retain their employees during the downturn.
“Small businesses across the country are in dire need, bearing the brunt of restrictions on the movement of people and an economic downturn,” Paul Nicolaou, Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says to The Greek Herald.
“Without support for small business, thousands of Australians will lose their businesses, their jobs and their livelihoods and the economy would spiral downwards.
“Supporting businesses at this stage of the crisis requires measures that help them with their cashflow and enhance their capability and readiness for the recovery that lies ahead.”
The ACCI says that this measure should be made available to any business that can demonstrate a material reduction in revenue either directly or indirectly attributable to COVID-19.
“The support that eligible businesses receive for each employee would be equivalent to the Newstart payment. For small businesses and sole-traders the owner would also be eligible for the payment,” the ACCI states.
“Payment would be made through the tax system and monitored through the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Therefore, businesses would need to be single touch payroll compliant to be eligible. For sole-traders, who are not STP compliant, the payments can be made through BAS.”
The ACCI also affirms that this measure would not preclude eligible businesses receiving support through other measures and it provides assistance to employees at a level that would be paid by the Government if they became unemployed.
A high priority of the Jobs@risk initiative priority is to help maintain employment relationships to assist in the recovery, and thus create a more stable environment in the job seeker workplace.
