Small Business Grants

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (14:27): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer update the chamber on the latest figures of grants to small businesses significantly affected by COVID-19?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Treasurer has the call.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:27): I am sure all members will be delighted to hear that, as of I think yesterday morning in the latest figures that Treasury provided, $31.1 million has actually been provided to a significant number of small businesses in South Australia already, just some three weeks or so since the government announced in the November budget the second round of Small Business Grants to businesses that were significantly impacted by COVID-19.

I am advised that so far there have been 5,622 applications for the $10,000 grants. As members will be aware, in the second round we have actually instituted $3,000 grants for essentially sole traders and partnerships trading from commercial premises with certain other eligibility criteria, and there are 557 of those. I think they are included in the 5,622 total. So of those 5,622, 557 of those are sole traders or partnerships.

Of those that have been paid, the $31.1 million, I am advised that 3,334 of those applications have already been paid, of which 315 were for the $3,000 grant. So a significant amount of money has been handed out very, very quickly to ensure that there is essential stimulus support for a significant number of small businesses that are able to qualify for the payment of this grant.

Essentially, that means they have to qualify for JobKeeper; that is, they have been assessed on the commonwealth government JobKeeper eligibility criteria as being eligible for JobKeeper. That means, broadly, their revenue has dropped 30 per cent in the September quarter compared to the September quarter the previous year and, soon to be determined in terms of the extended JobKeeper, it will be the December quarter to December quarter 2019 to see whether or not they are eligible for the extended JobKeeper.

I again highlight, as I did earlier in the week, the government has extended the application date for these particular grants through to February, which will allow those businesses which are impacted in the December quarter, potentially as a result of the three-day circuit breaker, and any flow-on impacts as a result of the gradual reinstatement of restrictions subsequent to that particular period. If that means that their business has been impacted so that they are eligible for extended JobKeeper, they will be eligible because they can apply, up until February, for the grants, based on their September quarter figures.