Level 2 Business assistance package announcement.

The McGowan Government has announced a $72 million package for businesses impacted by the recent Level 2 public health measures. This package includes tiered grants of $3,000 - $50,000 for small and medium event businesses with a 50 per cent reduction in turnover over four weeks. Whilst the EIA is grateful for the support, today’s offering doesn’t go far enough nor is it structured in a way that will ensure that the funds are received by those businesses that deserve it the most. As we await the detail, our initial view is that the 50% threshold is too high (with 30% being the standard), the reference to employees is troublesome especially is casual employees are not included in the cap, the reference to last year is not appropriate given event businesses have suffered reduced turnover through 2020 and 2021. The reference to employees is also not an adequate guide given that most event businesses earn revenue based on number of events rather then regular turnover. A lot of these points have been raised previously, and we intend to raise them again this Friday when we meet with the Government, in addition to a number of other issues regarding the arbitrary nature of the current restrictions and need for stimulus/relief to help the industry through the remainder of 2022 and beyond. Of course though our best asset is your feedback, so if you have any observations in relation to today’s announcement which you think may assist us in advocating, please let us know by direct message or by email to admin@eia.com.au. For more information on today’s announcement, you can find the Media Release here: https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/.../Level-2-COVID...