CEO Update: March Coronavirus Update
Posted
Coronavirus Update
Yesterday the Federal Government announced a $17.6 billion economic plan to deal with the impacts of the Coronavirus. The package has four parts:
- Supporting business investment
- Providing cash flow assistance to help small and medium sized business to stay in business and keep their employees in jobs
- Targeted support for the most severely affected sectors, regions and communities;
- Household stimulus payments that will benefit the wider economy
We strongly back the moves to back businesses, particularly small businesses, to keep workers and apprentices employed. The instant tax write-off threshold has increased from $30,000 to $150,000 and expansion of its eligibility to businesses with turnover under $500 million (up from $50 million).
We are also calling on the Federal and ACT Government to take a strong leadership role in ensuring that construction of government projects currently underway continue and that projects scheduled to commence are not delayed or withdrawn. The Government could also bring forward expenditure on existing projects. Accelerating construction of current projects and bringing forward construction of shovel ready projects, big and small, would provide an immediate strong impetus for building firms to take up tax write off and investment incentive measures.
In the ACT specifically, the benefit of the Federal apprentice wage subsidies could be helped by the ACT Government reversing the VET funding cuts that will impact many construction apprentices.
We are continuing to monitor and provide information to members about the supply of building materials, contract issues and workplace issues.
More information about the Federal stimulus is available here
