Two in three businesses to lose JobKeeper

Financial Review, Jul 22, 2020 – 5.56pm About two in three businesses receiving JobKeeper are tipped to miss out on a more targeted wage subsidy, after the federal government introduced a much stricter eligibility test measuring revenue declines. Most employers will have to show a revenue fall of at least 30 per cent (50 per cent for very large companies) …

Coronavirus crisis: Deloitte analysis reveals 240,000 Australian businesses could collapse

The West Australian, 20 July 2020 About 240,000 businesses in the hospitality, professional services and transport industries are at “high risk of failure” when Federal Government support measures are wound back in September, according to worrying new research. This represents almost 10 per cent of all Australian businesses, with fresh analysis by Deloitte Access Economics warning hundreds of thousands of …

ACTU opposes emergency IR rules beyond JobKeeper

Australian Council of Trade Unions President Michele O’Neil. Picture: Hollie AdamsThe Australian, July 19, 2020 The ACTU is opposing business calls to extend emergency industrial relations exemptions to employers who would no longer be eligible for JobKeeper after ­September. ACTU president Michele O’Neil said on Sunday unions would back an extension of the workplace to flexibility regime to companies that …

Protecting SMEs key to our post-COVID recovery, says NAB boss Ross McEwan

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan suggests business owners don’t want to spend Sunday afternoons sorting out administrative issues when they could spend them with families or growing their businesses. Picture: AAPThe Australian, July 17, 2020 The pandemic has shaken our economy and the livelihoods of many Australians. As the spike in Victorian infections shows, we will be living with uncertainty …

Will we take the chance to fix SME woes?

Two-thirds of jobs are in small and medium-size businesses, which comprise 99 per cent of all enterprises. Picture: Brendan RadkeThe Australian,  July 16, 2020 The NAB SME research report is chilling. My conclusion from its contents is that if we retain our current practices that discriminate against small enterprises, Australia will have unemployment of between 7 per cent and 15 per …

Peter Strong: Small businesses are the beating heart of their communities, and they need those communities now more than ever

SmartCompany, Peter Strong, July 15, 2020 COSBOA’s Peter Strong with Go Local First Champion Pru Goward, Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash and David Alcorn, owner of Mocan and Green Grout Café in Canberra. Source: supplied. This year has seen a huge portion of the Australian workforce shift to working from home. Local cafes that had long been people’s weekend haunts became …

Business confidence rebounds: NAB

Sydney CBD. Business confidence has rebounded although conditions remain weak. Picture: David SwiftThe Australian, July 14, 2020 Business confidence turned positive in June, rebounding from record lows over the previous three months, according to the NAB monthly business survey. But while confidence lifted into positive territory, business conditions remained negative and well below average, in what could be a sign …

Cormann: JobKeeper will end in September after all, with further support based on “assessed need”

SmartCompany, July 13, 2020 Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann. Source: AAP Image/Lukas Coch. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is adamant JobKeeper won’t continue past September, saying whatever income support the federal government extends into October will not be a ”replication” of what came before. Speaking to Sky News last Friday, Cormann poured cold water over earlier comments from …

Business leaders’ plead for national COVID-19 plan

Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner says state and territory governments‘ handling of the pandemic had been ‘ad hoc at best’. Picture: Liam KidstoNThe Australian, July 13, 2020 Business leaders say Australia cannot afford more hard lockdowns and are urging national cabinet to provide policy certainty and maintain momentum in reopening the economy, despite Victoria battling to suppress a new …