March 23, 2020
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington has put together a list of handy links to various Fact Sheets to explain the Federal Government’s COVID-19 stimulus package of supports.
Measures implemented so far include:
- Income support – Temporary expanding eligibility to income support payments and establishing a new, time-limited coronavirus supplement to be paid at a rate of $550 per fortnight. This supplement will be paid to both existing and new recipients of the eligible payment categories. These changes will apply for the next six months. Fact Sheet (1.05Mb PDF)
- Early access to superannuation – Individuals affected by the Coronavirus can access up to $10,000 of their superannuation in 2019-20 and a further $10,000 in 2020-21. Fact Sheet (156kb PDF)
- Providing support for retirees – Helping retirees to manage the impact of volatility in financial markets on their retirement savings by temporarily reducing superannuation minimum drawdown requirements. The government is also reducing social security deeming rates in recognition of the impact of the low interest rates on savings. Fact sheet (137kb PDF)
- Payments to support households – These payments will provide assistance to lower income Australians, including pensioners, other social security and veteran income support recipients and eligible concession card holders. Fact sheet (195kb PDF)
- Cashflow assistance for businesses – This assistance will assist businesses to manage cashflow challenges and help businesses retain their employees. These two measures are designed to support employing small and medium sized businesses and to improve business confidence. The Boosting Cash Flow for Employers measure also supports the activities of not-for-profits (including charities) at a time where they are facing increased demand for services. Fact sheet (250kb PDF)
- Temporary relief for financially distressed businesses – The economic impacts of the coronavirus and health measures to prevent its spread could see many otherwise profitable and viable businesses temporarily face financial distress. It is important that these businesses have a safety net to make sure that when the crisis has passed they can resume normal business operations. One element of that safety net is to lessen the threat of actions that could unnecessarily push them into insolvency and force the winding up of the business. Fact sheet (197kb PDF)
- Assistance for severely affected regions and sectors – The Federal Government has set aside $1 billion to support communities, regions and industries most significantly affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. These funds will be available to assist during the outbreak and to help with the recovery. Fact sheet (130kb PDF)
- Supporting the flow of credit – The Federal Government, Reserve Bank and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have taken coordinated action to support the flow of credit in the Australian economy, in particular for small and medium enterprises. Timely access to credit is vital to help SMEs get through the impact of the coronavirus. Fact sheet (145kb PDF)
