The Australian Government is supporting Australian businesses to manage cash flow challenges and retain employees. Assistance includes cash flow support to businesses and temporary measures to provide relief for financially distressed businesses.

For a useful source with just business specific information please click here.

If you are an employer looking for employees, or have ex-employees you wish to help, the Australian Government has released a Jobs Hub.

With Jobs Hub, you can more easily access jobs that are experiencing increases in demand such as health and care sectors, transport and logistics, some areas of retail, mining and mining services, manufacturing, agriculture and government sectors, and more.

To read more click here.

Changes to note:

• From 1 January 2021, the instant asset write-off will only be available for small businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million and the threshold will be $1,000.
• Large businesses can now contact the Large Service Team—a dedicated team providing assistance to public groups with a turnover of $250 million or more. The team offers assistance with administrative, transactional and online queries.

The instant asset write-off eligibility criteria and threshold have changed over time. You need to check your business's eligibility and apply the correct threshold amount depending on when the asset was purchased, first used or installed ready for use.

For more information click here,

The government has announced a Commonwealth Code of Conduct to help businesses and landlords manage commercial tenancies. The Code of Conduct outlines a set of good faith leasing principles for commercial tenancies including:

• Retail
• Office
• Industrial.

Between:

• Owners
• Operators
• Other landlords
• Tenants.

For the latest information on relief for commercial tenants please visit this page

While only three per cent of SMEs in NSW usually export, and despite interruptions to Australian domestic market contracts in relation to the pandemic, now could be the time for business to consider overseas markets. As Australia is likely to re-open earlier than many other countries, business could capitalise and build on the country’s reputation for high quality and standards. There are a number of initiatives to support both new and existing export businesses:

• There is finance and a grant available for export market development, please see here for details

• A series of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) Information Seminars are also being delivered for business to learn about the opportunities created by Australia’s expanding network of free trade agreements. There are growing opportunities and greater market access for Australian goods and services and there are preferential tariffs and increased market access that business can take advantage of. For more information click here.

The Government’s SME Recovery Loan Scheme is designed to support economic recovery and to provide continued assistance to firms that received JobKeeper and also to firms that are eligible flood-affected businesses.

The scheme builds on the framework established in the two phases of the Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme and is only open to recipients of the JobKeeper payment between 4 January 2021 and 28 March 2021 and businesses that are located or operating in eligible Local Government Areas (LGAs) impacted by the floods in March 2021.

For more general details and to check your eligibility, click here.