Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Davey for her question. Mr President, as you know, there is no doubt small and family businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy. Since the outset of COVID-19, the Morrison government has backed small and family businesses with unprecedented levels of support. Of course, we will continue to do so. We also know—if you just look at the numbers in the Senate here—that there is still a lot more work to do.

We've now seen recent COVID outbreaks in Victoria, in New South Wales and in Queensland. What that says to us is we're not out of the woods yet. In terms of New South Wales, the business support package in New South Wales, which we partnered with the New South Wales government to deliver, now provides a template for further support measures that will help small and family businesses get through the pandemic. In New South Wales, again in the partnership with the New South Wales government, we're delivering between $1,500 and $100,000 per week for qualifying businesses that have seen a significant downturn in their revenues. Smaller businesses and, in particular, small and micro-businesses—those that only have a small number of employees—will receive a minimum payment of $1,500 per week.

Mr President, as you know, in your home state of Victoria, we also partnered with the Victorian government in business support during their recent lockdown. And we of course stand ready to work with the Queensland government, as we did with the Victorian and New South Wales governments, to provide the economic support for small businesses to get them through the lockdowns. We've done this before and we know that businesses will come through this and will get back to doing what they do best, which is employ Australians.