Page 2626 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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All of us want the money to go to businesses quickly. But we also want the money to go to the businesses that need it quickly.
This is a very large program, and when there are large programs we unfortunately see some people looking to take advantage of that. It would be utterly irresponsible to not have checks and balances in place—for taxpayer money to go where it should not and then spend untold resources trying to claim it back. It would not responsible and it would not be in line with what the community and businesses expect of governments nor of funds from the ACT or commonwealth government. If we took that approach, the opposition would then be criticising us for something they are currently calling for. It is the hallmark of the Canberra Liberals this parliamentary term—internal inconsistency.
We have been clear from the beginning that it would take us an average of 30 days from receiving a correctly lodged application to deliver payments. But that is the average; we will be faster than that for a significant proportion of applications. We have recently expanded the team and our capacity has increased as a result. I look forward to us getting more money out the door to our hard-working businesses quickly.
I thought it would be useful to talk a little bit about the processing of applications as they are assessed. When an application moves to an assessment stage, it is first checked for eligibility and once that is checked it goes through financial assessment, being assessed against the required evidence of a 30 per cent decline in turnover. If more information is required to prove eligibility, the business is contacted and once that information is required it goes back to that assessment team. They do not have to start again. It does not go to the bottom of the pile.
Generally, where we have sought more information, it is where evidence provided has just not been sufficient. Some of the most common examples are: where contact details or bank details do not match or have gaps, where BAS and bank statements are not attached to allow for checks on whether it is a legitimate business, or where there is no proof of payroll for employing businesses. Sometimes the information we have needed is quick and straightforward for the team to assess once they receive it back and other times it takes a little longer. But, pleasingly, the number of cases where we have sought more information is decreasing.
I know there has been commentary about the requirement for bank statements. We recommend that businesses provide this. Bank statements do not always demonstrate a 30 per cent decline in turnover—sometimes they do, but certainly not always—and we understand that. There are many ways a decline in turnover can be demonstrated, because every business is different. But bank statements confirm the bank details of a business and a link to the businesses ABN. This ensures we can pay the business quickly once they are approved.
Separately to the jointly funded programs, we had prepared for and stood up quickly our own support programs providing landlords with a $10,000 commercial rates credit when they offer rent relief to their tenants, and reinstating Brendan Smyth as the local business commissioner. We have brought back HOMEFRONT, supporting our still
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