Page 100 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 8 February 2022
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who, for example, have lost their jobs and were facing eviction from rental accommodation. I put in place a rental eviction moratorium and also an emergency support fund. My Greens colleague Minister Vassarotti announced increased funding for emergency hotel accommodation for people facing homelessness due to the pandemic. My other cabinet colleague Minister Davidson announced $260,000 for mental health support and the provision of food hampers to families and people in need due to COVID lockdown. These are really important government interventions to help the vulnerable people in our city at risk of being left behind.
In relation to business support, though—which, of course, is our focus today—there are many measures that the government has taken to assist businesses. This is a very testing time for small businesses, and it is right that the government offer appropriate supports. As Minister Cheyne has already outlined, the government has provided a range of supports over the length of the pandemic. These include almost half a billion dollars in support to local businesses, including direct financial support; a small business hardship scheme, which reimburses businesses for costs incurred for electricity, gas and rates paid in the second half of 2021; and commercial vehicle registration for all of 2021, up to the value of $10,000 per business. That scheme has now been extended.
We have seen the waiver of annual licence fees for liquor licences for nightclub, restaurant, cafe, bar, general catering, special and club liquor licences. We have had grants to support live gigs and the night-time economy and assistance to small-to-medium live music venues, to recover from the pandemic through the Amp It Up! scheme managed by Minister Cheyne. Commercial tenants facing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic also benefited from the commercial leases declaration designed to protect them from unfair eviction. These are significant support measures which have been appreciated by business and have made a crucial difference to supporting them through this period.
Ms Castley’s motion has presented a motion as if the ACT economy is in dire straits, but it seems to me that that is not an accurate or fair picture of the situation. This makes it hard to agree to the text as presented. Let me reflect on a couple of points in the detail. I note that Ms Castley says that the SEEK employment report shows that the ACT had the second largest decline in job ads from the previous month. A broader snapshot of employment data provides a better picture. The January SEEK job data is also out, and that shows that ACT job ads are up almost three per cent since December. It also shows job ads are up 12.2 per cent compared to January 2021, and 15.5 per cent since January 2019.
As Minister Cheyne pointed out, the ACT has also had a strongly performing labour market and the largest growth in the country when it comes to the number of businesses. Ms Castley’s motion cites low retail spending in the ACT from earlier data. Since then, though, the most recent retail spending figures have been released, which have not been referenced. The new ABS data shows that, across Australia, retail sales volumes rose a record 8.2 per cent in the December quarter 2021. That was the strongest quarterly rise on record. Specifically in the ACT, the rise in retail sales was 12.4 per cent, a figure obviously above the national average.
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