COVID-19 support | Department for Innovation and Skills update

Business restrictions have been imposed in response to South Australia’s latest COVID-19 outbreak.

For the next seven days, South Australians are required to stay home, with all businesses except those providing essential services to temporarily close.

South Australia Police has recently updated the COVID-19 Emergency Management Direction, and you can find the latest version here. 

For the latest health advice, including exposure locations, visit SA Health. 

Financial support for South Australian businesses and workers announced

South Australian small and medium-sized businesses suffering a significant loss of income, or forced to close as a result of the state’s seven day lockdown, will be offered a $3,000 emergency cash grant as part of a major financial assistance package announced today by the Government of South Australia. Read the media release.

The $100 million Business Support Package will assist an estimated 50,000 eligible SMEs to cover ongoing operating costs such as rent, power bills, supplier and raw material costs and other fees.

The major support package also includes a new $1,000 cash grant for eligible small businesses who don’t employ staff (eg non-employing sole traders). 

To be eligible for the one-off $3,000 emergency cash grant, a business must, as at 12:01am Tuesday 20 July 2021: 

• Be located within South Australia 
• Have an annual turnover of $75,000 or more in 2020-21 or 2019-20, and be registered for GST 
• Employ people in South Australia 
• Have an Australia-wide payroll of less than $10 million in 2019-20 
• Have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN) 
• Experienced at least a 30 per cent reduction (compared to the week prior) in turnover due to the restricted trading conditions. 

To be eligible for the one-off $1,000 emergency cash grant, a non-employing business must meet the criteria listed above excluding the requirement to employ people.

Applications for the grant are expected to open within the next two weeks via the SA Treasury website and grants will be processed as quickly as possible. 

To register interest in business support cash grants, visit the SA Treasury website or email smallbusinessgrant@sa.gov.au. 

Financial support will also be made available for many employees who have been adversely affected by the current COVID-19 lockdown. 

From next Wednesday, 28 July, workers in the nationally-designated hotspots of Adelaide, Adelaide Hills and Gawler who lose between eight hours and 20 hours of work during the first week of lockdown may be eligible for a $375 COVID-19 Disaster Payment from the Australian Government. 

Those who have lost more than 20 hours may be eligible for $600. 

The Government of South Australia has today announced matched levels of support for workers outside of these nationally-designated hotspots, who have been subjected to the same lockdown restrictions but may not meet the criteria for a national COVID-19 Disaster Payment (which is limited to those located in an active hotspot). 

Despite the different sources of funding, all eligible South Australians will apply for this financial support through the same Australian Government (Services Australia) system, with applications opening in the next couple of weeks. 

Once approved, payments will be paid in arrears for the 7-day period from 20 July.