Victoria’s treasurer has launched an attack on the federal government over what he called an “unfair” lack of financial support for the state’s shut-down construction sector.
Key points:
- Construction businesses affected by the two-week shutdown will be eligible for one-off payments
- Treasurer Tim Pallas says the Commonwealth has refused to match the state’s funding
- He says there is “blatant favourable treatment” being given to New South Wales over Victoria
Treasurer Tim Pallas today announced a $196.6 million package of one-off payments to eligible construction businesses affected by the industry shutdown in Melbourne, Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Mitchell Shire.
All construction, barring a very select few urgent projects, was shut down for a fortnight from September 21 and will resume on October 4.
The shutdown was announced due to a surge in transmission on construction sites and what the government said was a lack of compliance within the industry.
It was called the very day protests against a vaccine mandate for the industry turned violent outside the CFMEU union offices in Melbourne, and sparked days of other rallies.
Mr Pallas said non-employing sole trader businesses would receive a one-off payment of $2,000, increasing to $2,800 for businesses with an annual payroll of up to $650,000.
A $5,600 grant would be available to businesses with a payroll of $650,000 to $3 million, and a $8,400 grant for a payroll of $3 million to $10 million.
Staff and sole traders not registered for GST would be eligible for the Commonwealth’s disaster payment.
Unlike in previous shutdowns, where the funding for business support grants has been evenly split between the state and Commonwealth, the grants will come entirely out of state government coffers.
Mr Pallas said the state was “very, very unhappy that the Commonwealth government broke with its practice of co-funding business support packages in Victoria and refused to contribute to this industry”.
Prior to its shutdown in late September, construction had remained open for much of Victoria’s lockdown periods, with capacity caps in place.
Mr Pallas said his federal counterpart, Josh Frydenberg, told the state that because construction was not on the previously agreed-upon list of industries, it would not be eligible for support during its two-week shutdown.
Mr Pallas said this was “the only excuse that [Mr Frydenberg] gave me, and it doesn’t make sense”.
“If a government tries to manage, consistent with the public health advice, those industries that can remain open or have limitations upon their trade … it appears that the Commonwealth says, once you’ve decided who’s locked down and who isn’t, that’s chiselled in granite and you shouldn’t react to the public health threat as it emerges,” he said.
“Now that is not only irresponsible, it’s dangerous from a public health perspective.”
In New South Wales, construction was on the list of shutdown businesses from the start of lockdowns and was eligible for Commonwealth support when it was unable to operate.
However, Mr Pallas said it was “blatant favourable treatment for New South Wales, not being returned to Victoria when we faced the exact same situation that New South Wales did”.
He said recent data showed New South Wales had received more disaster payments than Victoria since the scheme began.
However, when pushed on the fact that was due to New South Wales having a much longer lockdown and bigger population, Mr Pallas deflected and called Victorian businesses “more resilient”.
In a statement, Mr Frydenberg rejected claims the Commonwealth was not providing enough support.
He pointed to the $50.2 billion provided to Victoria over the course of the pandemic, saying “the Morrison government is currently delivering around twice the amount of economic support to Victorian households and businesses than the state government is providing”.
“The Morrison government has paid $2.8b to around 700,000 Victorians through the COVID disaster payment,” he said.
“It is a demand-driven program. Victoria’s recent lockdown has gone for just over eight weeks, whereas NSW has been in lockdown for over 13 weeks.
“Workers, including construction workers, continue to have access to the COVID disaster payment.”
It is not the first time that Mr Pallas has used a business support announcement to take aim at the Commonwealth.
Not long afterwards, the Commonwealth announced its disaster payments scheme to replace JobKeeper and started splitting the cost of business support payments with the states.
Those disaster payments will be wound back once each state and territory hits the 70 per cent and 80 per cent target vaccination rates for their populations aged 16 years and over.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Commonwealth had “showered the states in cash when it comes to the health system, to support them through COVID, when it comes to supporting their industries and economies, whether it be JobKeeper or the more recent economic supports or the COVID Disaster Payment”.
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