news, issues and events for the heavy vehicle industry

Wednesday 15 April 2020

JobKeeper subsidies legislated

As expected, Parliament passed the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Bill to support the JobKeeper scheme.

Eligible businesses can elect to claim a subsidy of $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight per eligible employee employed as at 1 March 2020 and retained in employment (including employees who have been stood down or re-hired).

The JobKeeper payment will be available from 30 March until 27 September 2020. The JobKeeper payment is a reimbursement scheme that will be paid by the ATO monthly in arrears. 

The first payment by the ATO will be received by eligible employers from the first week of May 2020. Employers will need to pay their eligible employees a minimum of $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight in the scheme payment periods.

A shout out to the truckers

Professor Paul Kelly, Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer took a different approach with his turn leading the CMO’s daily press conference on Good Friday.

• Australia: treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/businesses
• NSW: preview.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/businesses-and-employment
• Victoria: business.vic.gov.au/disputes-disasters-and-succession-planning/illness-and-business-management-plan/coronavirus-business-support
• Queensland: qld.gov.au/about/industry-recovery
• South Australia: sa.gov.au/topics/business-and-trade/running-a-business/preparing-a-business-continuity-plan
• Western Australia: wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/covid-19-coronavirus-business-and-industry-advice
• Tasmania: business.tas.gov.au/coronavirus_information
• ACT: covid19.act.gov.au/information-for-business/businesses-and-workplaces
• NT: coronavirus.nt.gov.au/community-advice/business