bitbydeath
Member
Will be interesting to see how this unfolds, it does seem like the only logical move so businesses can survive without any income.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a plan to “hibernate Australian business” during the coronavirus crisis, highlighting there is a “burden to share” on all Australians as the economy suffers.
Mr Morrison said part of that plan was for Australian business to “hibernate” during what he said would be “the many difficult months that are ahead”.
The exact details of the hibernation plan haven’t been fleshed out, but it’s expected to include rental issues that have been bubbling away in the background of the crisis.
Mr Morrison described it as a “very innovative approach in the circumstances we find ourselves in”.
“The idea is simple – there are businesses which will have to close their doors. They will have to keep them closed either because we have made it necessary for them to do so, or simply there is just not the business to keep their doors open,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison said he wanted those businesses “to start again” and he does not “not want over the course of the next six months or as long as it takes, for those businesses to be so saddled by debt, so saddled by rental payments, so saddled by other liabilities that they will not be able to start again on the other side”.
“This will underpin our strategy as we go to the third tranche of our economic plan, and that will include support by states and territories on managing the very difficult issue of commercial tenancies and also dealing ultimately with residential tenancies as well,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg would have more to say on the hibernation plan “in the next few days”.
“We will make announcements on the details. I today wanted to speak about what the objective was,” Mr Morrison said.
LANDLORDS, BANKS, COUNCILS TO TAKE A HIT
In terms of residential and commercial rentals, Mr Morrison said everyone involved will have to take a hit, as well as banks and landlords.
“There will be landlords who will suffer. The banks will be having to make arrangements with them. Whether councils are involved in providing waivers on rates, things of that nature that, will be something states work through,” he said.
“Whether land tax will be relieved for those who have tenants in a distressed situation — all of these are what we are working through. It isn’t simple.
“The intent is as far as possible to ensure that a business that through no fault of its own, just like if there’s any Australian who has lost a job through no fault of their own, we are simply trying to preserve and support them in the best way we possibly can for the simple reason that, A, they are Australian, and that is what we should do, and, benefit.
“B, on the other side we want them to surge. We want Australia to rise again on the other side of this and to go forward strongly.
“We have to keep doing it. We have to keep sticking together. We have to keep supporting each other. We’ve got to keep sharing the right information with each other. And we have to stick together and support each other through what I know is becoming day by day a much tougher job for all of us. We can do it.
“The next few weeks will be particularly vital and so we’re getting this together at a time when it is most necessary and your response this week has been simply awesome.”
Coronavirus Australia: Plan to hibernate Australian business. What does that mean?
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a plan to “hibernate Australian business” during the coronavirus crisis, highlighting there is a “burden to share” on all Australians as the economy suffers.
www.news.com.au