NSW and Western Australia have led the charge in stimulus packages, with payroll tax concessions a highlight across both state packages.

Queensland also offered payroll tax deferral to all businesses across the state.

While nestegg expects the other states and territories to soon follow suit with their own stimulus packages, which we’ll report on in due course, we’ve outlined below what has already been announced:

NSW

Just this morning (17 March), NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and state treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced a $2.3 billion package that’s expected to span the next six months.

Ms Berejiklian said she wanted a “no regrets policy” and so the policy includes a $700 million boost for NSW Health.

Ms Berejiklian said that she had asked the state healthcare provider what it needed, and responded to its requests. 

The remaining money will go towards economic stimulus measures, to keep people in jobs.

More than $750 million is to be spent on capital works and public asset maintenance, it was revealed.

Another measure sees $450 million allocated to waive payroll tax for businesses with payrolls of up to $10 million for three months, with the Premier noting “payroll tax [as] the main lever” the government has to work with.

$250 million is being dedicated to public schools and state-owned buildings for the employment of more cleaners.

Announcing the measures, Ms Berejiklian said, “We will do whatever it takes to keep our people safe.”

The state treasurer conceded that the measures are “going to hurt our finances, but it’s going to help our economy”.

Western Australia

The Western Australian government has announced a freeze on household fees and charges until at least 1 July 2021 and prevent consumer costs from blowing out as individuals and businesses begin to feel the strain from a struggling economy.

The freeze will apply to entire “household basket”: electricity, water, motor vehicle charges, emergency services levy and public transport fares.

The Energy Assistance Payment will also be doubled to support vulnerable WA residents.

According to the statement, an allocation of $402 million in the 2020-21 budget will go towards paying for the freeze.

It’s part of a $516 million stimulus package announced today by the state government.

Another $114 million in measures will be implemented to support the state’s small and medium businesses, inclusive of a one-off grant and payroll tax relief.

For Premier Mark McGowan, “We are in uncharted territory, and there’s no doubt our economy is going to feel the effects of COVID-19.”

“As a responsible government, we must respond and we must provide certainty to both businesses and households,” he said.

“These measures will provide relief to WA families, seniors and small businesses to further support our economy to withstand the headwinds we face.”

Queensland

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced that the state government is creating a $500 million loan facility, interest-free for the first 12 months, “to support businesses to keep Queenslanders in work and extend the coronavirus payroll tax deferral to all businesses across the state”.

The Premier indicated that the rapidly evolving impacts of the pandemic demanded a “rapidly evolving response”.

“We know just how tough Queensland families and businesses are doing it in the face of this pandemic,” the Premier said.

“We were the first to unveil an assistance package for those businesses most directly affected like tourism operators and seafood exporters,” she noted.

According to deputy premier and treasurer Jackie Trad, the concessional loan facility will comprise loans of up to $250,000, with an initial interest-free period so businesses can retain staff.

The announcements come after the Federal Government’s announcement of a nearly $20 billion stimulus package of its own, targeted at vulnerable households and businesses.

It has since copped criticism from several fronts, with The Australian Institute considering it would have better been targeted towards consumers, while concerns have been raised over the drop to deeming rates incorporated into the package not being enough to protect pensioners.