Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced an additional stimulus package, taking the value of the total support to $189 billion.

Acknowledging that the coronavirus pandemic may continue for some time and have long lasting impact on the livelihoods of Australians, the PM announced a raft of new support measures.

Details of the new package:

Support for businesses - eligible businesses and not-for-profits, with a turnover of under $50 millions and who are employers, will receive up to $100,000 (with a minimum of $20,000). This is an extension to the ‘boosting cashflow for employers measure’ which aims to keep employees in work. Employers will receive a tax free payment equal to 100% of wages or salary withheld (increased from 50%). This will be available from April 28th.

Temporary relief for financially distressed businesses - by temporarily providing higher thresholds and more time to respond to demands from creditors and providing temporary relief from directors’ personal insolvent trading liability.

Increasing the instant asset write-off - the Government has already announced that they are raising the threshold to $150,000 (from $30,000) — and making more businesses eligible to use it up to a turnover of $500 million.

Backing business investment - by accelerating depreciation deductions.

Supporting apprentices and trainees - through wage assistance to help small businesses.

Coronavirus SME guarantee scheme - a loan guarantee arrangement between the Government and participating banks to assist with the immediate cash flow needs of small businesses.

Increasing the benefit - the Government is temporarily expanding eligibility to income support payments with a new, time-limited coronavirus supplement of $550 per fortnight. The payment will go to existing and new recipients of the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance jobseeker, Parenting Payment, Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit for the next 6 months.

Early access to superannuation - eligible individuals and sole traders will be able to access up to $10,000 in 2019-20, and a further $10,000 in 2020-21. Withdrawals will be tax-free. Applications are through the myGov site online by July 1. There will also be a temporary reduction of minimum super drawdown rates.

Support for airlines and airports - up to $715 million relief from a range of taxes and Government charges.

For more on the new package, the Treasury has fact sheets on each measure at https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus.

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