Minister Barr: Additional financial support during lockdown
- Written by ACT Government
Released 14/09/2021
To support Canberrans significantly impacted by the lockdown, the ACT Government will extend and expand a range of financial support measures.
Throughout the pandemic, the ACT Government has prioritised measures to support the most vulnerable members of our community and ensure our health response is fully resourced.
$1,000 Utilities Concession for 2021-22
We will provide an additional one-off $200 increase in the utilities concession to bring it to $1,000 for 2021-22 – helping the most vulnerable in our community with a significant expense throughout the year.
In addition to the $100 increase already announced in June, this will mean that the utilities concession for 31,000 eligible households in Canberra will increase from $700 to $1,000 from last financial year to this financial year. The estimated cost of the Utilities concession to the ACT Government in 2021-22 will be $31 million.
Support for Tenants and Landlords
We will extend the previously announced land tax and commercial rates relief to landlords who provide rent relief to their tenants through to 31 December 2021.
Commercial landlords who offer rent relief may be eligible for a commercial rates credit of up to $10,000 (increased from $5,000) at an estimated total cost of $5.5 million.
Residential landlords providing rent relief will be eligible for a credit on their residential land tax of up to $100 per week to share the cost of passing rent relief on to tenants – now extended out to 31 December 2021 at an estimated total cost of $2.2 million.
Further, the ACT Government will waive rent payments until 31 December 2021 for any business and community sector tenants of government-owned properties that have been significantly affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.
Further information can be found here for landlords and tenants.
Jobs for Canberrans
The ACT Government will extend the contracts for over 110 staff in the Jobs for Canberrans program. This highly successful program has supported our COVID response and provided employment opportunities to over 500 people to work within the ACT Public Service in areas like City Services, Access Canberra, Health and Education.
The Government has also extended all other ACT Public Sector temporary employment contracts due to expire for a further six weeks.
Community Sector
The Government will make additional funding announcements in the coming days regarding further crisis response funding in areas such as mental health and emergency relief, and related service delivery partnerships with the community sector.
ACT Budget 2021-22
The ACT Budget will be delivered on Wednesday 6 October. The COVID response will be the major priority as well as ongoing long term investments in our healthcare system, public education and TAFE, public housing, responding to climate change, transport and infrastructure.
Jointly funded support with the Commonwealth Government
The ACT Government continues to work productively with the Commonwealth Government in extending jointly funded financial supports to support businesses significantly impacted by the strong public health measures and consistent with the arrangements that have been put in place for other jurisdictions. We anticipate making further joint announcements in the coming days.
- Statement ends -
Section: Andrew Barr, MLA | Media Releases
