Annastacia Palaszczuk is letting Queensland small businesses fend for themselves, as interstate governments lead the way by providing crucial financial support during the coronavirus pandemic.
LNP Shadow Minister for Small Business Fiona Simpson said Queensland is the only state that doesn’t provide direct grants to small businesses.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to immediately introduce rapid emergency relief,” Ms Simpson said.“In this state of origin, Queensland has lost to New South Wales, but the real losers are our small businesses who are the backbone of the Queensland economy.
“It’s yet another example of the unfairness for those on the Gold Coast, in particular the NSW/QLD border, as the New South Wales Government offers grants to these businesses dealing with coronavirus, but Queensland doesn’t.
“Queensland small businesses are being left behind other states and the Palaszczuk Labor Government must do more to help.
“The assistance programs Labor have rolled out are confusing and difficult to access.
“Payroll tax changes don’t help these businesses because they are under the threshold and don’t pay any payroll tax to begin with. “The majority of Queensland businesses don’t pay any payroll tax.
“We must all work together to ensure no more Queenslanders are added on the jobless queue or another business is forced to close its doors.”