Media response - COVID-19 business support

Published on 22 April 2020

• I’m doing a segment on what councils are doing to support businesses [to cope with COVID-19].

City of Onkaparinga has implemented a range of COVID-19 relief measures to support our community, including our businesses.

Aside from working closely with local businesses through our free ON Business Partner Program, and making sure they’re provided with the right information on federal and state government stimulus packages, we are:

• Waiving lease and associated costs for businesses with council leases. This is for businesses that have been forced to shut down for a period of three months between 1 April and 30 June. We’ll be reviewing this arrangement in three months’ time.
• Promoting our local economy through a “Think Local, Buy Local” campaign.
• Pivoting the Southern Business Mentoring Program, jointly funded with Cities of Marion and Holdfast Bay, to respond to business issues relating to COVID-19. All appointment fees have been waived until June 30 and two new specialist streams have been added: Mental Health and Wellbeing and Specialist Retail Support.
• Reducing red tape.
• Reducing the payment terms for small-to-medium local businesses to 14 days.
• Waiving application fees for extension of time requests and waiving fees for development applications seeking to vary small business trading conditions.
• Created a local Jobs Board Directory that lists local job providers, agencies and recruiters to assist job seekers in our community.
• Creating a dedicated COVID-19 Business Support Page, distributing weekly COVID-19 Business Support emails, and publishing a COVID-19 Business Resource Guide with links and support.
• Promoting local businesses via our corporate Facebook page and via stories on our online news platform, Onkaparinga Now.

On top of business relief measures, we’ve also implemented a suite of relief measures to ease the burden on individuals and families affected by the pandemic. These include:

• A longer period of time to pay fourth quarter rates instalments without incurring penalties, for a period of up to eight weeks past the due date.
• Waiving lease and associated costs for community and sporting clubs using council facilities for a period of three months between 1 April and 30 June 2020, with an extension if required.
• Creating a $50,000 community wellbeing and resilience fund with grants to support existing community groups that are working with individuals and families, and tackle social isolation, mental health, financial security and food security.

To keep up-to-date with City of Onkaparinga’s affected services, visit onkaparingacity.com/Emergency-announcements/Covid-19

ENDS