Mr Weyrich said there’s a glitch in the application criteria which limits those with multiple businesses to one $5000 state government grant.
He said one single grant split between his four businesses will do little to repair the damage of the Coronavirus restrictions and border closures.
And he said all multiple business owners would be in the same boat, given the grant is distributed based on ABN numbers and not registered businesses.
‘‘It forces all multiple business owners reconsider the viability of each of their ventures,’’ he said.
Mr Weyrich owns an automotive business in Moama and one retail and one hospitality business in Mathoura, as well as a Mathoura museum.
Mr Weyrich said he has previously requested separate ABN numbers for his businesses without luck, and says this rule is a ‘‘loophole’’ for the state government to limit the amount of support it pays out.
‘‘For some time we have been asking the Australian Taxation Office to dissect the ABNs from the businesses, so every business has a different ABN. At the very least we want them to recognise that all four of my businesses operate at different levels with different turnovers, but they just refuse,’’ he said.
‘‘I have explained that to the grant issuing authority, I sent a letter to (NSW member for Murray) Helen Dalton’s office, I have spoken with my contacts in Sydney, but the government won’t relent; they won’t change it.
‘‘As a consequence of all of that, if this goes on much longer, I won’t have any businesses.’’
Mr Weyrich said if the government does not provide small businesses and small business owners more support, many are going to close for good.
‘‘A lot of my employees are on JobKeeper, and that has been really good, but that is only paying part of their wages,’’ Mr Weyrich explained.
‘‘And there are other things like utilities, insurance and security systems that need support and payments. You still have WorkCover payments and holiday pay commitments that you still have to meet, there are licensing payments and a whole range of issues that all small businesses are afflicted by.
‘‘Two of my businesses — Good Vibrations Motorcycle Museum and Kick Start Café in Mathoura — have been closed for the past three months and I have had to let go of three employees. I have other staff who are casual and not eligible for JobKeeper.
‘‘I know part of the small business grant criteria says you can use the money to pay people that are not eligible for JobKeeper, but $5000 is not going to go far.’’
The Pastoral Times approached NSW Nationals Duty Member of the Legislative Council for Murray Wes Fang about the flaws raised by Mr Weyrich.
Mr Fang said while he could not guarantee flaws can be rectified, he invited business owners to make him aware of issues so he can ‘‘make representations to the responsible minister and see what we can do’’.
‘‘What we often find when we have implementation of these schemes is that they are designed obviously to support businesses, but the guidelines around them sometimes create individual issues,’’ Mr Fang said.
‘‘When we find issues that arise, we can actually look to address them further. I am unable to give a guarantee at the moment but what I can say is if I am provided some more details, my office can certainly look into it and start talking to the responsible minister’s office to see if we can find an avenue in which we can roll out support to these businesses.’’
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