Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the first batch of these additional payments, handed out automatically to recipients of earlier emergency grant support, has already been paid.
“We’re pushing those payments out as quickly as we can,” Mr Andrews said.
Having already paid out $800 million to businesses this year, the state government has now extended the Business Support Fund grants twice, initially offering $5,000 payments when stage three was reintroduced last month, before outlining a further $10,000 payment after stage four restrictions were announced.
With the latest extension is taken into account, businesses in metropolitan Melbourne would be eligible for $20,000 in total, while those in regional areas have been eligible for $15,000 in payments.
Mr Andrews said 24,000 eligible businesses have so far received emergency grant payments, totalling $120 million in taxpayer funds handed out to companies with less than $3 million in annual payroll.
“We want businesses to survive this pandemic. We want people healthy and back at work. We want to begin the process of rebuilding our economy and our community and setting us up for the future,” he said.
The funds are part of a broader $1.7 billion economic survival package outlined by the Victorian government at the outset of the pandemic, which has so far paid out $776 million in support for about 77,600 eligible businesses.
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