The NSW Government is gifting every adult $100 to spend on dining and entertainment in a bid to resuscitate some of the sectors hit hardest by COVID-19.
Key points:
- Everyone over the age of 18 will be given four $25 vouchers under the NSW Budget's Out and About scheme
- The vouchers can't be used on retail, alcohol, gambling or cigarettes
- A COVID-safe trial of the program will be run throughout December in the Sydney CBD
The stimulus measure will be announced today in a landmark NSW Budget expected to lay bare tens of billions of dollars in debt.
The Out and About voucher scheme will cost the Government $500 million and aims to keep the economy flowing after Christmas.
Anyone over the age of 18 will receive four x $25 vouchers through the Service NSW mobile app.
Two can be used on food at restaurants, cafes and clubs and the other two can be used for entertainment activities, such as cultural institutions, performing arts, cinemas and amusement parks.
The vouchers cannot be used on retail, alcohol, gambling or cigarettes and can only be used at COVID-19-safe businesses that sign on to the scheme.
"The dining and entertainment industries were among the hardest hit by the pandemic and I would encourage people to utilise this scheme once it is up and running and to make sure they spend a bit extra on the way through, too."
The four vouchers cannot be combined and each voucher can only be used once, which means if the spend is less than $25 the remaining amount will expire.
The NSW Government will run a trial of the program in the Sydney CBD over December with the full program formally launched in early 2021.
The Government will also look at limiting the use of the dining vouchers to less busy days such as Monday to Thursday to better manage COVID-19 restrictions.
Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said the CBD trial would help iron out any issues.
"We must be COVID smart as well as COVID safe and the success of this program will depend upon people continuing to follow the rules," Mr Dominello said.
The scheme is similar to the UK Government's 'Eat Out to Help Out' program which ran last month and gave diners a 50 per cent discount if they dined out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
But Mr Perrottet stressed stimulus payments were not a permanent solution to the economic turmoil the pandemic has caused.
"We will generate momentum in the short term, then reinforce our finances with the discipline that has defined our time in office," he said.
Today, Mr Perrottet will likely hand down the biggest deficit NSW has ever recorded.
To shake off the economic shackles of COVID-19, jobs will be the beating heart of the 2020-2021 budget.
Thousands of businesses will get a payroll tax cut to simulate job growth and interstate and international businesses will be encouraged to move their headquarters to NSW for tax breaks.
Infrastructure is also front and centre and many major projects, like the Sydney Metro West and the Western Sydney Airport Metro, will be fast-tracked.
There's also good news for women who have been out of work for a month, with $5,000 grants up for grabs as part of a return-to-work program.
However, in a highly controversial move, the Government cut public sector wage rises by one per cent to save $1.8 billion over the next three years.
The Treasurer says all these measures will combine to put tens of thousands of people back in work, with the unemployment rate tipped to dip from the current 7.5 per cent to around 5.25 per cent by June 2024.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTE3L25zdy1idWRnZXQtaW5jbHVkZXMtJDEwMC12b3VjaGVycy1mb3ItZGluaW5nLWFuZC1lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50LzEyODg3ODQ20gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyODg3ODQ2?oc=5
2020-11-16 18:15:00Z
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