JUNE 2020 ADVOCACY SUMMARY


Pre-lockdown advocacy 

  • Asked for Government Departments to pay New Zealand suppliers within 10 days to provide cashflow to those businesses supplying goods and services to Government (scale $40b of payments a year). This has been undertaken with a letter from SSC Chief Executive to Government Department Chief Executives confirming they would be required to operate in this manner for domestic suppliers.
  • Wage subsidy – first iteration. In January and early February, we were seeing a lot of businesses in trouble due to their exposure to rapidly dwindling tourist numbers, and the China tourist ban – particularly related to accommodation, hospitality, tourism, and tourism-related retail. In response to calls for financial support, The Government announced an estimated $5.2billion wage subsidy scheme paid for 12 weeks in a lump sum to employers to pass on to employees. The scheme was capped at $150k and with a commitment from employers to make reasonable endeavours to continue to pay staff 80 percent of existing wages. 
  • Sought a Business Loan Guarantee scheme to assist small and medium businesses – similar to the Australian scheme. Government agreed terms with the banks, enabling businesses with between $250,000 and $80 million turnover to access up to $500,000. 
     
Post-lockdown advocacy

  • Sought extension to the wage subsidy scheme removing the $150,000 cap to enable all businesses to access it. 
  • Continued to work with businesses to identify issues with the scheme – one day after the announcement of the revised scheme it was further amended to clarify employers’ obligations in respect of part time staff. 
  • Advocated to Ministers and MBIE to get further clarity on essential business requirements – worked with many individual businesses in putting their case forward and ensuring they were being treated fairly under the rules. Staff of BusinessNZ network embedded in MBIE taking active role in decision-making processes. 
  • Along with Institute of Directors advocated for and achieved amendment to the rules around trading while insolvent to ensure a six-month safe harbour in COVID-19 conditions similar to the Australian rules.