21 Jul 2021

Financial support for SA businesses in lockdown

In welcome news today, South Australian businesses – including the state’s tourism operators – can now access financial assistance through the State Government.

A $100 million Business Support Package will provide $3,000 emergency cash grants to South Australian small and medium-sized businesses that suffer a significant loss of income or have been forced to close as a result of the state’s 7-day lockdown.

Premier Steven Marshall also announced today that the income relief offered to individuals by the Federal Government to nationally-declared ‘hot spot’ zones – the council areas of Adelaide, Adelaide Hills and Gawler – will be extended state-wide.

Business Support Package

The new Business Support Package will assist an estimated 50,000 eligible* SMEs across the state, including restaurants, cafes, hotels, and tour and experience operators, affected by the new restrictions to help stop the spread of the highly-contagious COVID-19 Delta variant.

Grants will help businesses cover ongoing operating costs such as rent, power bills, supplier costs and other fees, and help them to re-open when restrictions ease.

The major support package also includes a new $1,000 cash grant for eligible** small businesses who don’t employ staff (e.g. non-employing sole traders).

How to access business support:

*To be eligible for the one-off $3,000 emergency cash grant, a business must, as at 12:01am Tuesday 20 July 2021:

  • Be located within South Australia
  • Have an annual turnover of $75,000 or more in 2020-21 or 2019-20, and be registered for GST
  • Employ people in South Australia
  • Have an Australia-wide payroll of less than $10 million in 2019-20
  • Have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • Experienced at least a 30 per cent reduction (compared to the week prior) in turnover due to the restricted trading conditions

**To be eligible for the one-off $1,000 emergency cash grant, a non-employing business must meet the criteria listed above excluding the requirement to employ people.

Income relief for individuals

The Commonwealth assistance – now matched by the State Government to extend state-wide – includes weekly lump sum payments of $375 for workers who lose between eight and 19 hours of work a week, and $600 for those who lose 20 or more hours. The payments are made in arrears on an ongoing weekly basis so long as the hotspot definition and the lockdown requirements remain in place.

Today’s State Government announcement means these payments will be matched and made available to South Australians state-wide. These payments will be paid in arrears for the lockdown and anyone affected can apply through myGOV from Wednesday, 28 July.

How to access individual income relief:

  • Details about how to claim the Commonwealth COVID-19 Disaster Payment (including the matching income support payment for eligible SA individuals outside the Commonwealth declared hotspots) will soon be available on the Services Australia website.


The SATC will be updating our COVID-19 support page to host all of the support available to our industry. 

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or would like to provide feedback during this time.

I've been on the phone to many operators already, and I hear you – this is an incredibly tough time and I recognise that there are some sectors hit harder than others. All of your feedback is being considered and will help inform our path forward. 

Rodney Harrex
Chief Executive 

See the full Industry Update – 21 June 2021 here.