The National Cabinet is continuing to meet today and Treasury have met for the last few days to flesh out what a 'hibernation' package will look like for Australian businesses. Details will be announced over the next couple of days so we will update you on what that means as soon as those announcements are made.

In the interim the PM requested businesses not to make decisions on employees and standing people down, however as we all know that's easier said that done.

We've summarised below both the new announcements and also added a few tips for those trying to navigate this new world we all find ourselves in.

If you want a refresher on what has already been announced you can find our previous update here.

Before we get into the new stimulus packages we want to ask everyone simply, how are you going? Are you ok?

I know we've spoken/emailed/sms'd with everyone over the last two weeks however as our daily lives are changing it's important to remember we are all in this together, we will all get through this together, and we are always here to listen, guide and advise in anyway we can.

Our new normal continues to change daily. Which means we need to all continue to adapt and change as we go along. Small businesses are the backbone of our Australian economy, and will be long into the future. It's amazing to see so many of you able to transition, transform, implement new revenue streams and really bring to the forefront new ideas to survive our current circumstances.

We've been asked by a number of clients this week our advice around communicating with their team and customers.

Firstly, this is your time to shine as a leader. As hard as this is for all business owners we need to ensure we are communicating to everyone clearly, in a calm and concise manner. We need to ensure we aren't adding to the mayhem, panic and confusion. The best way to do this is communicate with the team regularly, which means once or twice a day as things continue to progress. A plan you set in place for this next week could easily be turned upside down with an announcement tomorrow, but our teams want to know what our plans are for now, rather than having to guess themselves.

This is also your time to show the world (yes that's the stage many of you can sell to) what it is your business does, don't be silent during this time. Many campaigns are flowing around the internet doing every little bit they can to help businesses, eg the #thegreataussietakeaway. If you are lucky enough to not be impacted at the moment make sure you too are supporting small businesses where you can.

It's also important from a business owners perspective to ensure you are looking after yourself. Stick to the routines you know help you operate at your best, be that meditation, exercise, relaxation, food, just please ensure it's at home!

We've tried to maintain our usual office banter by using discord and rhythmbot. Whilst it's normally used for online games, this allows one of the team members to be 'office DJ' (this happens in our office daily) and also ensures we can continue with things like our daily 20 squats at 10am and 4pm each day. While this might seem unnecessary it's important as everyone isolates to maintain your team bond and culture. If you need help setting anything like this up, ping Beau and he can sort out for you.

We've also been asked how to deal with kids at home and juggling school work! While we are certainly not experts in this field it's important to remember your kids have also been thrown into a whirlwind as well. Our good friends at Quirky Kid have some resources and ideas to help manage that anxiety.

Please remember to reach out to any of the growthwise team as you need to.

The new announcements

Today's announcements include $669 million in funding for Medicare. This will include medicare subsidies for telehealth services. The bulk billing amounts will double in an incentive to provide telehealth services and the range of services will be expanded to include mental health, chronic disease management among others.

An additional $74million has been allocated to for mental health services that are currently under strain. Beyond Blue will have a dedicated coronavirus wellbeing helpline.

Counselling services for those caught up in family violence will shares in $150million.

And an additional $200million will go to charities that provide emergency relief for households.

Payroll Tax Relief

Just a quick update we have requested any refunds for those who have already paid VIC payroll tax and requested the WA grants.

To encourage banks to continue to lend

The government announced last week they were encouraging banks to lend to small business by guaranteeing 50% of loans issued to small businesses. These loans are short term unsecured loans (up to 3 years), for a maximum of $250,000 with a 6 month repayment holiday.

We are now seeing some of the banks outline additional products in response.

CBA are offering 3 year loans at 5.5% reducing to 4.5% on the 3rd April. Interest to be deferred and capitalised for 6 months. They have also released a simple fact sheet on what applies to you if you are a CBA customer.

NAB have announced a new business support loan, over the same 3 year period, interest rate 4.5%. The fact sheet for what NAB are doing over this period is here.

Westpac have also announced the product with no details around interest rates. Details on what else Westpac are doing during this time can be found here.

ANZ have details on what they are doing here, but nothing specific on the new 3 year loans has been released yet.

The banks as you can imagine have a huge volume of calls and loans to be processed at the moment, however for those that need additional funding we will be in touch in the coming weeks to coordinate this with your banking relationship managers.

Next Steps

We will continue to update this as new measures are announced during the week.

Let me reiterate, there is no application for the PAYG Rebate, we will advise how much this will be with your March BAS.

For those of you with apprentices we will be in touch in April once the application process has been released.

We will also be in touch for those of you who need to apply for any additional funding during the week as well.

The gov have also released a new Corona Virus app in the apple and google play stores as well as the ability to stay updated with whatsapp.

Any questions as always just let one of the Growthwise team know.