Many local governments are announcing their own stimulus and support packages. While we cannot cover all councils of Australia, the measures below give you some sense of the packages which are available.

City of Sydney

The City of Sydney has implemented a package of measures valued at up to $25m to support businesses and reduce the financial impact of Covid-19. The following measures will be in place for an initial period of six months:

• Fee waiver for Health and Building compliance activities (anticipated revenue loss of $1.6m).
• Review rents in Council premises for tenants that require support on a case-by-case basis (anticipated cost up to a value of $4m).
• Waive of standard contractual terms and return booking and banner fees to people and organisations who have booked City venues and are now unable to proceed with their bookings (anticipated cost up to a value of $3m).
• Waiver of footway dining, market permit and filming fees on the grounds of hardship (anticipated revenue loss of $1.5m).
• Flexible approach to parking and other infringements (anticipated revenue loss of $10-15m), being non-enforcement unless they present an imminent public, environmental, health or safety risk.

We already expect that there will be a second round of measures to be announced shortly.

City of Melbourne

The City of Melbourne has announced a local economic stimulus package valued at more than $10 million to keep Melburnians in jobs and support city businesses affected by the COVID-19 virus.

The support package will include:

• A virtual Business Support Summit at Melbourne Town Hall.
• Suspending fees for Food Act registrations and street trading permits for three months.
• Halving rent for eligible tenants in Council-owned buildings for three months.
• Opportunities to deploy casual and part-time staff to enhance city cleanliness and amenity.
• Developing a Rates Hardship Policy for consideration by the end of this March 2020.

Brisbane City

The Brisbane City Council has announced a $7.9m business relief package, that will see Council waive all charges, levies, council rents and permit fees for business as well as lease fees for community organisations, effective immediately and continuing until at least 30 June 2020.

Queensland Councils are now in caretaker mode with elections scheduled for 28 March 2020. We expect to see further measures from Queensland councils once the new councils have been formed.

City of Perth

The City of Perth has announced that it is developing a Relief and Rebound Plan for how the Council can support its people and services provided to the community. More updates to follow as information comes to hand.