Solution offered for SME Recovery Loans Scheme

Bill Lang’s comments featured in the Herald Sun article:

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang said there would be tentative steps forward but businesses should not over-commit “given how quickly things can revert to disaster mode”.

Mr Lang said recovery would vary by location, buy industry “and by the resources the business has available to still be operating when the customers come back”.

“For example, the WA and Queensland tourism industries will both continue to suffer for as long as international travel and visitors are locked out of the country but more importantly as long as their state governments lock out the rest of Australia.

Some states offered no certainty and little confidence to businesses, Mr Lang said. He said government loan assistance such as the SME Recovery Loans Scheme was not being accessed because “business owners do not want to borrow money unless they are confident they can pay it back”.

A potential solution, Mr Lang said, was a similar approach to Britain with revenue-contingent loans that need to be repaid only once a business’s revenue reached a certain level.