Small Business Industry Support Grant Guidelines

About the program

The objective of this South Australian Government assistance measure is to support small businesses (including farm enterprises) and not-for-profit organisations to recover from the downturn in revenue experienced as a result of the impacts of the 2022-23 high water flows on the River Murray and associated restrictions.

The Small Business Industry Support Grant application period is open until 31 December 2023. Extensions of the grant program may be considered by the Treasurer.

Available funding

The grant amount is $10,000.

How funding may be used

Grants are provided to support eligible small businesses and not-for-profit organisations to recover from the floods and rebuild resilient businesses. This may include, but is not limited to, any of the following:

• meeting standing business costs, including utilities, salaries and rent;
• seeking financial advice to support the recovery of the business;
• adjusting the business to be viable in the changed local context following the flooding;
• developing the business and extending business reach through marketing and communications activities;
• improvements to make the business more resilient to future disasters; or
• retaining, staying connected to, and supporting existing employees.

To be eligible for the grant, the applicant must:

• be a small business entity or a not-for-profit organisation (refer definitions);
• hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at the time of the eligible disaster;
• not have been approved for or received grant funding through the Early Business Closure Grants Program;
• have been engaged in operating the small business or not-for-profit organisation in a defined disaster area when affected by the eligible disaster;
• demonstrate a decline in revenue of 30% or more in a relevant three-month period (compared to a relevant three-month period in the previous year) as a result of the eligible disaster in the defined disaster area;
• relevant three-month periods include three consecutive months commencing from October 2022 to April 2023 (i.e. Oct - Dec 2022, Nov 2022 - Jan 2023, Dec 2022 - Feb 2023, Jan - Mar 2023, Feb – Apr 2023, Mar – May 2023 or Apr – Jun 2023);
• relevant three-month period for the Tourism and Hospitality Sector can include the October-December quarter in 2022, compared to the pre-COVID impacted October-December quarter in 2019; and
• demonstrate a minimum of $10,000 income in the relevant three-month periods of the previous year, or if the business has commenced trading less than 12 months prior to the flood event, then the business must demonstrate that income received was 30% less than anticipated in a flood impacted quarter (and that income received would have been at least $10,000 in a quarter).

Applicants will have to declare that they meet the Eligibility Criteria when submitting the application and provide the following evidence to support the claim:

• copy of business activity statements (BAS) submitted to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the relevant quarter/s and the comparison quarter/s in the previous year (or compared to the pre-COVID impacted quarter in 2019 for the Tourism and Hospitality Sector); or
• copies of bank statements or an income statement validated by a qualified accountant, for the relevant quarter/s and the comparison quarter/s in the previous year (or compared to the pre-COVID impacted quarter in 2019 for the Tourism and Hospitality Sector); or
• where an existing business has been purchased, evidence of the downturn should be provided by comparing against income received against an equivalent quarter of the former business and independent verification from a qualified accountant; or
• where a new business has commenced, evidence of the downturn should be provided via booking cancellations from a booking site and independent verification from a qualified accountant.

Applicants must retain all tax invoices, official receipts, bank statements, quotations or other similar records for assistance received under the scheme until five years after the closing day for applications for the eligible disaster.

Applicants must consent to the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science conducting an audit of documentation used to support an application to verify information provided, which may include contacting the nominated qualified accountant to verify the financial information provided.

If information in the application is found to be untrue or misleading, the matter may be referred to law enforcement authorities of the relevant Australian, state or territory government and penalties may apply.

Detailed terms and conditions for the Small Business Industry Support Grants will be included in the application form.

Definitions

Defined disaster area means the following Local Government Areas in South Australia for which the State will fund grants under this program:

• Alexandrina
• Berri Barmera
• Coorong
• Karoonda East Murray
• Loxton Waikerie
• Mid Murray
• Murray Bridge
• Renmark Paringa
• Pastoral Unincorporated Area

Eligible disaster means 2022-23 high water flows on the River Murray.

Farm Enterprise means a business that primarily carries on the activity of producing crops, livestock, forestry for the commercial production of products for consumers.

Not-for-Profit Organisation means:

• a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission;
• a not-for-profit organisation which provides services to the community and doesn't operate for the profit or personal gain of its individual members, such that profits made must go back into the services the organisation provides and mustn't be distributed to owners, members or other private people- e.g., most sporting and recreational clubs, community service organisations, professional and business associations and social organisations.

Qualified Accountant means a currently registered member of a professional accounting body (i.e. CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand or the Institute of Public Accountants).

Revenue means all gross income (before tax) from everyday business activities, including sales made over the internet, income from sales (cash and electronic) and foreign income. Gross income doesn’t include goods and services tax (GST).

Small Business is a business that:

• holds an Australian Business Number (ABN); and
• is not a public company within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001; and
• employs fewer than 30 full time employees. That is, the sum total of all standard hours worked by all employees (whether full- time or part-time) is less than the number of standard hours which would be worked by 30 full-time employees. Standard hours are 35 hours.
• is a sole trader, partnership, private company or trust that carries on a small business and has been trading in 2022-2023 and prior to the eligible disaster event.

If you require further information to participate in the program, please refer to the FAQs or contact DIIS.FloodSupport@sa.gov.au.

The Treasurer of South Australia reserves the right to:

• administer the Small Business Industry Support Grants and conduct the process for the assessment and approval of applications to the Small Business Industry Support Grants in such manner as he thinks fit;
• change the structure, procedures, nature, scope or timing of, or alter the terms of participation in the process or overall Small Business Industry Support Grants (including but not limited to eligibility (including the fewer than 30 full time employee threshold), timeframes, terms and conditions, submission and compliance of applications), where in such circumstances notice will be provided to applicants on the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science’s website; and
• consider or accept, or refuse to consider or accept, any application which:
  • is lodged other than in accordance with these Guidelines; or
  • is lodged after the relevant closing date; or
  • is otherwise non-conforming in any respect.

These Small Business Industry Support Grant Guidelines were last updated and on 22 September 2023.