The Sydney Business Chamber says the Federal Budget has delivered a number of big wins for business and provides some potential funding to address a number of priorities and key issues for Sydney.
“It’s pleasing the Federal Budget has delivered a surplus of $7.1 billion for 2019/20, showing fiscal constraint while at the same time providing economic initiatives for infrastructure and business,” Chris Lamont, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Influence of the NSW Business Chamber, said.
“Billions of dollars have been put aside for infrastructure projects and congestion busting programs and we want to ensure that Sydney gets a fair share.
“The Urban Congestion Fund has set an additional $3 billion to ease congestion and reduce travel times in our major cities, including in Sydney. This could be used to address traffic bottlenecks including King Georges Road and Homebush Bay Drive,” he said.
“The establishment of the Faster Rail Agency to help develop the business cases for fast rail, including a link between Sydney to Wollongong is a welcome decision and will unlock employment opportunities and cut travel times for commuters traveling into the Sydney CBD for work.”
Mr Lamont said the $525 million skills package, including placement of new apprenticeships, was also good news for business and young jobseekers.
“Sydney is in the midst of an infrastructure boom and this package will assist those industries experiencing skills shortages. More than 80,000 apprenticeships will be funded in the next five years, resulting in business confidence to continue to invest and construct major projects in Sydney,” he said.
Mr Lamont said small to medium enterprises attempting to crack the international market would benefit from an additional $60 million injected into the Export Market Development Grant.
“The funding for marketing necessary to secure overseas markets is a real barrier to entry so we welcome this initiative.
“Last, but certainly not least, we are pleased the Government has adopted our recommendation to increase and extend the instant asset write off scheme to $30,000 and extend eligibility to include businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million,” Mr Lamont said.
