MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has issued a letter to Mildura’s business community, in the wake of our current COVID-19 outbreak.

The letter features the latest information about grants and support that are available to Tier 1 and Tier 2 exposure sites, and the wider business community.

“We’ve done our best to consolidate all the information into the one document to reduce confusion,” Ms Cupper said.

“It can be really difficult to keep track of, and we want to let business owners know what options are current, live, and available to them.”

The letter outlines what options are available, including:

• The Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund *
• The Business Costs Assistance Program *
• The Deep Cleaning Subsidy (rebate for professional cleaning costs for COVID-19 affected small and medium-sized businesses)
• The Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Disaster Payment

The letter comes as mis-information has started circulating in the community regarding COVID-19 hotspots.

“We know of at least one local business that was falsely led to believe they were classed as a Tier 1 exposure site,” Ms Cupper said.

“Somebody rang the business pretending to be a police officer, requesting the business shut down until further notice.

“This turned out to be a complete lie – but caused unnecessary panic for the business during an already challenging time.”

Ms Cupper wants to remind the business community to be aware of dubious callers.

* These are automatic payments, made to eligible businesses would have applied in the circuit breaker lockdown, that occurred in May this year.