BUSINESSES URGED NOT TO RULE THEMSELVES OUT ON GRANTS

Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman has urged local businesses not to rule themselves out of applying for a $10,000 bushfire recovery grant that is still available.

Businesses from both the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury Local Government Areas (LGAs) are eligible to apply for the grants, however some business owners have held back fearing they would not be successful.

“I have spoken to a number of business owners who had not applied because they looked at their figures and felt they didn’t quite meet the criteria, so effectively ruled themselves out,” Ms Templeman said.

“But others have told me how easy the process was.

“I recently met with the Head of the Recovery, Andrew Colvin, who I first spoke to about this sort of grant back in January when he visited the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains, to give him feedback on the measure,” Ms Templeman said.

“This was not a grant that the Federal Government initially wanted to bring in, but they recognised the merit of it as we spent weeks describing the economic impact of the fires on the region.

“So many businesses in our region didn’t actually burn down in the fires, so weren’t eligible for support,” Ms Templeman said.

“I told Mr Colvin that the grant criteria hasn’t worked for every business, and new businesses or those that had been growing have had a slower and not always positive outcome.

“But I would urge all business owners to go online and fill out the form. It’s a slice of funding that is meant to help with the losses from the bushfire period, and the feedback is that it’s b