The Morrison Government’s reforms to Australia’s insolvency framework will help small regional tourism businesses restructure and survive the economic impact of COVID-19.

Assistant Minister for Regional Tourism Jonno Duniam said the reforms would cover around 76 per cent of businesses subject to insolvencies today.

“Our regional tourism businesses have been hard hit by COVID-19,” Assistant Minister Jonno Duniam said.

“We want to ensure they can survive this and return to being strong businesses that offer exceptional visitor experiences on the other side of the pandemic.

“Of the 300,000 tourism businesses across Australia, one-third of those are in our regions, and 95 per cent are small and micro businesses.

“It’s so important we support these small businesses through this tough time, because by supporting regional tourism businesses, we’re supporting jobs and our regional communities.

“Regional tourism contributes around $21 billion to our regional economy and accounts for around eight per cent of regional jobs.”

The new processes will be available for small businesses from 1 January 2021.

In addition to these regulatory changes the Government is providing an unprecedented level of support totalling $314 billion to cushion the blow for households and businesses as part of our economic recovery plan for Australia.