By CASEY NEILL
THE Committee for Dandenong has welcomed the boost for small business in last week’s Federal Budget.
Small businesses will be able to immediately claim a $20,000 tax deduction for purchased equipment instead of claiming depreciation over several years.
The lobby group’s chairman Gary Castricum said people underestimated the number of small enterprises that existed in Greater Dandenong.
“So much of business in Australia and business in Dandenong is about small guys,” he said.
“You go to Dandenong and you can get almost anything made, fixed or supplied and many of those businesses are not large.
“A lot of them are just small businesses who have decided ‘I can do this’.
“Anything they’re doing for small business is going to be a good thing.”
Senator Mitch Fifield also touted the Budget’s Growing Jobs package as a win for business and job seekers in the region.
“It delivers incentives targeted to employers and young job seekers transitioning from school to work,” he said.
“New measures will focus on making job seekers more employable, reducing the costs of taking on new staff, and bringing job seekers and job providers together.
“Through the $1.2 billion national wage subsidy pool, eligible employers will receive up to $6500 if they hire an eligible young job seeker under 30 years of age.”
Mr Fifield said the Government would also deliver a $331 million Youth Employment Strategy, including a Transition to Work program that will start on 1 January to help disengaged young people.
They will receive intensive support from community-based organisations to develop the work-related skills employers want and need.
The Transition to Work program will be supplemented by $106 million for intensive support to vulnerable young people who are most at risk of long-term unemployment, including migrants, parents and those who with mental illness.
