The Victorian Government will provide additional support for businesses in greater Melbourne who continue to be affected by necessary health restrictions.

After two weeks of Victorians doing the right thing, we are now in a place where we can continue to ease restrictions and reopen more businesses safely – but those businesses that will still be affected by restrictions will share a new injection of $8.4 million. This takes total support for businesses announced in the past 11 days beyond $500 million.

The Government has previously announced $492.2 million of support for small and medium-sized businesses and sole traders, including the Business Costs Assistance Program, Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund and Regional Tourism Support Package.

The initial funding supported businesses including restaurants and cafes, event suppliers, tourism and accommodation providers and non-essential retailers.

The Business Costs Assistance Program provides eligible businesses affected by the two weeks of restrictions with access to payments of $5,000.

A further $2,000 top-up payment will be available to businesses in metropolitan Melbourne that are closed due to extended restrictions announced today, including gyms, dance schools and yoga studios, taking the total amount available to businesses in eligible sectors to $7,000.

Up to 90,000 businesses will benefit from the support packages announced over the past two weeks.

Close to 70,000 businesses affected by restrictions beyond Thursday, 3 June 2021 were eligible for an extension payment from $2,500 to $5,000, and around 3,700 businesses will be eligible for the new $2,000 top-up payment.

Tourism businesses in regional and metropolitan Melbourne that receive the Tourism Supplement payment announced on Sunday will not receive this top-up payment. Their payments have already reached $7,000.

Applications for the Business Costs Assistance Program are open and businesses will only need to submit one application to receive their maximum payment. Initial payments started this week.

More information about the Business Costs Assistance Program is available at  business.vic.gov.au.