New Hardship Panel to offer COVID relief for businesses who don't fit JobSaver criteria

At a regional press conference on Thursday, Minister for Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope said a new hardship panel will be established as part of the funding package which will give businesses rejected for payments an avenue to have their individual circumstances assessed.

"What we have established today is a hardship committee to look at the specific hardship cases which may arrive and which may not necessarily fit into the eligibility criteria for a grant but who do need our support," Mr Tudehope said.

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He said the committee is hoping to help businesses who have been hit hard by COVID, but can't prove the specific revenue losses for a number of reasons not covered in the grant schemes.

"A really important component are those businesses who fall through the cracks, who possibly don't meet the business criteria," he said.

"[For example] a business who has just been set up, opens the doors and all of a sudden the government issues a public health order which requires them to shut down."

The hardship panel will assess businesses claims on a case by case basis, and access will become available on the Service NSW website in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said he remains confident "big parts" of regional NSW will be able to emerge from strict lockdown next week, despite cases soaring over 12000 in NSW on Wednesday.

"We've argued the reason why we kept those regions with zero COVID in lockdown for a further two weeks was to give us more confidence in the data," Mr Barilaro said. "I am very confident in the data."

"We'll make a decision next week about extension of the regional lockdown and I genuinely do believe big parts of regional and rural NSW will come out."

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