$95 million support package for Australian Zoos

[Sunbear12]

The Coronavirus support package for Australian zoos has just been released. The majority of public zoos around the country appear eligible for a share of the $95 million.

Their gates are closed to the public but animals are still monkeying around in zoos across the country and their keepers have been busy.

But without visitors, zoos, aquariums and reptile parks across the country are struggling to keep up with operating costs that remain high.

In a bid to ease the pressure, the federal government are set to announce a fund of $95 million to be shared across institutions around Australia.

More info here - Category: | Herald Sun

 

[Andrew Swales]

The Coronavirus support package for Australian zoos has just been released. The majority of public zoos around the country appear eligible for a share of the $95 million.

More info here - Category: | Herald Sun

I cant get anything other than the headline - which says Victorian Zoos NOT Australian Zoos.

Please elaborate.

 

[Andrew Swales]

I cant get anything other than the headline - which says Victorian Zoos NOT Australian Zoos.
Please elaborate.

this is the headline -

VICTORIAN ZOOS GIVEN LIFELINE AFTER FORCED CLOSURES
Zoos, aquariums and reptile parks across Victoria have been given a $95 million lifeline by the federal government, with the fund to be shared after much of the sector was closed due to coronavirus restrictions.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Yep, appears to be a paywalled article.

Can you provide a rough summary for us, @Sunbear12 ?

 

[Chlidonias]

Try this one: Zoos to receive $95 million coronavirus lifeline from Federal Government - ABC News

The 95 million (94.6 million, "to be precise") is for zoos across Australia. The "Victorian zoos" headline was basically messing up that Victorian zoos could get a share in the Australia-wide amount, rather than all of that going to Victorian zoos.


Key points:

• Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said it was crucial that zoos and aquariums survived the crisis to help the tourism industry recover once restrictions were lifted
• More than 100 exhibiting zoos, wildlife parks and aquariums could apply for a share of $94.6 million to help pay for costs such as food, veterinary bills and power and water needed for animal enclosures
• With many visitors coming from overseas, there are fears the industry could take years to recover

"He announced more than 100 exhibiting zoos, wildlife parks and aquariums could apply for a share of $94.6 million to help pay for costs such as food, veterinary bills and power and water needed for animal enclosures.

"We know our world-class zoos and aquariums are major tourism drawcards for many [of] our major cities and regional centres across Australia, with over 20 million visitors walking through the gates each year," Senator Birmingham said.

"We also shouldn't underestimate the huge positive flow-on effects our zoos and aquariums provide to our economy. They bring thousands of visitors into communities who then spend millions of dollars visiting other attractions, sleeping in our hotels and dining in our restaurants."

The money is part of a $1 billion fund announced as part of the Government's first coronavirus stimulus package, aimed at supporting sectors hit hardest by COVID-19."


"

 

[MRJ]

A quick summary of salient points:

• Grant is to cover 6 months of animal related expenses, ie food, vets, utilities etc.
• Not to include admin, capital works etc.
• Not to include wages as they are covered by Jobkeeper
• Available by invitation only.
• Invitations will be sent to ZAA members and additional zoos nominated by State tourism authorities.
• Must be open to the public, this comes across very much as a tourism related measure.
• Not available to animal refuges, farms etc. Animal welfare is seen generally as a state responsibility.

 

[Andrew Swales]

A quick summary of salient points:

• Grant is to cover 6 months of animal related expenses, ie food, vets, utilities etc.
• Not to include admin, capital works etc.
• Not to include wages as they are covered by Jobkeeper
• Available by invitation only.
• Invitations will be sent to ZAA members and additional zoos nominated by State tourism authorities.
• Must be open to the public, this comes across very much as a tourism related measure.
• Not available to animal refuges, farms etc. Animal welfare is seen generally as a state responsibility.

Thank you MRJ - we are watching closely to see what happens in other countries, as the package announced in the UK has no detail available at all - as yet.

Areas above which are especially interesting are the 'invitation only', 6 months expenses, and the wages covered by another scheme.

In the UK all substantive 'help' so far has been in the form of loans; deferrals for mainly just 3 months; and we have a 'furlough' scheme which pays for staff to be temporarily laid off and stay uselessly at home - of course only of use for conventional 'businesses' which can lock the doors, sit at home and come back later. Zoos are forced to either compromise their standards, which of course we cannot do, or continue to pay our staff from donations whilst there is no income - unless of course they were over-staffed before this started...

Your Government appears to have been fairer - congratulations, and well done to all your lobbyists!

 

[MRJ]

Thank you MRJ - we are watching closely to see what happens in other countries, as the package announced in the UK has no detail available at all - as yet.

Areas above which are especially interesting are the 'invitation only', 6 months expenses, and the wages covered by another scheme.

In the UK all substantive 'help' so far has been in the form of loans; deferrals for mainly just 3 months; and we have a 'furlough' scheme which pays for staff to be temporarily laid off and stay uselessly at home - of course only of use for conventional 'businesses' which can lock the doors, sit at home and come back later. Zoos are forced to either compromise their standards, which of course we cannot do, or continue to pay our staff from donations whilst there is no income - unless of course they were over-staffed before this started...

Your Government appears to have been fairer - congratulations, and well done to all your lobbyists!

To answer your queries:

Wages: the federal government has instituted a scheme "Jobkeeper" whereby any business (including charities) that has been severely affected by the current situation can access a $1500 a fortnight per employee grant for all permanent and long term casual employees as at the 1st of March. The $1500 must then be paid in full to the employees covered and the employer must cover all employees who want it. The employees are expected to work any hours offered by the employer. If the employee works more hours than that covered by the $1500 then the employer must pay the difference (ie if they work 60 hours @ $30/hour = $1800 the employer is liable for the additional $300). If they work less than $1500 worth of hours or don't work at all then the employee still gets the $1500. It's not entirely a "free kick" for the employer in that they still have to pay superannuation for all hours worked and cover administration as well. The scheme started with the pay period after the 30th March and will run for 6 months. Severely affected means:

• For businesses with less than $1 billion turnover 30% decline in turnover compared with the same period 12 months prior.
• For businesses with more than $1 billion turnover 50% decline in turnover compared with the same period 12 months prior.
• For charities 15% decline in turnover compared with the same period 12 months prior.

This scheme does not cover State or Local government entities so I presume government owned zoos are excluded.

"Invitation only" It's clear that the Government see this as an initiative to assist the tourism industry. Wildlife parks and zoos are important components of the tourism industry in many regional industry. For instance I understand Mogo Zoo is the biggest attraction in it's local government area. Therefore they don't want to give it to every children's farm, wildlife shelter or animal demonstrator. I understand all ZAA members are included as are other zoos nominated by their State tourism organisations. In fact most zoos covered on Zoochat would be ZAA members.

"Six months expenses" We won't have details of this till next week but so far we have been told it will cover food, vet fees and utilities related to animal care. We do know it will be given as a grant in two parts, the first within 10 days of an application being lodged and the second on the 1st July.

Loans Businesses are to have access to an up to $250,000 unsecured low interest loan through the banking system. To date I have not been able to get much detail on it, I think the banks are too busy with people seeking to reduce their mortgages.

If you want further information or clarification please feel free to ask.

 

[CGSwans]

@MRJ is this enough? Are you confident this will see you through to the other side, assuming that you're either a) open or b) the support is extended after six months?

 

[MRJ]

@MRJ is this enough? Are you confident this will see you through to the other side, assuming that you're either a) open or b) the support is extended after six months?

As far as we are concerned, we had a good summer so were fortunately in a good position in February. With the support we have received we should be fine. On the other hand this was money we planned to use for future developments, and I would guess at the end of this it will put us back about three years financially.

Given how things are going, I don't believe we will be closed anything like six months. However I am more concerned about what happens after we reopen. Of course there will be no international tourists and the question is will Australians come out in numbers or will they be cautious about outdoor activities and largely stay home?

 

[CGSwans]

As far as we are concerned, we had a good summer so were fortunately in a good position in February. With the support we have received we should be fine. On the other hand this was money we planned to use for future developments, and I would guess at the end of this it will put us back about three years financially.

Given how things are going, I don't believe we will be closed anything like six months. However I am more concerned about what happens after we reopen. Of course there will be no international tourists and the question is will Australians come out in numbers or will they be cautious about outdoor activities and largely stay home?

My 'like' only applies to the first two sentences.

I understand your concern about the longer-term outlook, as I'm guessing international tourists make up a sizeable chunk of your business as a natives-only park. In a perverse sense the same positive situation with very low domestic infections might make it harder for us to justify resuming international travel.

 

[Andrew Swales]

To answer your queries:

Wages: the federal government has instituted a scheme "Jobkeeper" whereby any business (including charities) that has been severely affected by the current situation can access a $1500 a fortnight per employee grant for all permanent and long term casual employees as at the 1st of March. The $1500 must then be paid in full to the employees covered and the employer must cover all employees who want it. The employees are expected to work any hours offered by the employer. If the employee works more hours than that covered by the $1500 then the employer must pay the difference (ie if they work 60 hours @ $30/hour = $1800 the employer is liable for the additional $300). If they work less than $1500 worth of hours or don't work at all then the employee still gets the $1500. It's not entirely a "free kick" for the employer in that they still have to pay superannuation for all hours worked and cover administration as well. The scheme started with the pay period after the 30th March and will run for 6 months. Severely affected means:

• For businesses with less than $1 billion turnover 30% decline in turnover compared with the same period 12 months prior.
• For businesses with more than $1 billion turnover 50% decline in turnover compared with the same period 12 months prior.
• For charities 15% decline in turnover compared with the same period 12 months prior.

This scheme does not cover State or Local government entities so I presume government owned zoos are excluded.

"Invitation only" It's clear that the Government see this as an initiative to assist the tourism industry. Wildlife parks and zoos are important components of the tourism industry in many regional industry. For instance I understand Mogo Zoo is the biggest attraction in it's local government area. Therefore they don't want to give it to every children's farm, wildlife shelter or animal demonstrator. I understand all ZAA members are included as are other zoos nominated by their State tourism organisations. In fact most zoos covered on Zoochat would be ZAA members.

"Six months expenses" We won't have details of this till next week but so far we have been told it will cover food, vet fees and utilities related to animal care. We do know it will be given as a grant in two parts, the first within 10 days of an application being lodged and the second on the 1st July.

Loans Businesses are to have access to an up to $250,000 unsecured low interest loan through the banking system. To date I have not been able to get much detail on it, I think the banks are too busy with people seeking to reduce their mortgages.

If you want further information or clarification please feel free to ask.

Thank you MRJ, all very useful information - by comparison all we have in the UK so far is an announcement in Parliament which effectively stopped our public cash donations overnight; nothing at all on job retention, only this 3 month furlough scheme to pay people to stay away from work; plus a one off payment of £25,000 which we have already had, and spent!

Similar Government loans are announced through our banks, theoretically, but their answers are either the business cannot afford the extra financial exposure, or we have enough collateral already to secure it commercially; so none are of any help, even if we wanted to take on yet more borrowing.

Your definitions of 'severely effected' are interesting and of help, as we too have to prove 'severe financial stress', the problem here of course is that the Government wont define what that means, not event to the Accounting Industry professional bodies, so we appear to be heading for arbitrary decisions made by (junior?) bureaucrats. I hope we are being impatient and some clarity will follow.

 

[Simon Hampel]

Your definitions of 'severely effected' are interesting and of help, as we too have to prove 'severe financial stress', the problem here of course is that the Government wont define what that means, not event to the Accounting Industry professional bodies, so we appear to be heading for arbitrary decisions made by (junior?) bureaucrats. I hope we are being impatient and some clarity will follow.

Yes, this is an issue - there needs to be clarity from your government.

The Australian Taxation Office have been releasing almost daily updates about all of the nuances around their definitions for how people qualify for the JobKeeper assistance and dealing with the exceptions. There have been several updates to add new groups in who were previously excluded to ensure that as many people as possible qualify in a fair manner.

I'm getting regular emails from my accountant with the latest news - they are certainly earning their money right now trying to keep up with everything!

The rules for how to qualify are fairly well documented to the point that even I was able to work it out for myself without paying my accountant to do it for me. It helps that I do all my own bookkeeping, so I'm familiar with all of the terms and I know how to use my bookkeeping software to generate the reports I need to demonstrate that I qualify.

An additional support package that was one of the first available to businesses and not-for-profit organisations was a "Cash Flow Boost" payment. Eligible businesses receive a minimum of $20,000 and a maximum of $100,000 in tax-free funding delivered in two tranches - one in April and the next in July.

In Australia most businesses will withhold income tax from their employees pay and then remit that to the government either monthly or quarterly when they submit their "Business Activity Statement" (BAS) which also covers GST.

Our most recent quarterly BAS returns were due last week - and businesses received a credit for the equivalent of the tax withheld with a minimum payment of $10,000 and a maximum of $50,000 ... essentially, the company gets to keep all (or at least a large chunk) of the tax they've withheld from their employees over the past quarter.

Even little old me qualified - I received my $10,000 credit last week and the money was refunded into my business bank account on Monday (minus the GST I had to pay). This is free money to my business with no obligations (but an expectation that I'll spend it to help keep the economy moving!!). I'll get another $10,000 in July once I submit next quarter's BAS.

$50,000 wouldn't be that much for some larger organisations like zoos who probably have quite a few employees - but it's certainly better than nothing, and more importantly, it was automatic - no forms to fill out to qualify and paid relatively quickly via the existing BAS system. It also helps that businesses can budget on receiving another payment in July.

 

[Shorts]

I've got to say that the Australian government's offers seem better than the UK one but I'm sure there are nuances (Australian economy more bouyant and with a smaller population, also the Australian tax regime might be significantly different -all potentially meaning the state has deeper pockets). Plus different economies might need different solutions.

 

[Andrew Swales]

Y
I'm getting regular emails from my accountant with the latest news - they are certainly earning their money right now trying to keep up with everything!.

Indeed, we seem to be getting almost daily updates - although in fairness, most are just Government information or links, and are being passed to clients to 'cover her back' as it were, as any contact we make or questions we ask receive/s either an immediate 'no' or a 'sorry but they wont tell us, so I cant tell you' - which of course is true, if rather unhelpful.

 

[MRJ]

Further news the Victorian stare government have given the three zoos they own, Melbourne, Healesville and Werribee, $5.5 million in Covid-19 funding. I’m presuming as State government entities they are not eligible for Jobkeeper.

 

[Andrew Swales]

That's an interesting twist - state funding on top of 'normal' state funding.
If only....

 

[Simon Hampel]

That's an interesting twist - state funding on top of 'normal' state funding.
If only....

Presumably the state government will allocate a certain amount of funding each year out of their budget, with the remainder of the costs being covered by entrance fees. Without the entrance fees, they will require additional short term funding.

According to the Zoos Victoria 2018-19 annual report, last financial year they received $67M in revenue from zoo activities and just under $24M in funding from government grants and trust funding:

"The Parks and Reserves Trust Account funding is a rate levied on metropolitan properties under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1994 and is provided for the purposes of conservation, recreation, leisure and tourism within the metropolitan area."​

Zoo revenue accounts for approximately 67% of their overall income - so the loss of that revenue right now will be significant.



They go on to detail their expenses: $57M in employee expenses, $38M in "other expenses".

Other expenses are broken down:

Operating costs
Operating costs are recognised as an expense in the reporting period in which they are incurred. These expenses generally represent the day to day operating costs incurred in normal operations of the Board.

Supply and services includes operating costs such as animal food, auditor remuneration, bank charges, conservation activities, hospitality, insurance, legal, medical, postage, printing and stationary, professional services, staff amenities, staff development, subscriptions, travel and veterinary costs.​

It's interesting to see how the funding works - I've not examined the annual report for Zoos Victoria before.

 

[MRJ]

Further news the Victorian stare government have given the three zoos they own, Melbourne, Healesville and Werribee, $5.5 million in Covid-19 funding. I’m presuming as State government entities they are not eligible for Jobkeeper.

The total funding in the package is $14 million, with $8.8 million going to Phillip Island Nature Parks. The funding is specifically being given to cover the loss of income from international visitors visitors because of the virus, and not the loss of domestic visitors because of closure. PI Nature Parks run the penguins, which had huge international visitation.

 

[MRJ]

The Australian government has announced a three stage opening process this last Friday. As it relates to zoos:

Stage 1. Zoos are to remain closed.
Stage 2. Zoos may reopen with no more than 20 patrons at any one time.
Stage 3. Zoos may reopen with no more than 100 patrons at any one time.

The timing of implementation of each stage is up to each individual state or territory government. There is latitude for each state to increase numbers if they so desire.