Sydney News: NSW Offers Grants To Businesses Affected By COVID, Public Transport Services Stranded

Here’s what you need to know this morning.

Grants for businesses affected by COVID

NSW businesses can now apply for a variety of grants to help them cope with the impact of the latest COVID-19 lockdown.

Businesses statewide can contact Service NSW for financial grants of up to $ 15,000.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said requests would be processed in four to five days.

“Obviously there is a lot of demand right now and a lot of people are contacting Service NSW centers so be patient,” he said.

“We have reallocated our resources across government to make sure we are able to answer your questions and process your requests.”

Public transport cut off

Train, bus and ferry services will be drastically reduced from today in response to the latest COVID-19 restrictions.

All services will be reduced to a Sunday service for at least one week.

Demand has dropped significantly under the latest lockdown restrictions.

Transport for NSW director of operations Howard Collins is urging people not to use public transportation until stay-at-home orders are in place.

“For people who have no choice and have to use public transport – these essential workers, these nurses, these doctors, the police – we will organize a Sunday service, very different from the one you have used before,” he said. he declared.

Obeid and Macdonald verdict pending

A verdict is awaited today in the long-running mining license conspiracy trial of former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, and Eddie Obeid’s son Moses.

Judge Elizabeth Fullerton presided over the year-long jury-less trial and heard 38 witnesses, along with 6,000 pages of exhibits.

The trio are accused of plotting for a coal exploration permit that earned the Obeid family $ 30 million.

The Crown case is that there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence to prove that the men are guilty.

Eddie Obeid’s legal team claim the case against him is weak, Mr Macdonald’s lawyers say he was not part of any conspiracy, and Moses Obeid’s lawyers have described the case as an affront to Justice.

More doses of Pfizer for NSW

One million doses of Pfizer arrived in Australia last night, 800,000 of which are destined for NSW.

The state tightened restrictions over the weekend, shutting down non-essential retail and construction sites and restricting the movement of residents in the three local government areas in southwest Sydney with the most COVID cases -19.

Last month, Australia was ranked last by the OECD on a list of 38 countries showing the percentage of the population that has been fully vaccinated.

A decision to recommend Pfizer to Australians under the age of 60 due to extremely rare blood clotting linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine has also been reported to put pressure on the rollout.

Melbourne and Perth each received 100,000 of the 1 million doses shipped.

HSC Mental Health Support

HSC students and their families will have access to 24-hour support from a leading mental health service for young people.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the state government has extended its partnership with ReachOut for the Stay Healthy HSC Hub.

Ms Mitchell said the hub would be useful for students preparing for their exams.

“We launched this HSC online hub last year during the pandemic and it was really helpful for students and their families, we’ve had great feedback, so if they’re locked out, they’re studying at home, there are a lot of resources available, ”she said.