The ACT Government will allocate $100,000 for an online infection control training program for hospitality businesses, to educate both employers and employees on COVID-19-safe practices.

ACT Workplace Safety Minister Suzanne Orr said the program would make sure everyone across the hospitality industry has the knowledge and skills to ensure venues are COVID-safe.

“So this will be a … certified, online program that teaches all employers what they need to be doing to make their cafes, their restaurants safe for COVID; all workers, what they need to be doing, and how they can continue to make sure they are safe at work, where they will be coming in contact with a lot of people across the course of their work,” she said.

“And making sure that we also know, and people know, where to go if they see a practice that they don’t feel is quite right, where to go to report that.”

A tender for the contract for the infection control training program is being advertised until 31 August, with the contract expected to start on 21 September.

More support has also been promised for Canberra’s struggling tourism and hospitality businesses, with the ACT Government today (17 August) announcing a support package for the industry.

The package will include the establishment of a marketing fund to match funding for marketing projects by ACT tourism operators and attractions; tax relief for hotels and hospitality industry; increased funding for community events and staff to deliver the current Events ACT calendar; and support for a new physical distancing technology trial to attract new business events.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he recognised that tourism and hospitality businesses would be impacted by COVID-19 for “quite some time”.

“With almost every state border closed, the movement of people right at this point in time is restricted significantly. That’s impacting on both leisure tourism and business tourism,” he said.

“So what we’ve done is extended a range of rebates that we offered several months ago through for a further period, through the end of this calendar year, and provided a further cash flow boost to tourism, hospitality businesses who are experiencing quite significant impacts from the lack of people travelling at the moment.”

Mr Barr said the industry’s situation would be reassessed later in the year.