Licence fees for tradies are SCRAPPED for a year as part of $50million scheme to help 200,000 businesses in NSW

• The policy will benefit 200,000 licence holders by a total of $50million 
• When a tradesman applies to renew their license they will not have to pay 
• This will save a builder $465 and a trade or specialist contractor $235 

Licence fees for tradies have been scrapped in New South Wales to help them through the coronavirus crisis.

The policy will benefit 200,000 licence holders by a total of $50million.

When a tradesman applies to renew their license they will not have to pay the usual fee.  

This will save a building contractor $465 and a trade or specialist contractor $235.

NSW Minister for Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope added: 'When we emerge from this crisis we need every tradie with us for the recovery process.

'Whether they be plumbers, carpenters or builders, those people are so important to the recovery of this state after we get though this period.' 

Businesses in the entertainment and hospitality sectors have also been given a 12-month waiver on liquor licences and certain SafeWork NSW and NSW Fair Trading fees and charges. 

It comes as the NSW government establishes a commission of inquiry into the disembarkation of the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which is linked to at least 18 coronavirus-related deaths across Australia.

The inquiry will report back within four months, with NSW police and coronial investigations running in parallel to the probe.

The policy will benefit 200,000 licence holders by a total of $50million

Barrister Bret Walker SC will serve as commissioner for the inquiry and will examine the ship's departure, arrival and disembarkation.

'It is important that answers are provided quickly for the people of NSW,' Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in a statement on Wednesday.

'We will leave no stone unturned until we find out exactly what happened.'

The Ruby Princess, which departed Sydney on March 8 for New Zealand and returned on March 19, is responsible for hundreds of COVID-19 cases nationwide including 369 in NSW and nearly a third of the 62 deaths across the country.