Australian businesses believe election speculation no good for business
On the eve of the Federal Budget, a new poll has shown that three out of five Australian businesses believe speculation around the federal election is having a negative impact on business and consumer confidence.
Over 230 businesses across a range of key of industry sectors responded to ShineWing Australia’s Pre-Budget impact survey. While only 20 per cent of respondents felt there would be serious tax reforms introduced as part of the 2019/20 Federal Budget, 65 per cent felt that further reductions to company tax rates would have a positive impact on our economy.
Commenting on the findings, ShineWing Australia’s Managing Partner, Danny Armstrong, said: “Almost half the respondents felt Family Trust distributions, Negative Gearing and Capital Gains Tax discounts were all important policy focuses that could shape up as election issues.
“Interestingly, 65 per cent of respondents believed it was very important to the success of the Australian economy that the Government provide increased funding and assistance to drought-affected farmers as part of its budget response.
“While this would be expected in the agribusiness sector, the fact that similar results were recorded by respondents across such diverse sectors as energy and resources, financial services and health and aged care, suggests broad recognition of the underlying importance of this sector to the general health of the Australian economy,” he said.
Mr Armstrong said that critically, 65 per cent of respondents had noticed a tightening in access to bank finance in the past six months.
“Of particular note is that in the health and aged care sector the number of respondents observing this tightening rose to almost 79 per cent, while in the property and infrastructure sector this observation was made by close to 85 per cent of respondents, the highest of any industry sector.
“Much of the country’s future economic success, and forward estimates, is predicated on continuing growth in these sectors. In a period of volatile economic conditions, this is certainly a worrying sign and could point to the emerging effects of the Hayne Royal Commission,” he said.
Potentially reflecting this situation, 25 per cent of respondents expressed interest in attracting or obtaining equity capital from Asia, while one in five respondents were considering export opportunities into China or selling via online platforms into this market.
While two thirds of respondents thought Bill Shorten was likely to win the upcoming Federal election, there was a telling note of caution, with 60 per cent of respondents believing Labor’s current tax policies could hinder their electoral prospects.