While recent opinion polls show the election is evenly poised, SmartCompany's poll of 206 people showed 59.2% plan to vote for the Coalition, with 22.3% supporting Labor.
The majority of respondents (60.7%) also believe the Coalition has announced the best policies for small business so far in the campaign, with just over 26% backing Labor.
But the survey has also revealed SMEs are unimpressed with the lack of action on climate change from both major parties.
Just over 14% of respondents said they would be voting for The Greens in the election, while just under 40% said the Greens had the best policies on climate change.
A large number of respondents also nominated poor climate change policies as their biggest disappointment of the campaign, and expressed hope that the issue would still be addressed by the major parties in the final weeks before polling day. A number of respondents also wanted to see more action on the Murray-Darling Basin.
When asked which party had the best policies on tax, business support and economic management, more than 60% of respondents gave the nod to the Coalition.
The Opposition was also the clear policy winner when respondents were asked about the areas of industrial relations, innovation and infrastructure.
However, it is clear the Tony Abbott's promise to scrap Labor's NBN and build a cheaper network is not supported by the SME community: 48.6% of respondents said Labor had the best policy on broadband, while 40.8% nominated the Coalition.
"His proposal to close down the National Broadband Network and to 'privatise' his ad hoc substitute has lost me completely," one respondent said.
"We all know that it will cost us more in the long run when such important infrastructure is handed over to 'private' concerns for a substandard broadband network. I am older than Abbott and I consider him to be a backwards looking person. He doesn't realise that times have changed dramatically."
The fact Labor has also failed to produce a specific small business policy with only 10 days to go in the campaign is also rankling SME voters, who are unimpressed with the way the Government has portrayed employers in the campaign through its IR strategy.
"This is yet another election where Labor has portrayed SMEs as rich and greedy ogres ready to victimise their workers. I think Labor honestly believes that all business owners are rolling in cash and making huge profits, but many company directors I know don't even pull a wage."
However, the survey clearly highlights that the big disappointment for most respondents is the lack of real policy initiatives.
"Mind numbing drivel and scare tactics from politicians, do they think we are stupid?" said one respondent.
"This has been a real cover-your-backside campaign, with no inspiration being shown by either side," said another.
The major parties have less than two weeks to turn these perceptions around.
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written by Hedonist, August 11, 2010
written by grahamc, August 11, 2010
The only entrepreneurs who would have any interest in this would be those who would make money out of all the spin offs. Wake up people, climate change is a socialist con to make the public accept a new tax which Labor needs to pay off the $100 billion they blew on pink batts, over priced school buildings and $900 cheques, not to mention Gillards $2000 bonus for anyone who wants to get rid of an old car.
There is no evidence demonstrating the difference between what we are responsible for in terms of pollution and what the normal planetary variations produce. That volcano in Iceland produced more pollutants in a month than the human race does in years.
And how will we all feel when Gillard goes off on her overseas trips representing Australia, how will you feel when this bogon atheist who lives with her boyfriend stands up to represent us in the United Nations or the G20 conference? We will be the laughing stock of the world. The old world still has some standards, clearly the Australian Labor party do not. Kevin Rudd stands up and says Tony Abbott is not fit to govern. This comes from a man who was considered unfit to run the country by his own party.
Labor wants us to blow $43 billion on a broadband network which has had no feasibility study done to test commercial viability, which has no indicators demonstrating people will be prepared to pay the price of such an expensive network and given the speed of development in technology will be out of date in five years.
Lastly the Labor party themselves; it has been said many times that the front bench is basically made up of 80% trade unionists. Trade unions are very good at what they do best, extracting the maximum benefits for their members. What is never considered here is that they care little or nothing about the companies that pay those wages and whether they go broke or not. Transport this mindset into a government and you have a very destructive group whose sole purpose is gaining power at any cost. They produce a raft of employment awards that are so one sided I wonder how this country will survive. Its no wonder companies like Holeproof go overseas. In governing a country there needs to be a balance between incentivising business to invest and staff having a reasonable living, between incentivising people to go and seek work but at the same time providing a safety net for those who fall out of work occasionally. Labor is not and never has been capable of bringing about this balance. They are only interested in themselves, they care little or nothing for those who vote them in. They may make all the right noises but when it comes down to the wire they will do what is best for themselves and themselves alone.
If you have any ability to think you will vote Liberal, there is no other alternative.
written by Scott B, August 12, 2010
As a small business owner, I would prefer an economy that is in growth rather than mired in recession. Without a shadow of a doubt, with the decreases in revenues of over $100b at the beginning of the GFC, the Liberal Party would not have been able to handle it. As is the precis of conservative economic theory, the approach would have been to cut services and funding, and I would suggest those cuts would have had a negative impact on businesses. Added to the effects of a recession, and us business owners would be in major trouble.
I applaud the Labor Party for dragging the country out of a potential recession and setting the country up for continued growth. The investments made in infrastructure in 2 years surpassed ALL infrastructure spending by the previous Liberal Government over their 11 year tenure. The BER, which is widely appreciated (a 2% complaint rate would be held as a beacon by any business), has been a great success. The insulation scheme, whilst intended to be beneficial, was dragged down by a lack of proper controls, and more poignantly, a raft of unscrupulous operators. The $900 payments were meant to kick-start the economy. Look at retail figures for the times after that payment - some of the best seen. This spurned the economy into action, and the markets followed suit. As every economist of note has suggested, it was a decisive and critical move that pushed the Australian economy out of potential recession. The NBN project is significant, and for business, a well-overdue policy. Listening to Abbott's version demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of the overriding technical difficulties business face in this new and future digital age. He demonstrated a willingness never to understand technology, and I do not want a Prime Minister entrenched in the tin can and string approach.
Gillard, when compared to Tony Abbott, comes across far more professional and considered. I frankly have no trust for a person that openly admitted to lying, thus I would consider Abbott to be a more potential embarrassment than Gillard.
The union argument is largely null and void. Unions formed the majority of members of the Labor Party for 100 years - just as the Liberal Party are generally stacked with lawyers or the elite. There has been healthy consideration between both workers and business by both parties over the years, though the introduction of WorkChoices by the Liberal Party changed that. That was an unmitigated failure, and any business who subscribes to that element should reconsider.
I do take offence with your last line. You are suggesting that if I do not vote Liberal I am somehow thoughtless? Well, that is your prerogative, but I see a vote for Liberal as a wasted vote for an incompetent leader.
A second issue I have is the respondent's view that Labor sees SME's as "rolling in cash and making huge profits". I am not really sure where the catalyst of this comment comes from, but I do believe that this is not the case. A cut in company tax should be the starters, yet I cite the workplace relations laws as an example. Are we seriously of the belief that WorkChoices was in any part fair - to both business and employees? This lack of egalitarianism was a shameful aspect of the previous Liberal government, and they paid the price. We cannot have a system entrenched in kowtowing to one segment of business. Sorry to say, but we do not live in the 1850's anymore.
To be perfectly honest, the biggest imposition ever placed on business by far has to be the GST. That, in itself, should mean businesses see the Coalition in a less than salubrious light.