There are two weeks to go in this election campaign and things are very evenly poised, according to the polls.
After the Coalition appeared to close the gap on Labor last week, Julia Gillard’s “real Julia” strategy has restored Labor’s opinion poll lead, which now stands at 52-48 on a two-party-preferred basis – exactly where is was when the campaign kicked off.
I reckon there is a very good reason that the polls are now essentially back to square one – voters simply haven’t seen many meaningful, fresh policy ideas from either side.
This is particularly true when we come to look at the small business community.
The Coalition announced its small business policy two weeks ago, centred around company tax cuts, a promise to reduce red tape and a commitment to try and work on SME access to finance.
These are all good ideas, but the tax cuts won’t come until June 2013, and the red tape and access to finance promises were a little short on detail. It should also be noted that the Coalition’s parental leave promise is very much a mixed bag for business, given that it slugs companies with more than $5 million in annual profit with a special 1.5% levy to pay for the scheme.
On the other hand, we haven’t really seen anything new from Labor on small business.
Yes, there were the company tax cuts announced as part of the Henry Review (and now pared back due to Gillard’s mining tax compromise deal), and a government-funded parental leave plan, but these were both announced pre-election.
Labor did make an announcement yesterday on more funding for the ATO’s crackdown on phoenix companies, but this isn’t exactly going to benefit SMEs directly.
So with two weeks to go, we are still waiting.
Still waiting for Labor’s small business policy, and any specific policies from the Greens.
Still waiting to hear what either party is going to do on skills shortages, although Gillard’s plan to boost skills training at a secondary school level is positive and Abbott’s plan to get older workers back into jobs has some merit.
Still waiting to see what Abbott and Gillard’s teams will do in the area of innovation, a crucial topic as we enter a period of strong growth.
Still waiting to see what alternative Abbott has to the NBN.
Still waiting for some concrete details on tax reform (because we’ve really seen nothing from either side in 2010, Henry Review included).
Still waiting for details on a bold vision for the nation’s infrastructure.
Let’s hope we are in for a busy two weeks!
Take our latest election poll and tell us who you will be voting for, who has the best SME policies and what issues still need to be addressed.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
