With Australia’s election just days away business leaders want one thing for certain -- certainty.
Just give us political certainty, they cry, and we’ll be happy to abandon caution and spend like drunken sailors.
Australian business and consumers have been on a three-year roller-coaster ride of minority government with changes of leadership, epic legislative struggles and policy reversals culminating in what has amounted to a seven-month-long election campaign.
The return of some political stability is a tempting thought since a long bonanza in mining investment is rolling over and the rest of industry needs to pick up the slack if Australia is not to face some tough times ahead.
Typically elections have only a fleeting impact on business, largely because the major parties’ economic polices are pretty centrist, with all committed to budget surpluses over time and to an independent central bank.
But this time the mood has become so self-reinforcingly sombre that a decisive outcome could provide real relief.
“This election could be different,” said Paul Bloxham, HSBC’s chief economist for Australia.
