The Rudd Government and SME's

Moon: The Labor Government will be judged as successful through the delivery of its election promises and providing the business environment that allows local businesses (home grown and multinational) to prosper.

Gahan: Listen carefully, forget pork-barrel politics, and spend frugally and make careful use of the budget surplus to pursue once-in-a-generation outcomes. In my view the first two budgets will be critical to setting up the prospect of a longer-term ability to govern the economy. The first will set constraints for the future in that the Government needs to strip out a lot of unproductive expenditure, and ensure inflationary pressures are kept in check. The second budget will need to ensure that the big ticket items of expenditure allow for the big policy items to be addressed. This inevitably involves winners and losers, and the latter need to be compensated.

Hourn: After 10 years of Liberal government Australia voted for change. This Government has to deliver it. I think the workforce in general wants bottom-line protection against those few employers who might unfairly exploit them, and that most people are prepared to make some sacrifices (in tax cuts for example) to allow the Government to address issues such as climate change, health, and education. However, self-interest is a strong motivator. If the Government can’t manage the economy in a way that limits damage to people’s pockets, they could face a serious challenge from a resurgent Liberal party at the next election.

MacDonald: Our concern is about how Australia is governed rather than who governs it. Clearly a government that produces strong economic outcomes is in a better position than one that squanders opportunities. Time will tell.

Ruthven: The jury’s out, but it’s looking hopeful so far because of their attitude to economic affairs this time around. They need to be aware that there is the danger of a recession, and possibly a bad one, during this three-year term. The Rudd–Swan government have to realise they will probably need to step in with a lot of government money for at least one year to get capital expenditure going and avoid us having a recession. And they’ll have to be prepared to spend as much as $15 to $20 billion in at least one year before the next election to stave off a recession. Labor don’t have a good record of encouraging private sector to invest compared with the coalition, so they have to think of how they can best encourage it if it’s needed, sometime in around 2009.

Edwards: They produced a pretty credible anti-inflation package, so far as what is under the control of the Federal Government as distinct from the reserve bank. And they’re obviously working on the big issue of climate change; we’ll see more about that mid-year. So it’s early days but there does seem to be a fair amount of work being undertaken and there are certainly, at this point, no initiatives which are prejudicial to business.