Following yesterday’s release of the 2015 federal budget, the Sunshine Coast Business Council has today labelled the budget announcements encouraging for local businesses.
Sunshine Coast Business Council Chair Sandy Zubrinich said it was reassuring to see the Treasurer’s positive outlook for the economy with growth forecast both in employment and non-mining investment.
“With employment growth predicted to be around 1.5 per cent this year and climbing to 2 per cent in 2016/17 and non-mining investment growing from 2 per cent to 4 per cent next year, the outlook is positive given the low consumer and business confidence since the last budget,” Ms Zubrinich said.
“This budget certainly encourages the Australian business community to innovate, risk-take, borrow, invest and create jobs.”
“Given the Sunshine Coast has a very high proportion of small businesses, the 1.5 per cent decrease in company tax for businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million is certainly good news for our business community and the incentive to reinvest in small business by providing a $20K immediate tax write off on the purchase of new business assets is also welcome.”
“Youth unemployment has traditionally been something we have struggled to contain on the Sunshine Coast so the additional $331 million allocated to youth employment strategies ― including $212 million to get disengaged 15-21 year olds job ready and $106 million to assist highly vulnerable job seekers ― should go a long way to assist in reducing our regional youth unemployment rate of 14.4 per cent.”
“We are also hopeful that the changes to the family packages including child care will encourage parents to return to the workforce. This source of qualified and experienced people can make a positive contribution to our local economy and anything that can be done to make this transition easier is well received.”
Ms Zubrinich said the lack of funding allocated to both the Bruce Highway widening and the rail line duplication was not unexpected but nonetheless disappointing.
“Adequate investment in the infrastructure of the Sunshine Coast is an essential part of growing our local economy and connecting us to the rest of the South East Queensland region.”
Ms Zubrinich also added that while the budget did inspire confidence, the Sunshine Coast Business Council supported the Business Council of Australia’s call for a fiscal strategy that will maintain Australia’s AAA credit rating, progressively returning the budget to surplus; ensure the durability of priority services including an adequate safety net; and ensure capacity for investments in infrastructure and human capital.
“It is imperative that we continue to work towards achieving these outcomes and while this budget does contribute to this vision, there is still much to be done,” Ms Zubrinich said.
“We also call on the Senate for a more bipartisan approach on this budget in order to ensure the economy gets stimulated as quickly as possible thereby inspiring further confidence.”