For October.
Business confidence fell a further 0.5 points or 0.4% to 112.7 in October, driven largely by the closure of the automotive manufacturing industry and instability caused by the citizenship question that continues for several MPs and Senators.
The latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source Survey found that despite the overall fall, business remained largely positive, with a majority, 53.5%, saying now is good time to invest in growing the business. Also, 45.8% of businesses expected to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year.
Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine said the softening in business confidence in recent months reflected a concern about political leadership with energy prices set to rise in summer. “Industries performing well in October included the familiar faces of construction, mining, healthcare and social assistance,” she said.
Analysis on a state level showed business confidence declined in New South Wales, along with the mining heavy states of Queensland and Western Australia. “The decline in business confidence will be a concern to the Palaszczuk Government in Queensland which has called an election for the last weekend in November,” Levine said. The downward trend was bucked in the three southern states with South Australia and Tasmania having the highest business confidence in October as both face elections in the New Year.