Business groups concerned about upcoming budget

YOU’RE not the only one worried about the upcoming budget. Businesses are too. But probably not for the same reason.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott visits Hamilton Island to announce the final Reef 2050 plan. pics Adam Head

BUSINESS groups are becoming increasingly uneasy about the Abbott government’s relaxed approach to its second budget.

“The last thing we need ... is another year of paralysis and doubt about what the government can do,” Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox told ABC radio on Monday.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said Australians should expect a “quite dull” budget in May.

Mr Willox said “clean air and some very clear objectives” should be the budget priority over the next year to address structural problems in the economy.

Then the government needed to sell or negotiate its key measures through the Senate.

“We can’t afford to stand still,” Mr Willox said, adding he hoped the government would be able to pick its targets appropriately to boost reform.

The Business Council of Australia is of a similar mind, saying the government needs to get the policy design and detail right and explain it to the community.

And the Senate couldn’t just bat back government legislation. “You can’t just say we’re going to oppose X, Y and Z if you don’t at least suggest what the alternatives might be,” CEO Jennifer Westacott said.

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged the government’s attempt at a bold approach last year hadn’t been as successful as hoped.

“It’s important to have a budget which will be able to pass through the Senate,” he told ABC radio.

“I don’t what the suggestion is - that we should put up measures that would be defeated?”

Originally published as Business groups concerned about upcoming budget