The National Retail Association (NRA) has offered its support for the ‘yes case’ on four-year fixed terms in Queensland ahead of the state’s referendum tomorrow.
NRA Chief Executive Trevor Evans said businesses in all industries tended to hold back from making big decisions during an election year, treading water throughout the incessant speculation and hearsay that can dominate political discourse for months on end.
“Business confidence is at the mercy of changing governments, so it can be disabling for businesses to have to put everything on hold for months at a time before an election date is called, plus the campaign period and then awaiting results,” he said.
“This happens one in every three years, making it a major impediment to economic and employment growth, but knowing exactly when an election will be, no matter whether it is two years or two months out, will enable the business community to make the big decisions with certainty and confidence – like launching innovative strategies or going ahead with a big expansion, which is critical to the state’s economic and employment growth.”
Mr Evans said the change would also allow the party in office to simply “get on with the job of governing for long-term benefit over short-term popularity and incessant polling”.
“Good governance often involves making courageous, and unpopular at the time, reforms, but this is almost impossible to enact when you consider that often, by the time a government has even reached the two-year mark, election speculation is already underway,” he said.
