Illawarra business leaders were treated to something different at the Illawarra Business Chamber annual federal budget lunch on Friday.
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The event co-hosted by KPMG and the Commonwealth Bank featured traditional presentations about likely tax and economic impacts of this week's federal budget. But it was a presentation about the social media response that attracted considerable interest.
KPMG'S head of social media monitoring and analytics function Anthony Mason said that compared to the previous year's effort, the 2015 budget was well received on social media.
"Compared to last year which was a bit of a proverbial online bloodbath, the government has put forward a budget that has been largely palatable," he said.
"But I think child care is one contentious issue that will continue online."
Mr Mason made the comment about child care being a hot topic after looking at the top 10 most discussed policies, announcements and issues.
Child care policy issues came in at number one followed by the Netflix tax and the small business package at number three.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said the Australian economy was in pretty good shape.
"What we need to be doing is embracing opportunities out there in our environment," he said.
"We need to get on with business."
Mr James said Australia was on the doorstep of the fastest growing region in the world in Asia, it had low debt and interest rates were low at 2 per cent compared to 17 per cent in the '80s.
He said the budget may have helped small business the most but that in itself would help larger businesses who could benefit from looking at what opportunities that would bring.
Mr James said it was important to make the most of the boost the budget would bring for small to medium sized enterprises.
KPMG Wollongong tax partner Adam Cole agreed.
Mr Cole said from a tax perspective the likely benefits to small business from the tax reform over the next 12 months were important because small business was the biggest employer in Australia. He said the budget would provide small business owners with more certainty and help them make positive decisions moving forward and that would in turn help their larger counterparts.
Illawarra Business Chamber president Sue Baker-Finch said the engine room of the Australian economy, small business, certainly received a much needed boost.
Ms Baker-Finch said in previous budgets it was not even mentioned on budget night and it was good to see it front and centre.
She said chambers of commerce throughout the nation had united and spent a couple of years on a campaign saying small business was too big to ignore and it seemed that message had been heard. And the fact the opposition also called for tax cuts in coming years was further evidence of this.
Small businesses contribute 68 per cent to Australian GDP.
"There are 27,000 small businesses in the Illawarra and nearly 25 per cent of those are eligible for a 1.5 per cent tax cut," she said.
"It is going to happen this time with bipartisan support."