Two surveys have recently been released which show drops in both areas, including the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce’s (TCCI) Survey of Business Expectations and the Sensis Business Index. 

The TCCI surveyed its members to discover that those in the North of the state had a reasonably positive but weakening view of the Tasmanian economy.

A separate survey of confidence for Australian small and medium businesses by the Sensis Business Index looked at the June quarter and found business confidence dropped by 17 points. 

Leading economist Saul Eslake said a 16 point drop in the Sensis survey for small business support for state government policy was likely due to higher electricity prices for certain businesses during the energy crisis and a reduction in power demand from the big industrial users. 

“The third thing, is that there was a hell of a lot of scaremongering done particularly by the Opposition, but I would also say some media organisations chose to highlight the worst case scenario,” he said. 

Former Labor minister and business advisor Dr Julian Amos said the slightly positive sentiment for the North of the state in TCCI’s survey related to an optimism based on anticipated construction activity for UTAS’ relocation to Inveresk. 

“This is in stark contrast to what’s happening in the North-West, where they were...quite negative, and that is obviously a result of factors including the energy crisis and the collapse in the dairy market,” he said.   

Commenting on the results of the Sensis Business Index, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business, Trade, and Red Tape Reduction Roger Jaensch said natural disasters may have had an impact.

Opposition enterprise spokeswoman Madeleine Ogilvie said the results were a damning assessment of the state government’s performance.