The National Independent Retailers Association will contact thousands of business in marginal Federal seats ahead of this year’s election, after producing new research showing SME owners could decide the fate of 20 marginal seats in this year’s Federal Election. The research shows small business owners account for about 13% of all voters in the 20 most marginal seats at the 2007 election, including the key seats of McEwen (narrowly held by former Howard Government small business minister Fran Bailey) and Bennelong (formerly held by Prime Minister John Howard and now held by Labour’s Maxine McKew).
NIRA chief executive Peter Strong says the SME vote is particularly important when compared to the margins of 0.01% in McEwen and 1% in Bennelong.
“Our research also shows that a smaller more specific group of business operators such as small retailers can still have a say in the election with representation from that sector being anywhere between 1.4% and 2.2% in these highly marginal electorates. Small business operators will decide this election as they did at the last election.”
In a unusually aggressive stance for a small business organisation, NIRA plans to ask both parties questions on a range of election issues, including industrial relations, banking policy and competition policy.
It will then publish the results and send them to small business owners in targeted elections.
However, Strong says the organisation is determined to remain apolitical and will not be recommending that SME owners vote in a particular way.
“It’s a lot more proactive than small business groups have been in the past, but as soon as we say ‘vote this way or that way’ we lose credibility.”
The Independent Contractors Association and the Tasmanian Council of Small Business (where the key marginal seats of Bass and Braddon are located) are also supporting the NIRA push.
“Getting small business together is hard, we’re so diverse,” Scott says. “But small business vote the same as the rest of us, the same percentage vote Labor, the same percentage vote Liberal and we have a higher proportion of swinging voters.”
He says political parties need to treat small business as individual voters rather than an economic group as big businesses are treated.
“One thing I keep hearing is that it doesn’t matter if a small business fails, there is always one to take its place. That makes me very angry because it fails to recognise that small businesses are people.”
“And in the marginals, the SMEs do hold a big sway.”
National Independenet Retailers Association review of small business impact on marginal seats – 2010
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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