In the race for the small business vote, the coalition appears to have the advantage over the federal government.
The sector has received ample attention during the election campaign with both major parties promising to cut red tape and give small business more government level representation.
Beyond this, Labor has concentrated on support services and taxation policy advantages while the coalition has focused on competition policy and contract law.
Now the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBA) has rated the policies of Labor and the coalition - and given the opposition the edge.
The coalition got 13 ticks for favourable policy initiatives while Labor got nine ticks.
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"The only key area which has been mainly ignored is workplace relations, which is disappointing," COSBA executive director Peter Strong said in a statement on Monday.
Small business accounts for the majority of business operators in Australia and generates more than five million jobs.
For retailers, which make up a large proportion of small businesses, the September 7 election can't come soon enough.
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) executive director Russell Zimmerman hopes it will spell the end of minority government and boost consumer confidence.
"The ARA has every hope that with a majority government retailers will be able to enjoy a boost in sales toward the end of the year and a promising start to 2014," he said in a statement.
Although unlikely, Mr Zimmerman said it would be great if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut official interest rates after the central bank's board meeting on Tuesday.
The RBA reduced the cash rate to an all-time low of 2.5 per cent in first week of the election campaign, but economists don't expect a follow-up reduction this month.
TD Securities head of Asia Pacific research Annette Beacher says the board meeting should be a lively one given recent soft US economic data and the emergence of geo-political risks from the Syrian conflict.
But if the RBA doesn't move this week, there still scope for a rate cut later in the year due to Australia's benign inflation environment.
TD Securities' monthly inflation gauge released on Monday rose just 0.1 per cent in August, leading the annual rate down to 2.1 per cent, from 2.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, new building approvals jumped by a strong 10.8 per cent in July - and lifted by a 24.4 per cent in the volatile "other dwellings" component which includes townhouses and apartments.
"It's a positive sign that a sustained housing recovery may be taking hold," Master Builders Australia chief economist Peter Jones said.
