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Turnbull's positive message taken on board

Only a tiny amount of small firms think the switch to Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister will be bad for business.

Malcolm Turnbull has tried to promote a sense of optimism since toppling Tony Abbott as prime minister.

Economic figures this week suggest it might be working.

Consumer confidence has soared since September to its highest level in nearly two years, the unemployment rate has now fallen below 6 per cent and in the month of October nearly 60,000 people found a job, mostly in fulltime positions.

While economists questioned such strength in one month, they said there is now a clear positive trend in employment.

A survey by business software provider MYOB found that just 5 per cent of small and medium sized enterprises thought the change of government leadership to Mr Turnbull would be a negative on the SME sector.

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It's monthly "snapshot" of the thoughts of more than 400 businesses released on Friday found 35 per cent thought the new prime minister would have a positive impact.

While 45 per cent thought it would make no difference, MYOB's Simon Raik-Allen thought this might reflect the warm reception to the small business tax package in the May budget under the previous leadership.

Mr Raik-Allen said businesses have taken Mr Turnbull's "agile and innovative" messaging to heart.

"There's definitely a buoyant feeling out there among our customers and it's great to see entrepreneurial spirit being encouraged in this way," he told AAP.


2 min read

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Source: AAP



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