Confidence holding strong

Basell's optimism reflects broader small business confidence which is holding strong, according to the latest Sensis Business Index published on Tuesday.

Business confidence across all sectors remains the same as last quarter with a net balance of +42 which is the equal third highest confidence level since March 2011.

The survey of 1000 small businesses found the results were being driven in part by the upswing in confidence levels in the manufacturing industry, which recorded a 20 point increase, returning a net score of +55, the highest level since the survey began in 2008.

The data reflects positive results for small business in MYOB's Business Monitor survey published in January that showed business confidence  at a three-year high.

The Sensis research shows SMEs' views of the federal government have shifted back into positive territory, after turning negative in the previous quarter.

Twenty-two per cent of small businesses regard federal government policies as supportive whereas 19 per cent of small to medium businesses do not.

The net balance of +3 is six points higher than in the previous survey and five points above the result a year ago.

Sensis chief executive John Allan says it has been a strong start to 2018 for Australia's small businesses.

"There are some interesting things underlying it, it's fair to say the east of the country is more confident than west of the country," he says. "There’s definitely this eastern seaboard high levels of confidence."

'A good score card' for the government

Allan says a favourable assessment of the federal government from small businesses in the research stems from the government's tax cuts and tax incentives.

"Overall it's a good score card for the federal government," he says. "The positive side for the federal government is driven by tax-related reasons, small businesses believe the federal government is trying to reduce tax but on the negative side they are critical of excessive bureaucracy and red tape from the federal government and there is still a perception of too much time spent on big business."

Basell says the company tax cuts didn't make much of an impact on Teletech and the most important thing for his business is the research and development tax concessions.

"I have never had much success in getting much help from the government at all, in comparison to what we see in other countries," he says. "I think in terms of helping small businesses particularly high tech ones they are pretty hopeless."