James Thomson

And what do you think's keeping the budget, you know, top of mind for business people?

Why is it still so red hot?

Yes, true.

I agree with you, Anthony, but I think people are starting to realise, oh, what comes next?

What's the next arm of prosperity in this country?

And I think that's the bit where business people particularly are asking some pretty good questions.

Okay, we're a high-tax nation, very high income tax rates, very high capital gains tax rates now.

I think people could cop that if it was offset by a big program that drives productivity and economic dynamism and growth.

But there's none of that.

There's none of that.

And I think that's what business people are frankly pissed off about.

High taxes and sacrifices are okay if there's something else coming through to grow the economy.

But instead, we've sort of kicked over this housing leg of the stool.

And it's not really clear to me, and I think a lot to business people, what comes next.

We had Ryan Stokes, CEO of SGH, the big conglomerate.

He's now saying the cost of capital has changed as a result of this budget.

I'm going to look at investing in the US.

I think that's a bit of a warning sign.

It's a hot topic.

There's a great irony that as always in Australia, everything comes back to housing at some point, doesn't it?