Small business hopeful for 2013: MYOB

SMALL business confidence may have reached a turning point after some difficult times in the past couple of years.

An examination by software provider MYOB of its business monitor series from October 2010 to July 2012 points to a stabilisation in the first half of 2012 and an inkling that businesses feel more optimism going into 2013.

The proportion of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) expecting the economy to improve over the next 12 months had steadied at 19 per cent in March and June this year, after being in sharp decline from 47 per cent since October 2010.

"Our research indicates the small and medium business sector has reached a turning point, with economic confidence and revenue expectations steady over the second half of the previous financial year," MYOB chief Tim Reed said in a statement on Tuesday.

"With almost three in every four expecting either stable or rising revenue this financial year we could see a concurrent rise in economic confidence into 2013."

Mr Reed also said federal government changes to tax-free thresholds from July should help boost business performance.

"The tax-free threshold increase for individuals to $18,200 may see more part time workers join and stay in the workforce, allowing operators to draw from a larger group of skilled candidates when employing new staff," he said.

"Another positive contributor is the small business instant tax write-off increase to $6,500, which I encourage taking advantage of to invest in equipment that improves productivity and cash flow."

Mr Reed said 45 per cent of SMEs also viewed the tax loss carry-back scheme as positive.

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Aussie firms among least optimistic

AUSTRALIAN small businesses are currently among the least optimistic in the Asia-Pacific region, a survey shows.

Research by accounting firm CPA Australia found 60 per cent of Australian companies expect to grow their business in 2013, just pipping Hong Kong at the bottom of the table on 59 per cent.

The survey of over 1700 respondents in six Asia-Pacific economies found Indonesia was leading the way, with 94 per cent of firms expecting their businesses to grow.

It also found that just 14 per cent of the Australian businesses increased their staff numbers in 2012, compared with 61 per cent in Indonesia.

When it came to accessing money, 47 per cent of the Australian firms were forced to use a personal credit card to pay for business activities, compared with a mere 12 per cent in Indonesia.

CPA Australia CEO Alex Malley said the survey results painted a worrying picture, as small businesses act as a barometer for the broader economy.

"These results reflect the direct impact of decisions around significant national issues such as returning the budget surplus, productivity, tax reform and regulation," Mr Malley said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the results should act as a further "wake-up call" to key decision makers of the need to focus on how Australia could be best positioned to thrive in a hyper-competitive regional and global environment.

"A large part of achieving this will be predicated on the existence of a dynamic, innovative small-business sector with a focus on the high-end knowledge economy," he said.

"Achieving this will require a combined effort by business and government."

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Surge in household energy disconnections

THERE has been a massive rise in the number of Victorians who have had their electricity or gas disconnected because they have failed to pay their energy bills.

The Essential Services Commission (ESC) reported that in 2011-12 almost 24,000 electricity customers were cut off, a jump of 33 per cent on the previous year, while more than 20,000 gas customers were disconnected - up 50 per cent.

The report found that almost half of the disconnected customers were reconnected within seven days indicating that they were residents who had trouble paying their bills.

"As the high rate of reconnections at the same address implies, most of the disconnections are of customers who struggle to pay their bills - not 'skippers' or movers from a residence," said ESC chief executive David Heeps.

"If retailers could better identify and support customers in hardship, then the adoption of a payment plan may head off disconnection as a last resort."

The Victorian Council of Social Services said energy retailers were treating customers in hardship too harshly.

The welfare body said that disconnecting people too often proves the energy industry needed to brought into line and it was time the state government stepped in.

"More people are being disconnected from their essential energy supply than at any time since the industry was privatised and the state government needs to step in to pull the industry into line," said VCOSS chief executive Penny Wilson.

She said energy retailers are entitled to be paid but they have a legal obligation to help customers in financial difficulty by offering flexible payment options or special hardship assistance.

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Tibetan, 16, who set herself on fire dies

A 16-YEAR-OLD Tibetan girl has died after setting herself on fire, Chinese state media say, in an area that has become a flashpoint for protests against Beijing's rule.

The school pupil self-immolated on Monday in the village of Dageri in China's northwestern province of Qinghai, an area with a high population of ethnic Tibetans, just before 7pm (2200 AEDT) on Sunday, Xinhua said.

Her body was cremated four hours later and returned to her family, the news agency said, adding that local government officials were investigating.

More than 90 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze since 2009 to protest China's rule of the Tibetan plateau, rights groups have said, with the frequency of incidents increasing sharply in November. Most have died.

According to a partial list drawn up by the London-based campaign group Free Tibet the teenager is among the youngest girls to have set themselves on fire.

Xinhua reported on Sunday that a monk and his nephew had been detained for inciting eight Tibetans to set themselves alight.

Many Tibetans in China accuse the government of religious repression and eroding their culture, as the country's majority Han ethnic group increasingly moves into historically minority areas.

Beijing rejects this, saying Tibetans enjoy religious freedom. The government points to huge on-going investment it says has brought modernisation and a better standard of living to Tibet.

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2Day FM 'didn't check with UK hospital'

THE London hospital that treated Prince William's pregnant wife Catherine says the Australian radio station behind a prank call did not check with them before the hoax was broadcast.

The Sydney station, 2Day FM, said it had tried to contact King Edward VII's Hospital five times to discuss the prank call conducted with two nurses, one of whom, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead on Friday in a suspected suicide.

But a hospital spokesman said: "Following the hoax call, the station did not talk to anyone in hospital senior management or anyone at the company that handles our media inquiries."

The 2Day FM hosts who made the call last week, in which they obtained private details of Kate's acute morning sickness by pretending to be Queen Elizabeth II and William's father Prince Charles, spoke on Monday of their grief at the nurse's death.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who have been in hiding and undergoing counselling since their hoax sparked global outrage, said they were devastated.

Saldanha, a mother-of-two originally from southern India, was found dead in nurses' accommodation near the hospital on Friday.

She had picked up the prank call and put it through to another nurse, who revealed details of Kate's condition.

Results of the post-mortem could be published later on Monday, although the timing has yet to be confirmed, a police spokeswoman said.

Kate, who is thought to be around nine weeks pregnant, spent three days being treated at the hospital.

2Day FM's owner, Southern Cross Austereo, reacted to growing alarm over the story by pulling the two hosts off air until further notice, axing their show, suspending all advertising on 2Day FM until further notice and forbidding any prank calls across its network.

The company, which faced a diving share price and threats of a cyber attack on Monday, expressed its "deep and sincere condolences" to the nurse's family.

"We are very sorry for what has happened," said CEO Rhys Holleran.

"We are also providing support to our people who are deeply saddened by this tragic and unforeseen event."

Greig said she was prepared to attend any inquest in London and see the nurse's family face to face.

"If that's something that they want to do, to get some closure, then I'll do that," she said.

"It was meant to be a silly little prank that so many people have done before. This wasn't meant to happen."

"I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened. I remember my first question was, 'Was she a mother?' I can't imagine what they (the family) would be going through."

Saldanha had two children. Her husband, Ben Barboza, expressed his sadness on his Facebook page with a short note "Obituary Jacintha."

"I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances," he wrote.

He said she will be laid to rest in Shirva, India.

Meanwhile, there were indications that the Duchess of Cambridge was still struggling with acute morning sickness, with her husband, Prince William, cancelling a Sunday night engagement.

Palace officials said her illness means she will probably not attend the UK premiere of The Hobbit film on Wednesday, where she and William are scheduled to be the guests of honour.

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Labor's stock slides in latest Newspoll

AFTER a year in which Labor made some inroads against a more popular opposition, the government is back where it started from - a measly 32 per cent of the primary vote against the coalition's 46 per cent, the latest Newspoll shows.

The Australian newspaper on Tuesday says Labor's primary support climbed as high as 36 per cent during the spring session of federal parliament on the belief the worst was over with the introduction of the carbon tax.

The paper says the AWU slush fund controversy, although fended off by Prime Minister Julia Gillard as smear and sleaze, has taken a toll, whittling its vote to 32 per cent - where it was in February.

On a two-party preferred basis, the Tony Abbott-led coalition has opened a clear election-winning lead of 54 per cent to Labor's 46 per cent.

At the August 2010 election, Labor lost its parliamentary majority with a two-party preferred result of 50.1 per cent to the coalition's 49.9 per cent.

The paper says if an election were held now, based on the Newspoll results, the Gillard government would lose at least 14 seats.

However, Ms Gillard maintains a commanding lead on who would make the better prime minister, leading Mr Abbott by 43 per cent (down three points) to 34 per cent (up one point).

Voter satisfaction for Ms Gillard's performance eased one point to 36 per cent, with dissatisfaction steady at 52 per cent, while satisfaction with Mr Abbott slipped two points to 28 per cent and dissatisfaction falling two points to 59 per cent.

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Nation cautioned against Mandela panic

SOUTH Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is "doing very, very well" while undergoing unspecified medical tests at a military hospital, the nation's defense minister said Monday.

The office of the presidency said the anti-apartheid icon was being kept in the hospital for a third day for more tests.

Mandela is revered by South Africans, and by many people around the world, for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa and for preaching reconciliation once he emerged from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars. He won South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994 that marked the end of apartheid.

South Africans tensely awaited word Monday on Mandela even as authorities tried to offer reassurances, but gave no details.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula spoke to journalists outside 1 Military Hospital in the capital, Pretoria, after seeing Mandela, 94. She offered the first government confirmation that Mandela, who has received military medical care since 2011, is at that hospital.

"He's doing very, very well," she said. "And it is important to keep him in our prayers and also to be as calm as possible and not cause a state of panic because I think that is not what all of us need."

A statement issued later Monday by the office of President Jacob Zuma said Mandela "had a good night's rest. The doctors will still conduct further tests today. He is in good hands. "

On Saturday, Zuma's office announced Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital for medical tests and care that was "consistent for his age". Zuma visited Mandela Sunday and found the former leader to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. In 2001, Mandela underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

After serving one five-year term, the Nobel laureate retired from public life and later settled in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area. He last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. He has grown increasingly frail in recent years.

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