Voters that are in our industry tend to favour voting for the Coalition but I won’t be this election and here is why.

The NBN is one area in which Labor is vastly superior to the Coalition. The NBN has had a lot of controversy over the last six years but did you know that it started out as the Broadband Advisory Group under the Howard government over 10 years ago? A further senate committee also recommended replacing the "increasingly obsolete" copper network with FTTN (fibre to the node) or alternative technologies.

In 2006 Telstra came up with a $10 billion plan to overhaul its ageing networks and systems. Although the government was the majority shareholder, the plan did not require government investment. But details of the job losses, lower profits and dividends saw Telstra shares plunge and the government panicking about the worth of its last share.

In June 2007 a new joint venture, OPEL, was announced that in essence was a two-tier system, good for the cities but not necessarily for rural and regional Australia.

In 2009 the Rudd government introduced the NBN Co investment and FTTP (fibre to the premise), which will eventually pay for itself with a return on investment of 6-7%. There have been no changes to this policy except for its scheduling, which is perfectly acceptable for such large infrastructure spread over our vast continent.

In saying all of this, with the Coalition presiding in the years of the mining boom, was asking to invest for our future too much? They have had over 10 years to come up with some cracking policy. And let’s not forget that at the 2010 election Abbott was planning to scrap it entirely but changed his mind this year to present just a watered-down version of Labor’s policy. Sadly, I don’t think technology is his forte as he thinks the NBN is "essentially about home entertainment".

I have been in this industry for four years and when I heard the phrase, 'measure twice, cut once', I absolutely knew it was for me. So why would I take a chance on a coalition of parties that still have not got it right? I see the NBN's potential for innovation – not only in our industry and in business, but also for the community and our ageing population and so many other things.

It’s not just the speed that is a difference between the two parties but fixing up a dated Swiss cheese-style grid of communications infrastructure. The NBN should belong to all and not just pockets of society.

Let me also touch on some other policies that I believe are relevant not only for business but within our industry. Labor would give an up-front tax deduction for small businesses when they buy equipment and assets worth up to $10,000, an increase from the current $6,500. Yet the Coalition would return it to $5,000.

The Coalition would also axe the tax-loss carry-forward scheme, which allows businesses to claim losses of up to $1 million against tax paid in the previous two years. Obviously, none of us want to be in that situation, but we are living in uncertain times and I know that is definitely one place where I want my taxes going.

And the outdated notion of lowering taxes just doesn’t fly with me anymore. We are one of the world’s lowest-taxing nations. It might be best to ask Australians where we would like our hard-earned taxes to go and maybe even raise them for certain things.

The fringe benefits tax amendment that has everyone all 'Whyalla will be wiped off the map' is simply using a logbook for three months of the year to show how you use the car for business. And guess what? There are apps for that, so you don’t have to do much. Oh, except rort the government, which is why the amendments have come about in the first place.

In conclusion, I see our country as one big business, and it needs to be treated as such with transparency and forward thinking. All I have been hearing from the Coalition is to 'trust them' and the old-fashioned mantras that they will lower taxes, build roads and will make the economy stronger. We have had a hung parliament for three years, and business and consumer confidence needs a definitive business plan for the next three years, not a six-point pamphlet. I find it quite ignorant to treat us that way. In business I don’t do deals based on 'trust' without any figures, so why on earth would I take a chance with the Coalition?

Happy voting!

[Related: More Industry Insider columns]

Melanie McCartney is the director of Cartwheel Printing Solutions

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