NOTABLE stockbroker Charlie Aitken has stepped up his attack on Julia Gillard, again forecasting the Australian equities market would rally by 10 per cent if the Prime Minister was rolled.
In a morning note today, Mr Aitken, now at Bell Potter, said the relationship between the government and corporate Australia was "non-existent" and business held little confidence in the current Labor government.
"I have written before that I believe a change of government in Australia will trigger a minimum 10 per cent rally in Australian equities, led by the mining sector," Mr Aitken said.
"Even the rolling of the Prime Minister, which appears imminent, would be worth at least 5 per cent to the sectors that have been pressured by unnecessary regulatory change proposals.
"Australia's biggest problem at the moment is confidence," he said.
"Confidence is a derivative of leadership. If the rumours are right and the Prime Minister is rolled imminently, it will be the first step towards confidence, both corporate and consumer, improving in Australia off an extremely low base.
"I suspect even the High Court would now cheer the Prime Minister's demise, after yesterday's disgraceful attack."
The government has fallen out of favour with big business in Australia over the mining tax and the carbon levy and increased regulation of the financial planning industry.
Political uncertainty has also been blamed for foreign ownership of Australian shares falling to an all-time low.
"You simply cannot underestimate the damage successive Labor governments have done to our international investment reputation," Mr Aitken said.
