Saturday's election result (or lack of result) looks set to dent business and consumer confidence, and the prospect of yet another period of potentially unstable government in Australia looms large.  It would seem increasingly likely that neither party will be able to form government in its own right, and squabbling negotiations with the minor parties and independents seem inevitable.

In the event of a hung parliament, we are likely to see a similar impact on the economy as we saw during the Gillard / Rudd hung parliament era, with government's inability to set and maintain direction leading to economic weakness..... and this time we won't have a mining boom to prop up demand.  The impact on retail will likely be a fall in consumer confidence and spending.

Let's hope that as counting continues, a clearer picture emerges!