By Vienna Ma, Michael Keating CANBERRA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) last week released a survey, which showed a fall in investor confidence in the third quarter of 2010, as global concerns and general election uncertainty at home have outweighed a generally favorable economic background. The ACCI, which represents over 350,000 businesses in Australia through all sectors, conducted the survey by interviewing their members on a quarterly basis. The survey of industrial trends showed the expected composite index -- a gauge of business confidence -- slumped to 50.2, from 54.8 in the second quarter. The industrial trends actual composite index -- a measure of actual national economic conditions -- fell to 49.5 in the third quarter from 56.6. The Aug. 21 federal election's uncertainty has influenced the September quarter outcome, as 80 percent of responses to the survey were taken after polling day. 'I certainly think there has been an effect from the Federal Election as it wasn't a typical Federal Election,' Greg Evans, director of economics at the ACCI, told Xinhua reporter in Canberra. 'It took place over a five- to six-week period and after there was a considerable period of time where we didn't know who was forming government,' he said. 'So that we had two months which saw some instability and some overall impact on consumer confidence during that period as well.' The overall reduced business and consumer confidence levels in Australia have also been affected by the continuation of international instability in regard to Europe, as well as the stalling economic growth in the United States. 'In fact the legacy of the Global Financial Crisis is probably longer than we thought, and we're in the economy now where we're still in the transition from public stimulus to a private sector- led recovery,' Evans added. 'That's perhaps taken longer than many people may have first thought.' Meanwhile, Evans suggested that taxation reform is front and center in terms of policy objectives to increase investor confidence in Australia. He said there are a number of areas in the Australian Taxation System that still need addressing, in order to keep Australia competitive to other countries. 'We still have relatively high levels of income tax we need to address that issue as well as company tax,' he said. 'We still have a range of inefficient state taxes that would assist business if they were abolished, which include areas such as payroll tax and a number of State based transaction taxes.' 'Apart from that which I think is a very difficult reform, I think we need to look at areas such as income tax, capital gains tax and company tax,' he said. 