A national survey claiming Ballina is Australia’s worst place to start a business has sparked outrage from the local business community, with the Ballina Chamber of Commerce dismissing the findings as misleading and based on flawed methodology.

The report, commissioned by an accounting company, ranked Ballina last among Australia’s 50 largest urban centres, citing poor scores for business landscape, cost of living, talent pool and what it described as the country’s slowest internet speeds.

The company went as far as declaring Ballina was “officially the worst place in Australia to start a business” – a claim the Chamber says simply doesn’t reflect reality.

Ballina Chamber of Commerce president Joeline Hartley (pictured) said the report painted an unfair picture of one of Australia’s fastest-growing regional economies.

“We welcome robust economic analysis, but we will absolutely not accept our vibrant, $3 billion local economy being painted in a negative light based on flawed methodology and generic, state-wide assumptions,” she said.

Among the Chamber’s biggest concerns is that the report relies on state-wide averages for some measures rather than Ballina-specific data and uses proxy figures for transport costs instead of local information.

It also argues the report misunderstands Ballina’s demographic profile, suggesting lower median incomes reflect the area’s large retiree population and lifestyle workers rather than a shortage of opportunity or skilled workers.

The Chamber says the study also ignores one of Ballina’s biggest strengths – its rapidly growing population.

It points to the Commonwealth Bank’s Regional Movers Index, which found Ballina recorded annual net internal migration growth of 12.7 per cent, making it one of Australia’s fastest-growing regional centres and creating a steadily expanding customer base for local businesses.

The Chamber believes Ballina’s inclusion in the study reflects that growth, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics now recognising the broader Ballina urban area as one of the nation’s 50 largest urban centres.

While rejecting most of the report’s conclusions, the Chamber conceded one finding deserved attention.

The survey ranked Ballina last nationally for internet performance, recording the lowest median upload speeds of the 50 cities assessed.

Ms Hartley said the Chamber intends using that finding to lobby both the Federal Government and NBN Co for improved telecommunications infrastructure.

“The report did get one thing right,” she said.

“If Ballina is officially one of Australia’s top 50 urban economies, we deserve capital-city-grade telecommunications to support our local entrepreneurs.”