BILLIONAIRE retailer Gerry Harvey says Australia has been ungovernable since John Howard was dumped from ­office and claims the only cure for the nation’s broken democracy — hamstrung by years of dismal infighting — is to install a dictator.

Business leaders reacted with dismay at the knife-edge election result, which leaves the nation facing three more years of uncertainty, the possible loss of its triple-A credit rating and the likelihood that meaningful reforms will be blocked in a hostile Senate.

media_camera Post election lament... Gerry Harvey

Australian Institute of Company Directors CEO and former NSW Liberal leader John Brogden described the result as “the worst possible outcome for Australia”.

Mr Harvey said the nation was living beyond its means but claimed neither side of politics could do anything about it because of the prolonged instability in Canberra.

media_camera Former PM John Howard meets Malcom Turnbull and wife Lucy on election night. Picture: Jason Edwards

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“Neither side can do anything about it because the minute they do they’re hammered. The only cure we’ve got is to have a dictator like in China or something like that. Our democracy at the ­moment is not working,” he said.

Mr Harvey said the last prime minister who was able to run the country effectively was John Howard and the nation had been in a “state of constant turmoil” since 2007.

“In that period we’ve had five prime ministers and New Zealand’s had one. The whole world now, with what’s happening in England, Europe and America, there’s a great deal of dissatisfaction with mainstream politics and the people are showing their frustration.”