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You see, what happens is everybody - and I mean everybody - gets the heebie-jeebies about what might happen with the election, and what it could mean, and how it may effect this and that, and so on and so forth.

No second guesses for what that means - the buyers stop buying and those big boardroom capital decisions are put on hold.

But the big question is why?

This has been going on for decades and it never ceases to befuddle me. I sit on a few boards and the end result, no matter who wins, is that business must go on.

Even if the winds of change blow in another direction it usually takes the new incumbents at least six months (after all the election parties, back-slapping and whatnot) before there are any policy moves.

Quite simply, industry cannot wait to see if there will be big changes that affect our businesses, especially when it comes to continued progress from an end-user, producer or exporter perspective.

In one of my previous lives I was providing equipment to a brewery, and the engineering manager decided to hold back on a recommendation to his management until after the election - to see what would happen.

Now fair go, can anyone really believe people are going to curtail their drinking habits because of a political event? The election was a win-win any way you looked at it. There were either barrels of booze going to be drunk on the success of one party or barrels of booze used to drown the sorrows of the other side.

The way I look at it, politics is just like a sporting event. Someone has to win and someone has to lose. Whatever happens, someone is going to spend money on something - on both sides.

So where is the problem when it comes to business? I reckon it's just an excuse used by the money-watchers, those conservative, risk-averse types who will use any opportunity to stall expenditure.

Some of those super-conservative people of the buying network out there may suggest old Clyde is losing the plot, and perhaps they would also suggest there is some merit in slowing down the pace.

Well it's a democratic society, I suppose, and everyone is entitled to their opinions. But for heaven's sake don't use the election as an excuse.

Now I don't believe there are too many show-stoppers presently haunting in the wings of the mining industry. If anything it's the other way round; however I have already seen and heard signs that the order pace is slowing just a tad.

But one would have to be a truly determined agnostic about the future given the groundswell of optimism that the mining industry is throwing up at present. Let me be a little more specific, because to use agnostic and optimism in the one sentence is a slight on English grammar.

Ladies and gentlemen, I offer proof that the industry must be all systems go and in overdrive – because tin has become a sexy commodity.

Hats off to our friends at Metals X: I have read with deep admiration how they plan to reopen Renison and Mt Bischoff down in Tassie. Now if that isn't a good news story and one oozing confidence, then you can blow this man's candle out.

As we all know tin has had more starts and stops than a cab in New York City. Anyone who can take old workings at the first tin mine in Australia and the first producing mine in Tasmania (they say), and combine that ore with ore from the only underground tin mine in the world deserves a big thumbs up for vision, inspiration and commitment.

And let's not forget all those other remnant mine sites and workings around Australia being rekindled due to the demand for commodities. There is more than hope now for the smallest operations, which means the supplier base has more pins on maps across the country than ever before.

The question is how best to service these locations, consistently and reliably? After all, in many of these locations even the rabbits got up and left years ago due to lack of interest.

So to my friends in the supply chain network, don't let anyone tell you "we are waiting for the election result before we place orders".

If you get this line, tell them it doesn't matter because there will be a party either way, and barrels to be drunk on either side. So let's get on with business and stop using such a silly excuse.