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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (1 July) . . Page.. 2005 ..

MR SPEAKER: No, I know they are not, Chief Minister, and I am getting a bit tired of it.

Mr Berry: Oh, you are tired of it, too.

MR SPEAKER: I am getting tired of your constant interjections.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, in 1997-98, the ACT's gross State product increased by 4.3 per cent in real terms, which is the second highest growth figure recorded by the Territory since self-government. That 4.3 per cent was more than four times our original budget estimate. Mr Speaker, in late May I heard Mr Quinlan say on ABC radio that the ACT economy was "still struggling". Okay, Mr Quinlan, how?

Mr Moore: Just another lie.

Mr Quinlan: I have high standards.

MS CARNELL: We have an unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent at the moment compared with 7.1 per cent when Labor was last in office. We have an estimated 10,500 unemployed people in Canberra compared with 11,800 when those opposite were last in government. The number of people in Canberra receiving unemployment benefit has fallen by more than 40 per cent in the last year, according to Centrelink figures. So, Mr Quinlan and Mr Stanhope, are we still struggling? There are 3,400 more jobs in the Territory than there were when Labor was last in office, and that is despite losing thousands of Commonwealth jobs during 1996 and 1997.

The average weekly number of job advertisements is at its highest level for more than eight years and has risen by 13 per cent in the past year alone. Recent studies by Morgan and Banks and Drake Personnel all report expected growth in hirings over the next three to six months. In fact, Mr Speaker, the Drake employment forecast released overnight reports that hirings are set to increase by 2.5 per cent over the next three months, with almost one in four companies set to hire staff. Is it still struggling, Mr Quinlan?

Our population has grown by almost half a per cent in the past year, according to the ABS, while our working age population has increased by 2,300 in the past year alone. The ACT's retail turnover is now 7 per cent higher than it was a year ago and nearly 14 per cent higher than it was in 1997. Our level of residential building approvals for the three-month period to the end of May this year was 40 per cent higher than it was in the same period in 1998. Prices for established houses in Canberra have increased by 1.2 per cent over the last year and have been rising for nine months now, Mr Speaker. Does that sound like we are struggling, Mr Speaker? Obviously it does to Mr Quinlan.

How about business confidence? A net 60 per cent of Canberra businesses surveyed by the Yellow Pages are confident about their prospects over the next 12 months, the second highest level of confidence in Australia. The same survey reported that in the last three months a net balance of businesses reported moderate to significant growth in sales value, work force size, profitability and capital expenditure.

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