Page 1249 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Treasurer who said, “Don’t get your hopes up that this is a stimulus package,” because the Treasurer is clueless.
Consider the recent statistics on state final demand for all states. The ACT is distinguished by its consistent worst performance in state final demand for all states. In the year to the December quarter 2007, the ACT recorded a growth of 2.2 per cent, which seemed pretty good until we realised that this is the worst performance of any state. In the year to the March quarter 2008, the ACT recorded growth of only 0.1 per cent. This was far from good and was the worst performance of any state by a very wide margin. In the year to the June quarter 2008 the ACT recorded negative growth of minus 0.3 per cent, the only state to record negative growth in that year to date period. Again, it was the worst performance by far of any state.
In the year to the September quarter 2008, the ACT recorded growth of 2.1 per cent, but, again, it was the worst performance of any state. In the year to the December quarter 2008, the ACT recorded negative growth of minus 0.4 per cent and, need I say it again, the worst performance of any state. Four quarters out of the last six we recorded negative growth.
This is not a sign of a healthy economy over a very significant period of time. It is impossible to argue against these statistics that are produced by an independent and recognised expert statistical agency. You can use this analysis to show that the ACT economy has not been performing as the Chief Minister might have wished or has said and that the warning signs have been evident that something was not right. The Stanhope-Gallagher government should have responded sooner to what has transpired.
This is what this motion seeks to set out, Mr Speaker. Paragraph (1)(a) notes with concern that the ACT is currently the only Australian jurisdiction in recession. We talk about the cot-case economy that is New South Wales, yet we are performing worse than New South Wales.
Paragraph (1)(b) says that the Stanhope government has contributed to the ACT economy going into recession through decisions it has taken over the past seven years. The Chief Minister will jump to his feet and say, “Look, we took tough decisions in the 2006-07 budget.” They might have been tough decisions, but they were the wrong decisions. They are evidently wrong because we have seen the unwinding of some of those decisions where cuts were made to business programs. They have ceased to exist because this was a government either not interested in or not able to come to the reality of how to diversify the ACT’s economic base. Indeed, one of our key industries, tourism—it is perhaps the biggest private sector industry in this territory—was also cut dramatically. We have seen in recent budgets that that funding is being restored.
We saw the loss of the independent statutory authority Australian Capital Tourism. The body that needs the freedom and the independence to move, and to move quickly, was drawn back into the bureaucracy. It was another bad decision. We are now paying for that. We are reaping what we have sown. We are now paying for these failures. The government has not diversified the ACT economy over the seven years that it has been in office. You only have to look at the statistics of employment patterns in the ACT to see that the government has failed.
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