Page 1744 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 13 May 2015
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In 2012 the ACT government launched growth, diversification and jobs, a business development strategy for the ACT. We outlined a vision for growing Canberra’s economy, building on a commitment to public sector growth and jobs. The three strategic imperatives are fostering the right business environment, supporting business investment and accelerating business innovation.
Under these three themes, the ACT government has undertaken a range of actions to successfully stimulate the economy and provide confidence in the face of sustained federal cuts to spending and jobs. Our actions have included developing and growing emerging enterprises, entrepreneurs and sectors to expand our economic base and grow local employment; promoting Canberra to the region, the nation and the world to attract tourism and business investment; continuing the development of the CBR brand; conducting ongoing regulatory reform and red tape reduction; and progressing our payroll tax reform agenda. We are also attracting foreign investment and skills through the niche programs for foreign investors and skilled and business migrants; growing our export capabilities, including partnering with our universities to support their growth and international outreach; nurturing grassroots sports and elite athletes to solidify our reputation as a centre of sporting excellence; supporting events and activities that maximise the value of the visitor economy in the ACT; and supporting development and presentation of the arts in the ACT.
Despite the recent Commonwealth of Australia public service job cuts, the unemployment rate stands at 4.3 per cent, 1.8 percentage points below the national rate of 6.1 per cent. We continue to attract people to the world’s most livable city, with 4,400 people moving to Canberra in the last year. Our participation rate of 70.2 per cent is still 5.4 percentage points higher than the national average of 64.8 per cent. GDP growth has averaged 2.6 per cent per year since 2008, and in 2014 the economy continued to expand, albeit by 0.7 per cent—a good outcome, given the ongoing commonwealth job cuts.
An important component of our growth has been our ability to consistently grow our service exports. Over the last five years growth in our service exports has averaged approximately 8½ per cent per annum. We have maintained these strong results because the government’s strategy has been to make targeted investments in activities that maximise opportunities for diversifying our economic base.
One of our greatest steps in accelerating business innovation is the creation of the CBR Innovation Network. The network brings together our world-class research institutions—ANU, NICTA, CSIRO, the University of Canberra and the University of New South Wales Canberra—as foundation members, along with a substantial amount of business expertise from a broad range of industries. The vision for the network is to link businesses and entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation and growth to maximise wealth creation. It will create an innovation ecosystem where young companies can grow, innovate and reach their potential, overcoming the barriers that may have stifled growth and innovation.
Of course, the ACT is not an economic island on its own. We are part of a regional economy and community. To bolster our attractiveness as a destination for visitors,
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