Page 1763 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 7 June 2016
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We have put people first and delivered jobs and growth.
Economic outlook in the ACT
Our economy has faced significant challenges over the last few years. Relentless Liberal attacks have threatened the prosperity of Canberrans across the city. But with support from this Government, the Territory has weathered that storm, and the outlook is now rapidly improving.
Economic growth is expected to increase to 2 per cent in 2015-16, up from 1.4 per cent in 2014-15 and 0.7 per cent at the height of the Abbott government cuts in 2013-14. So the one thing that is tripling in this city is the rate of economic growth.
Our unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1 per cent—the lowest in the country.
The economy created over 6,000 private sector jobs between February 2015 and February 2016.
Our economy is also more diverse. International service exports grew 16 per cent last year, to reach $1.6 billion. The Territory’s service export growth over the last 15 years is the strongest of any state or territory.
Retail trade and building approvals show that confidence in our economy remains strong: the Territory recorded the highest retail growth of any jurisdiction over the past year, and our building approvals are growing—up 28 per cent in the past 12 months.
The Territory’s population is forecast to grow at 1.5 per cent each year. We will reach 400,000 people later this year and are projected to reach 420,000 by 2019-20.
The investment outlook is also strong in the long term, with the successful efforts of this Government to attract direct international flights to Canberra Airport driving significant further opportunity and investment.
Our economy is on a stable path of vibrant and diversified growth, making it more resilient against future cuts from the Liberal Party.
Fiscal outlook
Building broad-based economic growth is important, because as hard as the Liberals have hit Canberra over the past few years, there is, of course, no guarantee they won’t do it again. It is in their DNA.
First, the Federal Liberals cut support for important community programs. They cut back the Federal Government’s share of health funding, they cut funding for concessions, and they walked away from their promise on education funding.
Then they cut thousands of public sector jobs—hurting the services that Canberrans and Australians rely on and, in turn, hurting the ACT economy.
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