Page 498 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 15 February 2017

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(iv) investing in major infrastructure initiatives that will help grow local industries and deepen expertise across the supply chain;

(v) establishing the CBR Innovation Network to attract and support innovative new firms;

(vi) delivering an international education strategy that is now seeing the education sector grow at around an average annual rate of 12 percent; and

(vii) enlisting Access Canberra to cut red tape so firms can spend less time dealing with Government and more time growing their business;

(b) business confidence has lifted significantly as a result;

(c) the recent State of the States report set out the ACT had the third strongest economy in the nation;

(d) a buoyant business outlook is also supporting strong job creation, with unemployment falling from 4.8 percent to just 3.7 percent over the past 12 months; and

(e) this business confidence is supported by a strong infrastructure pipeline and a stable investment environment;

(2) further notes:

(a) that business confidence depends upon a growing economy and strong prospects for future growth; and

(b) that creating uncertainty around major investments is a direct threat to confidence and growth; and

(3) calls on the ACT Government to continue:

(a) making significant investments in transformational city-building infrastructure; and

(b) building a positive and stable economic environment which will lead to jobs growth and growing prosperity for our community.

I move this motion because this chamber should acknowledge the good work of the Barr Labor government and encourage the government to continue its terrific achievements in promoting business growth.

As a city created to host a government, our local economy faces unique challenges. Where some of Australia’s cities are highly exposed to the manufacturing industry, such as Wollongong, Elizabeth and Geelong, and other cities are exposed to the mining industry, such as Perth, Broken Hill and Gladstone, Canberra’s largest economic risk is the nation’s own government. The biggest risk faced by our local economy is a commonwealth government either incompetently or deliberately impoverishing our citizens.

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