South Australia’s economic growth is the worst in Australia according to official figures released today, Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today.
Australian Bureau of Statistics ‘State Final Demand’ figures are a key indicator of economic performance and growth.
“South Australia experienced the equal lowest growth in trend terms for all states for the December quarter at just 0.4%,” Mr Lucas said today (see Chart 1).
“Growth for the 12 months to December 2005 compared to the previous 12 months was just 3.4% – worse than all other states with the exception of New South Wales.
“South Australia now trails the nation in terms of ‘Private Gross Fixed Capital Formation’ figures measuring business investment, which indicate business investment is actually down 0.5% in trend terms for the December quarter to be the weakest growth of all states.
“In seasonally adjusted terms, South Australia was also the only state to record a fall (0.8%) in private investment in machinery and equipment.
“These latest economic growth figures further highlight that South Australia’s enormous tax burden under the Labor Government is holding back economic and jobs growth.
“The Rann Government inherited a state economy that was outperforming the rest of the nation on a number of key economic indicators – notably in export growth – but it is now being left behind.
“Mr Rann and Mr Foley can try and spin the figures as much as they like, but they cannot hide from the fact that South Australia is not getting its share of the benefits of a strong national economy under the Federal Liberal Government.”