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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 3 Hansard (8 March) . . Page.. 861 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

of living and quality of life of people in the ACT. The yearly figures are particularly good for women, as I said. Their wages increased over that same period by 10.8 per cent. The increase in average weekly earnings for men for that 12 months was 8.7 per cent.

The indications are that the figures are indeed very strong. We believe that we need to continue the economic settings that produce that kind of environment, particularly to see favourable economic conditions for jobs growth in the private sector. With the lowest unemployment, the highest rate of growth in jobs, the highest rate of growth in retail and the highest levels of business confidence, I think we have a very good basis on which to proceed through the period which is now obviously besetting other parts of Australia.

MR HIRD: Mr Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. That sounds like good news, Chief Minister. Can the Chief Minister please confirm that the growth rates of job advertisements, average weekly earnings and retail turnover are ahead of the national average for all of these three statistics?

MR HUMPHRIES: There are certainly indications that the ACT is leading Australia in all of those areas. For example, I mentioned before that in the 12 months to February there was an increase in the ACT. In fact, that is all the more startling given that nationally there was a decline in job advertisements of 24.1 per cent-compared with a 5.2 per cent increase in the ACT. We have the greatest rate of increase in job advertisements over the last 12 months. In New South Wales, for example-the state surrounding us-the number of job advertisements in that same period declined by 30 per cent, which is quite disturbing, I might say.

In retail turnover, our turnover grew by 0.9 per cent in the ACT in January. At the national level there was growth of only 0.4 per cent. In the 12 months to January 2001, turnover grew by 14.4 per cent, compared with only 5.5 per cent nationally. We have the highest rate of retail growth of any state or territory, by a very large margin. The next closest state was South Australia, with about half that rate at 7.7 per cent.

With average weekly earnings, our wages of $766 also are well above the national average of $650. In fact, they are more than $100 ahead of the national average, and our wages in the ACT are about $200 a week greater than those of such places as Tasmania. I mentioned that wages grew by 8.6 per cent in the ACT. At the national level it was only 5.9 per cent. The growth for women, I said, was 10.8 per cent. It is only 6.7 per cent at the national level.

So it is a bit surprising, I have to say, in light of all those figures, to note the comment made by Mr Quinlan recently that the ACT economy was being dragged along by the national economy. He claimed that we were lagging behind. I think we will compromise-we are lagging ahead of the rest of the country.

Mr Quinlan: Chris reckoned you are.

Mr Moore: But we're going to change that.

MR HUMPHRIES: That is right. We are going to change that. I think Mr Quinlan just mentioned Chris Peters, of the Chamber of Commerce, so, if he likes, I will quote him as well. He said:

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