Page 1182 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 30 May 2007
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construction of new shopping complexes, like the additions to the Canberra Centre, and the redevelopment of existing shopping complexes in the territory.
The government has helped to provide an economic environment conducive to rising living standards. Since 2001, when we came to power, gross disposable income per capita has risen by 34 per cent and now stands at $45,382. This far exceeds the national story, where incomes have grown by only 23 per cent to $29,257, and in New South Wales, where incomes have grown by only 17 per cent to $25,782.
Increased spending by the commonwealth government in the ACT, largely in the form of an expansion in the size of the public sector, has led to the need for more high quality office space, resulting in an unprecedented growth in non-dwelling construction activity. Combined with private sector demand, the volume of non-dwelling construction activity experienced in 2006 has exceeded even that recorded during the period of construction of the new Parliament House in the late 1980s.
The levels of investment would not have been possible without the stable, investor friendly economic environment the Stanhope Labor government has provided. When the Stanhope government came to power in October 2001, annual spending on non-dwelling construction in the territory was $389 million. By December 2006, annual spending had reached $1.1 billion, a rise of 182 per cent over this period. Nationally, non-dwelling construction grew by only 108 per cent over this period, while New South Wales reported only a 66 per cent increase.
Good economic management is also reflected by the state of the ACT labour market. The ACT is at near full employment, with most of those who want to work able to find it. Unemployment remains at an historic low as well as below the rate experienced in New South Wales and nationally. Similarly, workforce participation in the ACT is at near record highs and well above that achieved nationally. This is further evidence of the strong economy provided by the ACT government.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (12.20): I guess the temptation when speaking after Ms MacDonald is to talk much slower so that people can understand. So I think I will start with the cupcake analogy. The taxation system that we used to have used to be that the states all had little cupcakes. You can get 12 cupcakes in an oven tray. There was the wholesale tax cupcake and the FID cupcake. These were nuisance cupcakes in a way because they took up lots of room and they were really ineffective. They were cupcakes, so you would only get a little bite. But the federal government made the big cake, the big fruitcake, just like mother used to make for Christmas. You can get a bigger tray into the oven. You can get more substance into it and you get a better return for the effort.
The problem for the Labor Party when they put Ms MacDonald into this place to sell their economic policies is that, while she cannot even read the speech particularly well, she certainly does not understand the content. The reality is that in the financial year 2007-08, the states will be better off by an estimated $3.2 billion due to the Australian government’s reform—$3.2 billion better off. You can have little cupcakes or you can have a big slice of fruitcake. That is the difference.
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