Page 141 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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In the lead-up to the Multicultural Festival we are very pleased to boost funding for that event so it can remain the most popular and well-attended community-focused event in our city. Of course, there were the announcements of more seats under cover at Manuka Oval and better facilities for female athletes who play at that venue, as well as the announcement of a restoration of the Old Bus Depot in Kingston.
The government continues to make these important investments in community facilities, infrastructure and community services as part of our commitment to the people of Canberra, commitments that we took to the 2016 election.
MS ORR: Chief Minister, what does the budget review show about the state of the ACT’s economy and important components of it like the housing market?
MR BARR: The budget review shows that the territory economy grew by 4 per cent in the 2017-18 fiscal year. That is the fastest rate of growth of any state or territory in Australia. The outlook for our economy is for continued strong and broad-based growth. We expect that to be around 3½ per cent in the 2018-19 fiscal year, which is again above our 15-year growth average.
The unemployment rate in the ACT in December 2018 was 3.6 per cent, the lowest in the country. Our employment growth remained above the national rate throughout 2018-19 and has also been revised upwards for 2019-20, in recognition of our very strong economic and population growth outlook.
Our residential construction sector was strong in 2018. This momentum is expected to continue through the medium term, supported by historically low interest rates, our low unemployment, our very strong population growth, our low rental vacancy rate and our high rates of economic growth.
We have seen ACT house prices moderate somewhat in 2018, but this is in contrast to the significant falls in segments of the national housing market, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. A range of commentators, including Deloitte Access Economics, has noted that our economy is strong and is growing, people are continuing to move to Canberra and our unemployment rate is low, so the outlook for our housing market is more stable than in other cities.
MS CHEYNE: How is the government responding to recent developments in the broader Australian economy and budget that have affected the ACT?
MR BARR: I thank Ms Cheyne for the supplementary. Certainly we are experiencing a period of significant international and national instability. International events are impacting upon some territory investments, and at a national level uncertainty around future energy policy has impacted on the value of our large-scale generation certificates, which are a major paper asset on the government’s balance sheet. The nervousness in the two big cities around house prices and house values has flowed somewhat into consumer sentiment, so we, like all other states and territories, had a reduction in GST revenue through the commonwealth’s midyear fiscal update.
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