An independent report has been released today showing business and government investment in South Australia is double that of the rest of the nation.
The Access Economics – Arup Investment Monitor, December 2009, published this morning, shows South Australia is second only to Western Australia in terms annual growth in projects under construction.
According to the report, there has been an 88.9 % increase in projects under construction since December 2008 compared to a national average of 39.3 %. Only Western Australia has done better than South Australia with a 129.3 % change in what is under construction.
By way of comparison the four other States went backwards, with NSW recording minus 10.8 % investment, Victoria minus 5.1 %, Queensland minus 0.4 % and Tasmania minus 18.2 %.
Treasurer Kevin Foley says this latest report again demonstrates the underlying strength of the South Australian economy.
“That hasn’t happened by accident.
“The Rann Labor Government has continued to invest record sums in key infrastructure projects, such as the State’s public transport system, roads, the desalination plant, the Techport Australia shipbuilding precinct, upgraded hospitals, new schools, and has another suite of major projects nearing the construction phase such as the New Royal Adelaide Hospital,” Mr Foley says.
“In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government outlined a record $11.4 billion of infrastructure spending over four years.
“In 2009-10 alone, the Government will spend $3.9 billion, supporting nearly 14,000 jobs.
“This level of spending is five times higher than the last year of the previous Liberal Government.”
Just a week ago, the Access Economics’ Business Outlook December Quarter 2009 report was saying South Australia survived 2008-09 better than much of the rest of Australia and predicted solid output growth this financial year, and acceleration in growth to 3.7 % in 2010-11.
A few weeks before that, the Australian Bureau of Statistics noted that in contrast to the fall nationally, South Australian private business investment grew 9.7 % in the quarter, helping to propel State Final Demand growth to the highest quarterly and annual rate of all the States.
“The Rann Labor Government’s economic strategy for dealing with the global financial crisis has been opposed at almost every turn by the Liberals and yet the South Australian economy is now outperforming the rest of the country.
“Mrs Redmond and her team are just not ready to take on the responsibility of managing the State’s economy,” Mr Foley says.
Taken from News Release, 3 Feb 2010, www.premier.sa.gov.au
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