Tasmania needs an inflow of capital and a rise in the numbers of people wanting to settle here.

We might not want to overstate the welcome, but we can happily take a lot more settlers to stop the stagnation.

In their latest reports, both Deloitte Access Economics and CommSec gave Tasmania a tentative tick on a number of fronts, namely a surge in retail spending and a rise in our otherwise idle population numbers.

Nothing to crow about, but a positive outlook by comparison with recent trends.

The opposition is probably right to claim credit for the faint pulse but we'll leave the politicians to argue over the causes.

Just as a dose of minority government and environmental creativity can help the state, so can a subsequent dose of development- prone majority government.

The Greens always complain the conservatives go too far with environmental sensitivities and throw out the good with the bad. Equally the Greens go too far with their environmental agenda.

There is a pure gold compromise buried somewhere between the two extremes that, once harnessed, will embed a lucky government for many years.

In the meantime, the Hodgman government has on its State Growth Department website a list of attributes of Tasmania; namely lowest debt per capita, clean-green environment, affordable housing, most affordable land, second lowest labour costs and tax severity, negligible pest and disease, shortest commuting time, etc. Good on the department for the positive message, which the government should be aggressively marketing to mainland Australia and beyond.

Notice the clean-green attributes, brought about by hydro power - once demonised by the Greens as the product of a "hydro-industrialisation mentality".

It is a perfect example of the Greens blithely walking right past a pure gold opportunity.