Commsec says a “lift in momentum” driven by a low Australian dollar has seen Tasmania make modest gains to be ranked equal seventh with South Australia in its latest State of the States report.
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Tasmania was ranked at the bottom of just one category; economic growth; but only ranked in the top half for unemployment.
Despite the last placed economic growth ranking, the state experienced the third highest growth (2.8 per cent) in the past 12 months.
A 7.1 per cent rise on the decade average in retail spending was enough to move out of last place, leapfrogging South Australia.
Labor Treasury spokesman Scott Bacon called on the government to develop “meaningful economic policies” to boost activity.
He said the lower dollar was boosting tourism and exports but pointed to a climbing unemployment rate and a population growth rate of just 0.42 per cent in the last quarter as an indicator the state still faced serious challenges.
Treasurer Peter Gutwein said a focus on balancing the budget would allow the government to invest more in delivering better frontline services and boosting the economy.
He said the report’s findings were “welcome”, but acknowledged there was still a lot of work to do.
Mr Gutwein said the report highlighted the steady progress the state’s economy had made in the last two years. “When we came to government, Tasmania was last on every single Commsec measure. In this latest report, we have improved on all those measures, bar one,” he said.
