Chief Minister refutes ‘severely misquoted’ economic figures as Opposition doubles down attacks

Less than a month after a senior CLP politician fudged business closure numbers, the Chief Minister called out the Opposition for ‘severely misquoting’ figures about the economy’s health.

The Opposition has been accused of using “misleading” figures for the second time in a month, as it ramps up scrutiny of Labor’s economic credentials leading up to the election.

On Friday, a post on the Facebook page of Country Liberal Party leader Lia Finocchiaro claimed “our economy continues to go backwards under Eva Lawler and (Attorney-General) Chansey Paech”.

It pointed to a 7.9 per cent quarterly drop in state final demand, which represents the value of goods and services sold.

It also said private business investment dropped 18 per cent and public investment was down 31 per cent, quoting Treasury’s quarterly report.

However, Ms Lawler told the NT News the statistics were “selectively misquoted” and that state final demand had grown 2.6 per cent from last year, in line with the national pace.

Nor were the quoted numbers seasonally adjusted for the usual downturn in business during the March quarter.

Taking into account from the same Treasury report, the quarterly drop in demand was 1.8 per cent, while private and public investment dropped 9.8 and 8 per cent respectively.

Overall investment in the Territory had grown by 1.2 per cent from the same time last year, with 2.3 per cent growth forecast in the coming financial year, according to Ms Lawler

“The Territory economy is set for significant future growth over the next few years,” she said.

“The CLP and Lia Finocchiaro will always talk the Territory down so they can play politics and try to mislead Territorians.”

Ms Finocchiaro’s Facebook page claimed that the Territory suffered a 7.9 per cent quarterly drop in state final demand. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

In a statement to the NT News, a spokesman for the Opposition Leader doubled down on the previous attacks.

“COMMSEC has marked the Territory as the worst performing economy in the nation for the past five and a half years, and ABS figures also show retail sales have flatlined at the start of the peak tourism season,” the spokesman.

“And Master Builders says we are on track to have the worst year for home building since records began.

“Labor cannot manage the Territory economy and yet the Chief Minister is so out of touch she thinks the Territory is going well.”

In May, Opposition business and tourism spokeswoman Marie-Clare Boothby told a press conference 106 businesses had closed over the last year according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In fact, the Territory recorded a net increase of 456 business during that time according to a correction issued by the ABS.