According to CommSec’s most recent State of the States report, released this month, in which the economic performances of the states and territories are compared, Queensland is ranked sixth out of eight.
The point is made that it is a close call between Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory, although this league-ladder position won’t bring much joy to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
CommSec uses eight indices to rank the states and territories. Although Queensland does well in terms of home starts and employment growth, it falls down on a number of indicators, including construction work and retail trade. On the most recent figures, unemployment in Queensland is higher than the national average: 5.9 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent nationally.
When it comes to elections, the key issues are the role the state government has played in fostering economic development and what the major contenders are promising in terms of economic management.
When it comes to creative accounting and money shuffling, there is no doubt the Palaszczuk government is top of the class — or should that be the holder of the wooden spoon?
The state’s Treasurer had no trouble shifting $4 billion from the defined benefit superannuation fund for government employees, claiming that the scheme was overfunded. Note that the scheme was in deficit less than 10 years ago.
And shifting debt from the general government ledger to government-owned enterprises has been another trick employed to make the government debt figures look better. Add in pumped-up dividends from the electricity generators that have been gaming the electricity market and, on the face of it, the budgetary position of the Queensland public sector looks to have improved.
Even so, the expectation is that the net debt of the (non-financial) public sector in Queensland will be more than $38bn this financial year and will continue to grow through to 2020-21.
When it comes to excessive government indebtedness, it is a tight race between Queensland and Western Australia.
Of course, issues such as debt and fiscal responsibility are not really the Premier’s strong suit.
She has been keen to shore up her base by overseeing an explosion in the number of public servants, undoing the work of short-lived Liberal National premier, Campbell Newman, and then some more. And while she might claim that the growth has all been in frontline service providers, a detailed look at the numbers will confirm otherwise.
The growing “head office” figures in education and health in Queensland are something to behold, particularly compared with other states. Government media adviser is also a growing occupational group in the state.
Overall, it’s fair to assess the Queensland economy as travelling reasonably well, in line with the national trend, although there are clear weaknesses in terms of unemployment and youth unemployment. As an export-oriented economy, the improved terms of trade have helped. But the poor retail figures suggest low consumer confidence on the part of Queenslanders.
Rather than exploit the benefits of lower electricity prices by virtue of having government- owned coal-fired generators, wholesale electricity prices in Queensland have in fact risen by more than 170 per cent in two years, with the wholesale price about $80 per megawatt hour.
There is a certain irony that the Palaszczuk government is now using taxpayer funds to ease the pressure of high electricity prices felt by residents.
But let’s face it: recent Labor governments in Queensland have preferred expensive populist gimmicks over steady and sensible budget management every time.