The report states that seven of the eight jurisdictions could take the lead in CommSec’s next quarterly survey, but SA, NSW and Victoria are the most likely candidates. Photo: iStock/Mike Annese.
CommSec’s State of the States report for January has announced South Australia (SA) as the nation’s leading economy, topping the leader board in four of the eight key indicators measuring performance across the states and territories.
It’s the first time for SA to lead the pack in the survey’s 14-year history of quarterly reports, despite Adelaide having the country’s highest annual inflation rate over the 2023 September quarter (5.9 per cent).
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the government’s plan to grow the economy was now showing results.
“Significant government investment in housing and infrastructure and thriving exports have helped drive our state’s economic activity,” said Premier Malinauskas.
“We know there is more to be done to ease pressure on households in the community and will continue doing what we can to provide targeted cost-of-living support.”
Minister for Housing and Urban Development Stephen Mullighan noted the state’s lead as a result of the investment boost to infrastructure, cutting stamp duty for first home buyers, and being the lowest-taxing state on the mainland.
The state ranked first in:
- Economic growth, measured in the 2023 September quarter at nine per cent above its four year average level of output;
- Unemployment, measured in December 2023 at 3.8 per cent;
- Construction work done, up from third, ahead of NSW, and 23.4 per cent above the decade average;
- Dwelling starts, ahead of Tasmania (3.2 per cent below normal) measuring 2.3 per cent below the decade average.
It also proved to have the strongest economic (up 3.8 per cent) and export growth (up 12 per cent) of any state in the past year.
Last week the Acting Industry Advocate (IA) Phillip Dowsett released a report detailing that over $12.2 billion was delivered to the state’s companies and workers through government contracts in the 2022/23 financial year. This was a 59 per cent increase on the previous year, meeting the expectations of the state’s first IA Ian Nightingale in his most recent annual report.
Mr Nightingale noted an increase of 32 per cent increase for the year following June 2022, and at the time of writing had the office monitoring 907 contract records with an estimated value of $16.8 billion.
Overall the January CommSec report said that economic performances of Australian states and territories were being supported by a solid job market and strong population growth at a time of rising interest rates. But they have slowed in response to higher borrowing costs and price pressures.
CommSec believes the future path for each state and territory will depend on the inflation response to higher interest rates.
