Quarter-after-quarter, the ACT economy continues to grow and is consistently among the strongest in Australia.

My government understands that diversifying the ACT’s economy means backing the growth of more local business beyond the government sector.

Confidence among our 26,000 businesses is currently the highest in the country, and sitting at a seven-year high.

These confident businesses will invest more and employ more, which will continue to support growth across our economy.

Our economic approach is being noted. Deloitte recently drew attention to our very strong construction activity.

Strong retail and construction growth have led Deloitte to assess we are in a “sweet spot”.

Deloitte’s analysis points to:
- double-digit growth in new home starts over the past year;
- $1.5 billion worth of commercial construction projects underway;
- a 5.7 per cent retail trade growth over the past year;
- 7.5 per cent growth in our property sector;
- State Final Demand increasing by 5 per cent;
- domestic visitor numbers up 16 per cent in a year;
- a 16 per cent growth in job vacancies; and
- a strong civil works pipeline for the coming few years as our light rail network continues to make progress.

Average unemployment in June was significantly lower than it was at the same time last year, while Canberra also has the shortest median duration of job search of any capital city in Australia, apart from Darwin.

The fiscal strategy we have adopted in past Budgets, and in the 2017-18 ACT Budget, has helped the ACT’s economy reach this “sweet spot”.

Our own investments in infrastructure, economic diversification and in backing local jobs have all created a strong foundation for the growth we’re now seeing.

Our plan is to keep diversifying and investing in Canberra’s economy because we know that’s the best way to maintain and grow good local jobs.