Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Minister for Industry

Wednesday 2nd June 2010

Tasmanian Exports Fall

Figures released by the Bureau of Statistics show that the March 2010 quarter was the worst quarter for Tasmanian exporters since June 2004. Nearly one in four jobs in Tasmania is related to the export sector, so for our exports to take such a massive nose dive is a real concern.

In the March 2010 quarter Tasmania exported $793 million worth of goods. The lowest quarterly amount since the June quarter of 2004. Furthermore, the decline since the March 2009 quarter when exports were valued at $924 million has been a massive 14%.

While Lara Giddings is working overtime to try and convince Tasmanians that we are in some sort of economic renaissance, her misguided rhetoric regarding the utopia she would have us all believe we are living in is very dangerous for the continued health of our economy.

The fact is, for the second time in a week, we have data showing that Tasmania's economy is under-performing. Lara Giddings simply doesn't have a clue what to do and is turning to spin instead. Where is her export strategy? We don't even have a credible presence at the World Expo in Shanghai at the moment.

In the coming months 70 million people are expected to attend the World Expo and at a time when our export sales are falling the Labor-Green Government have the poorest attendance at the biggest show on Earth. It simply beggars belief.

The Labor-Green Government has failed to grasp the need for Tasmania to increase its exposure to markets both nationally and internationally. We are the only island State and therefore exports are more vitally important to our economy than for the other states and territories who can rely on cross border traffic and trade.

Today's ABS data also shows that Tasmania's economy continues along at a snail's pace. We have the second slowest growing economy of any state in Australia. No doubt Ms Giddings will try and spin that into some fantastic achievement, but there is no avoiding the fact that while the rest of Australia is showing strong growth in their economies, Tasmania is well and truly one of the underperformers.