Territory beats China: Yeah, right.

COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Spin: Northern Territory records 10.5% increase in Gross State Product in 2014-15. The Territory’s growth rate is better than China’s, topping Australia and all other OECD nations. Treasurer David Tollner gives himself a pat on the back in a media handout. Chief Minister Adam Giles is rewarded with a round of applause at last night’s Broglas (photo) when he regurgitates this “news”.
 
Fact: “This growth is during the peak construction period for the Inpex project,” says Rolf Gerritsen, professorial fellow at the Alice Springs campus of Charles Darwin University, whom we asked to comment. “We have such a small economy that one large project distorts all the indices. Ask them if that growth rate will continue over the next two years!”
 
While Mr Tollner concedes that Australian Bureau of Statistics figures “can be quite volatile” he does not make the connection to Inpex.
 
The challenge to this endemic deception by the Giles government in our patch needs to come from locally elected leaders.
 
Not much point looking to Robyn Lambley (Araluen, now Independent, not known for profound statements on the economy); Matt Conlan (Graetorex, CLP, on his way out); Alison Anderson (Namatjira, Independent, low key at the moment) and Bess Price (Stuart, CLP, preoccupied with issues far removed from the Gross State Product).
 
Who’s going to fill the void? More tomorrow.
 
See also: Inpex, defence boosted state product, but what next? Letter from Robyn Lambley.