WA Liberal Leader Liza Harvey has once again demonstrated she is not across detail as she continues try and scare Western Australians with inaccurate information.
Ms Harvey today falsely claimed on social media that the Western Australian economy is in recession, purportedly citing the latest release of the ABS’s ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Accounts figures.
Today’s figures show that, in year-ended terms, State Final Demand (SFD) grew by 1.7 per cent in the December 2019 quarter, the strongest growth in five and a half years.
In contrast, the former Liberal ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Government – when Ms Harvey was Deputy Premier – recorded the largest recorded decline in quarterly year-ended terms of 11.1 per cent in the September quarter 2016.
While there was a small fall in the quarterly growth in December 2019, WA is now coming off the back of two consecutive quarters of strong growth being 1.5 per cent last June and 0.6 per cent in September 2019.
The claim by Ms Harvey that today’s figures come off the back of negative growth in the September quarter is blatantly wrong and is not reflected in the latest ABS figures that she claims to quote.
It is important to note that today’s figures do not give the full picture of the WA economy with Gross State Product (GSP) providing a more accurate measure, taking into account the State’s exports.
The only time WA was in a real recession was when Liza Harvey was Deputy Premier in 2016-17, when GSP declined for the first and only time on record, falling by 1.7 per cent.
As stated by Treasurer Ben Wyatt:
“The last thing WA needs at the moment is false information being put out by someone who wants to the next Premier of this State.
“It is one thing for Liberal Leader Liza Harvey to try and undermine confidence in the WA economy; it’s another thing to make claims that are just simply untrue.
“Liza Harvey has demonstrated yet again she is not across detail.
“I would encourage all Western Australians to be highly sceptical about any claims the Liberal Leader makes about the WA economy, as they have been proven time and time again to be inaccurate and unreliable.
“The fact is more than 58,000 jobs have been created since the McGowan Government came to office with a record number of West Australians in work.
“WA currently has the strongest jobs growth in the country, with half of all jobs created across the country in January, created right here in WA.
“The WA economy is in better shape now than it was when the McGowan Government came to office and the WA Treasury has projected stronger growth to come.”
