Bracks Watch

As Australia Surges Ahead, Victoria Posts Weakest Growth In Car Sales

Statistics released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the relative weakness of the Victorian economy under Bracks. While the whole of Australia, including Victoria, is benefitting from one of the longest periods of growth in Australian history, Victoria under Bracks has gone from leading the nation to lagging behind as the other states go from strength to strength.

Sales of New Motor Vehicles rose a seasonally adjusted 7.1% nationally between April 2004, but just 3.3% in Bracks' Victoria, the weakest performance out of all the States. Lagging the rest of Australia isn't a new experience for Victoria under Bracks, in fact, as the chart below makes clear, it is the story of the past five and a half years.

Many in the Bracks government will even argue this fall in car sales is a good thing. After all, this is a government so anti-car it spends a billion dollars on bailing out a bankrupt public transport bailout then levies a selective toll on a freeway in the Eastern suburbs to promote new growth. It is a government so anti-growth, it drew a green line around Melbourne and told us we couldn't build on one side of the line at all, and we could only build on the right side if we met half a dozen new planning regulations, and if we did meet all those conditions, maybe we would think about putting up a six story apartment building instead of a family home?

While the rest of Australia, bouyed by confidence in their economic futures, are out their investing in new cars, Victorian households seem to be spending a clear message that in Victoria under Bracks, confidence isn't on the menu. While Bracks is distracted by factional wars and getting his name in the paper looking after London based celebrities, the people of Victoria are losing ground, and Bracks doesn't care.

posted by JP @ 1:54 PM