Queenslanders feel forgotten despite record 26 straight years of economic growth: poll

Extract from ABC News

By Rebecca Hyam

Posted 13 minutes ago

Photo: Job creation and regional development were top issues of importance to Queenslanders. (ABC News: Jason Om)

Queenslanders are feeling short-changed from Australia's record quarter-century run of economic growth, according to poll results released today.

The Queensland results form part of research entitled Community Pulse 2018: the Economic Disconnect, commissioned by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).
Researchers polled 3,000 people nationally, with almost 500 of those respondents from across Queensland.
The study explored who had gained from Australia's 26 consecutive years of economic growth, their most important issues personally and to the nation as well as their attitudes to work.
CEDA chief executive Melinda Cilento said there appeared to be a disconnect between the country's economic good fortunes and sentiment among households, and the feeling was especially acute in Queensland.

"Nationwide 55 per cent of people actually said they hadn't benefited or didn't know if they've benefited, which is a surprising result in itself, but in Queensland, that was 59 per cent.

"So a slightly stronger sense of not having benefited from Australia's record run of economic growth."

Photo: Glencore Mount Isa mine chief operating officer Mike Westerman looks at a mine pit in the north-west Queensland city in February 2017. (ABC News: Donna Field)

The poll also showed that job creation and government support for regional development were the top issues of importance to Queenslanders.
Ms Cilento said this was probably owing to the fact that Queensland has a higher proportion of jobs based outside of the capital compared to other states.

"The sense that we got is that the further away from the urban centres you get, people are feeling less connected to economic growth and the benefits that it's delivered, or hasn't — from their perspective," she said.

"The further away from the cities you get, obviously the more important are things like regional development and job creation.
"There are almost 2.5 million people employed in Queensland and around half of those are outside the greater Brisbane area."
She said general unemployment and youth unemployment were both higher in Queensland than the national average, and slightly higher again in regional areas.
"This is no doubt one of the factors impacting on how Queenslanders feel about the economy and their current circumstances," she said.

Photo: The lack of wages growth was affecting cost of living pressures, the poll found. (AAP)

Stagnant wages growth and rising cost of living pressures were also raised as issues in the nationwide poll.
Ms Cilento citied some alarming figures.

"One in three people said that they were finding it difficult to live on their current income, so I think that's a reminder to us that even though the headline numbers are looking really strong, the numbers sitting beneath those aren't as strong as we think," she said.

"GDP growth has been really strong but GDP growth per capita hasn't been as strong, so I think that's an important thing to take into consideration."
There was also a strong response to public opinion about the gap between the richest and poorest people in Australian society.
"In that context, 79 per cent of Queenslanders said that the gap between the richest and poorest was unacceptable.
"So I think there's this question around inequality and that gap, but also just the lived experience of people in terms how they're finding their own lives and their ability to get by financially."