Tasmania still on top, and NSW up

Date: 08 December 2003

Special 10th anniversary issue

Tasmania has been assessed as Australia's best performing State in the 10th annual issue of the Evatt Foundation's State Government League Table, released today in The State of the States 2003 report.

Tasmania won the top position for the third year running, while New South Wales climbed up to second place.

'This result confirms the all-round superior performance of Tasmania that has been evident since 1999', said Stephen Rix, who prepared the report for the Evatt Foundation.

'Tasmania out performed all the other States on environmental measures, where it enjoys the benefits of hydro-power, and also performed strongly in social policy,' said Mr Rix.

Runner-up New South Wales also performed well in the environmental policy area, particularly in national parks and wildlife services.

Third place getter South Australia was the best state for social policy, winning in the health, education and public safety measures.

Western Australia rose from last to fourth position, asserting its traditional economic dominance and showing improvements in welfare and environmental measures.

Meanwhile, Victoria slid from fourth to fifth place, and Queensland won the wooden spoon.

'Victoria held most of its individual positions from 2002, but its overall scores were lower.'

'Queensland's fall was due to its traditional poor social policy performance, combining with a poor environmental score,' said Mr Rix.

'Queensland's economy continued to perform strongly, particularly in capital investment, which augers well for the future'.

The Evatt Foundation, which is based at the University of New South Wales, produced The State of the States 2003 report.

The report is a special 10th anniversary issue of the annual state rankings, and also contains extensive analysis of privatisation, child protection and corrective services polices.

The research is based upon data from the Commonwealth Grants Commission and the Australian Bureau of Statistics and covers the 12 months to June 2002.

For further information

Contact:	Stephen Rix
Union:	The Evatt Foundation
Phone:	(02) 4268 1408
Contact Mobile:	(02) 9569 4009
Fax:	+61 2 9385 2967
Email:	evatt@unsw.edu.au
WWW:	http://evatt.org.au/news/274.html

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