Electricity subsidies and the Queensland government’s free public transport handouts, coupled with a big increase in defence spending, is likely to have kept the economy growing over the past three months.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed public spending lifted by 2.1 per cent over the September quarter, adding 0.7 percentage points to total economic growth.
The Queensland government has committed to net zero emission buses by 2025.Credit: Felicity Caldwell
The bureau will tomorrow release the September national accounts with public spending the key driver of growth that economists are tipping is likely to be around 0.4 to 0.6 per cent. Without the big contribution from government spending, the economy may have contracted.
The single largest increase in public spending was on defence capital goods which jumped by 34 per cent over the past three months to more than $4.4 billion. Over the past year spending on defence capital goods has lifted by 56 per cent.
In the quarter, government spending on capital goods – such as roads and railways and defence -– lifted by 6.8 per cent.
But the federal government’s energy subsidies, which it is using to reduce inflation, and the now departed Miles’ government’s 50 cent public transport fares in Queensland also contributed to the lift in public spending.
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The Reserve Bank has previously noted government spending has been a key factor in overall growth and the inflation pressures facing the country.
While the energy subsidies and cheap public transport are treated as government spending, they flow directly to households.
Separate figures from the bureau showed the sixth consecutive current account deficit which rose by $2.2 billion in the quarter to $14.1 billion.
The trade surplus halved to $3.3 billion, the smallest it’s been since 2018. That was due to a further fall in the prices for Australia’s key export commodities such as iron ore.
Trade will add just 0.1 percentage points to tomorrow’s overall GDP result.