THE problem with the Australian economy is that there isn't one. Rather, there are two of them, or arguably several. The data groups them as one, which makes it a misleading guide.
You know the story, but even so, the data is astonishing. Half of Australia's growth is coming from investment in one sector, mining, which generates just 7.5 per cent of our output. In the past year, on the latest figures, mining investment grew by 80 per cent. This is the biggest mining boom we've seen.
The other half of Australia's growth comes from the rest of the economy. Growth in the mainstream of our economy is just 1 to 2 per cent, in line with population growth. To put it another way: take out mining and its offshoots and growth per head in the rest of the economy is about zero.
Take out mining from the capital expenditure figures, and they show business investment in the rest of the economy has slumped to its lowest level in almost 40 years: less than 5 per cent of GDP. At last report, non-mining business was forecasting a further fall in 2012-13.
If they were some minor part of the economy, you might say, so what? But this is not minor: it's the mainstream of the economy, it's High Street, it's Victoria, New South Wales, south-eastern Australia, south-eastern Queensland. It's us.
Victoria is at the centre of it. After 20 years of surprisingly solid, even enviable, growth, this state is now at the crossroads. The forces that drove its growth in recent years have gone into reverse. The headwinds it has struggled against have grown stronger and more dominant. It is not clear where the state's next drivers of growth will come from.
The story is certainly not all bleak. Victoria's housing industry is no longer running at record levels, but it's still the shining light in a weak national outlook. A couple of big hospital projects saw the state also lead Australia in 2011-12 in new non-residential building approvals. The Baillieu government has budgeted for record infrastructure spending in 2012-13 and is looking for ways to accelerate that in future. And the state continues to outperform the rest in attracting new visitors.
All through Victoria, creative minds are finding ways to overcome the problems heaping up on them: the overvalued dollar, the new wave of consumer restraint and cost-cutting by other businesses and governments. Despite the dollar, many are building or maintaining export-oriented firms. Victoria's exports of goods in 2011-12 grew 10 per cent, faster than Western Australia or the nation.
To explore the options for Victoria's enterprises, The Age has joined with Victoria University and the Committee for Melbourne to present a conference later this week, Victoria at the Crossroads, with speakers including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells, and experts from a wide range of areas.
The springboard was concern that global and Australian economic conditions are now working against Victoria. The state will have to find new sources of growth or remain stuck in the slow lane of a two-speed economy.
For example:
. In the year to March, demand (total spending) grew 10 per cent in the mining states (WA, Queensland and the Northern Territory) but just 2 per cent in the rest of Australia, including Victoria.
. The state's unemployment rate has risen in a year from 4.9 per cent to 5.5 per cent, with the official figures showing 27,000 full-time jobs lost and 41,000 part-time ones added.
Ominously, the June survey of the Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry found only 9 per cent of its member companies surveyed expect the Victorian economy to strengthen over the year ahead, while 61 per cent expect it to weaken.
The problem is that Victoria has lost its main drivers of growth. Spending by foreign students in the state fell by $1 billion in 2010-11 as the high dollar, tougher migration policies and anti-Indian violence sent students elsewhere. The heavy debts we took on in giddier times now restrain consumer spending. In Spring Street and Canberra, expansionary budgets have given way to contractionary ones.
Housing starts in the six months to March were down 16 per cent from their record high a year earlier, and housing is a big buyer of goods and services. House prices have fallen for a year and a half, provoking caution.
Manufacturers from Ford to the backyard sheds are doing it tough and shedding jobs under the crushing weight of the high dollar. And investment surveys suggest there is worse to come.
This is not just Victoria's story; it's the story of south-eastern Australia. The Reserve Bank's recent interest rate cuts will help at the margin, but the core message from policymakers is: it's your problem.
That means it's got to be our solution. We must be tough, resourceful, patient and creative: to find better ways to work, make new products and find new customers. Good luck.
