Performance Highlights
Strong economic foundations for a Smart State
- Queensland economy growing faster than rest of Australia at 4.25 per cent in 2006-07
- Fastest jobs growth in Australia at 5.6 per cent and an unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent, the lowest since 1970s
- Highest per person spending on infrastructure of any state with expenditure in 2006-07 totalling almost $4 billion
Education and skills for a knowledge economy
- Introduction of a universal preparatory year of school, bringing Queensland education into line with international best practice
- Rising skill levels: in 2005, 65 per cent of young Queenslanders had post-school qualifications, up from 52 per cent in 2002
Sustainable development for future prosperity
- Protecting natural habitat through halt on broad-scale vegetation clearing
- More efficient water use and improved water conservation
Research to create tomorrow's ideas
- Queensland now recognised as a global centre in biotechnology and health research
- Queensland Government invests $60 per person on research, more than NSW ($44) and Victoria ($40) and 50 per cent more than Commonwealth Government research spending in Queensland ($41)
- Expanded innovation funding to support collaborations and skills attraction including more that $355 million allocated since 2005 to support research and innovation
Innovation to convert ideas into value
- Expenditure by Queensland businesses on research and development (R&D) recording growth of 135 per cent between 1999-2000 and 2004-05
- Knowledge-intensive merchandise exports grew 77.2 per cent between 1998-99 and 2004-05, double the national rate
- Queensland universities spend almost 60 per cent of their total R&D expenditure on applied and experimental research, more than universities in any other state
- Global companies such as Mincom, Groundprobe and Boeing are developing innovative, world leading technologies in Queensland
Last reviewed 24 October 2006
