Tasmania has been assessed as Australia's best performing State in the Evatt Foundation's annual State Government League Table, released today in The State of the States 2002 report.
"This result has continued the upward Tasmanian trend that has been evident since 1999", said Dr Christopher Sheil, who prepared the report for the Evatt Foundation.
Tasmania won the top position for the second year running, defeating runner-up South Australia. New South Wales bounced back to third position, following its big fall in the League Table last year.
"Tasmania out performed all the other States with its environmental policies, and also performed very strongly in social policy," said Dr Sheil.
Runner-up South Australia performed well in social policy, while the environment was the strongest area for third-placed New South Wales.
Meanwhile, Queensland slipped from third to fifth position. The main reason for the Queensland's fall was a below average performance in the social policy area, particularly in health and welfare services.
In other results, Victoria continued to climb up the League Table, rising from fifth to fourth position by improving its performance in both environmental and economic policy.
And Western Australia won the League Table's wooden spoon for the second year running, despite reclaiming the top position for its economic performance and performing well in both health and education services.
"Western Australia was undermined by its results in environmental policy, where it was the poorest performer", said Dr Sheil.
The Evatt Foundation and the Public Sector Research Centre at the University of New South Wales produced The State of the States 2002 report.
The research is based upon data from the Commonwealth Grants Commission and the Australian Bureau of Statistics and covers the 12 months to June 2001.
For more information, please call:
Report Author: Dr Christopher Sheil, (02) 9358 3798, 0419 43 6052 (m)
Evatt Foundation: Ms Fay Gervasoni, (02) 9385 2966 (w), or Mr Bruce Childs, (02) 9386 1240 (h)