SO strongly is Western Australia performing, the national economy is now being viewed in terms of Australia as a whole and Australia excluding WA.The latest report card by Commonwealth Securities (CommSec) on Australia's states suggests WA's influence, courtesy of the mining boom, has become so powerful it warrants its own special consideration.

Every three months CommSec's chief economist Craig James produces a "State of the States'' report, which measures the nation's eight jurisdictions against eight economic indicators. The April report shows WA topping five of those, and ranking strongly for the rest.

The indicators include economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, construction work done, population growth, housing finance and dwelling commencements."Western Australia is clearly Australia's best-performing economy,'' Mr James said.

In the past he had nominated Australia as a three-speed economy.

"But in the latest report, the best way to describe the situation is Western Australia first and daylight second,'' Mr James said,"So when discussing the Australian economy it is best to focus on two concepts: total Australia, and Australia excluding Western Australia.''

The ACT and Victoria and in the next grouping of economies, with little separating them.

Mr James said both had outperformed on housing indicators while Victoria was solid on retail spending.

The next group sees Queensland continuing to creep up the performance rankings. "Queensland is benefiting from rebuilding work while it is also second ranked on economic growth,'' Mr James said. "NSW is solid in a relative sense on population growth and housing finance.'' South Australia does best on unemployment while it remains middle ranked on other indicators.

Tasmania has slipped down the economic performance rankings, lacking momentum in key areas of the economy, and is now alongside the Northern Territory.The Northern Territory has very low unemployment and strong retail spending but it is lagging on housing indicators and population growth.

"However, while population growth and construction work are below long-term averages, this is likely to change with the construction of the $34 billion Inpex LNG plant,'' Mr James said.

Overall, Mr James said that with the exception of WA, all states are struggling for momentum with a common area of weakness in housing, although engineering is serving to support the overall construction sector.

He expects WA to hold top spot in coming quarters, while he sees the ACT as "most at risk'' from upcoming spending cuts in the 2012-13 federal budget to be handed down on May 8.

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