Monthly Archives: February 2011

Share market is pro-democracy

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin argued the highest stage of capitalism is imperialism, so, in his view, capitalism is inherently un-democratic. It was pleasing to see Australia’s share market prove Lenin wrong today, responding positively to the ousting of the … Continue reading →

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Cairns, a tropical Bohemia?

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Cairns is proving attractive to bohemians. The Cairns Post reports in State of The Art: Where do tired, city-dwelling rock stars head to when in need of dramatic scenery and to revive their spirits? Cairns, of course. How’s this for a … Continue reading →

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Constitutional crisis? Ever read section 53?

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The News Ltd papers are reporting the bizarre assertion that Australia may be facing a constitutional crisis (see the bullet point at the top of this story, Julia Gillard cops historic blow with ‘$317m act of irresponsibility’): LABOR has suffered a … Continue reading →

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River Walk rebuild looking less likely now

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Gene Tunny

PM Julia Gillard appears reluctant to provide Brisbane City Council with the cash to fix up the River Walk and to fully repair the City Cat network. The Courier-Mail reports: Council big enough to pay for flood recovery bill, Julia … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Floods | Leave a comment

Ipswich MP slams flood response

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Gene Tunny

While the consensus across Queensland is that our authorities handled the floods exceptionally well, Ipswich federal MP Shayne Neumann offers a hard-hitting, dissenting view – i.e. Ipswich was ignored in the flood. The Queensland Times reports: EVERY level of government failed … Continue reading →

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Flood clean up & repair bill around $1,100 per Brisbane household

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Courier-Mail reports Brisbane flood cost City Council $440 mil. The Brisbane City Council area has a population of around 1.05 million people living in around 400,000 households, meaning the City Council’s clean up and repair costs add up to around … Continue reading →

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Falling CBD vacancy rates inspire confidence

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Brisbane Business News reports that Brisbane records biggest take-up in CBD commercial space: BRISBANE has emerged as the star performer as demand for Australian office space recovers with vacancy rates expected to continue a downward trend in 2011. The state capital … Continue reading →

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Courier-Mail’s big call on population boom hitting the wall

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Courier-Mail’s Patrick Lion went too far in his article on Queensland’s population growth this morning when he declared that: AUSTRALIA’S love affair with Queensland is over, with migration from interstate crashing to its lowest level in almost 30 years. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyclones, Floods, Migration, Population | 1 Comment

Yasi damages bill at around $1.5 billion

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Weekend Australian Financial Review (Feb 5-6, p. 13) contains the following tabulation of the costs of Cyclone Yasi: Damage to sugar crop:                  $500m Damage to banana crop:         … Continue reading →

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Grattan Institute appears afraid to champion labour market reform

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Gene Tunny

When Australians go to work, on average, they only produce around 85% of what workers in the US produce. Academics and policy wonks have spent a lot of time debating whether this is due to our remoteness from the world … Continue reading →

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