Monthly Archives: May 2011

Carbon tax will be even harder to sell after electricity price hike

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland Competition Authority’s decision today that power prices can increase by 6.6% certainly makes PM Julia Gillard’s job of selling the carbon tax even tougher in Queensland (Power price hike set to cost $118 a year): Queensland power prices … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Energy | Leave a comment

New population projections confirm strong expected growth in Ipswich and Gold Coast

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Gene Tunny

From the new local government population projections which Treasurer Andrew Fraser released yesterday: Ipswich to have fastest growth but Gold Coast to have most growth In the decade to 2021, Ipswich (C) is projected to grow rapidly at a very high … Continue reading →

Posted in Floods, Macroeconomy, Population | Leave a comment

Great charts from OESR showing surges in online retail & mining investment

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Office of Economic and Statistical Research (OESR) in Queensland Treasury released its latest Queensland Economic Review on Friday, and it contains some excellent charts showing surges in domestic online retailing (which is part of ‘other retailing’ in the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining, Retail trade | Leave a comment

Manufacturing continues its long steady decline

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The loss of 160 jobs at Golden Circle’s Northgate plant is obviously terrible news for the workers and their families. Anyone working in the manufacturing sector needs to be aware that the long-run economic trend of de-industrialisation (and a shift … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Queenslanders not meeting mortgage repayments

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Gene Tunny

In his speech on Recent Financial Developments, Ric Battellino, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), observed: Recently, it has been parts of Queensland and Western Australia that have shown a deterioration in loan arrears, albeit from low … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Australia Institute on the future of retail – no more 142% mark ups

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Australia Institute’s Executive Director Richard Denniss made some insightful comments on Australia’s retail trade sector today, recognising that a significant proportion of bricks-and-mortar retailers may no longer be economically viable (Retailers guilty of 142% mark ups: Report): According to … Continue reading →

Posted in Retail trade | 1 Comment

Queensland full of bolters

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Queensland is leading the country in the number of bolting regions – including SEQ, Hervey Bay, Townsville and Cairns – with only Mt Isa and Longreach lagging behind. Check out this table in the excellent new Grattan Institute report Investing … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Cairns, Retail trade, Townsville | Leave a comment

Climate Commission says SEQ floods-climate change link plausible, but not discernible

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The Climate Commission report (The Critical Decade) is a reasonably good and well-balanced summary of the science around climate change, clearly noting the uncertainties that exist – uncertainties which make climate change a diabolical policy problem. The Climate Commission’s summary … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change | Leave a comment

Now they have a decent shopping centre, Ipswich residents are shopping locally

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Gene Tunny

For many years, dedicated Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale has pleaded with Ipswich residents to shop locally instead of driving into Brisbane to shop. Mr Pisasale would often cast Indooroopilly Shoppingtown as the villain, noting that Myer could probably justify opening … Continue reading →

Posted in Ipswich, Retail trade | Leave a comment

Copper refinery closure is bad news, but Townsville’s economic prospects are good

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Gene Tunny

One of my most vivid memories from my time at Kirwan High in Townsville is of the visit my grade 8 manual arts class made to the copper refinery. Proud refinery staff tried to explain in simple terms the science … Continue reading →

Posted in Townsville | Leave a comment