Monthly Archives: November 2011

Resources sector accounts for half of GDP growth

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The following chart in yesterday’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) nicely illustrates the two-speed economy: Given the resources and resources-related sectors are around 15% of the economy, this chart suggests around half of Australia’s economic growth in the next … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Mining | Leave a comment

OECD optimistic that European policy makers will prevent crisis

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Gene Tunny

In its latest Economic Outlook, the OECD runs the risk of being subject to the old joke about the economist stranded on a desert island with some tinned food who assumes he has a can opener.  While I agree with … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Townsville CC knocks back Nuns’ plans to rebuild convent

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Gene Tunny

An article in yesterday’s Townsville Bulletin (Fire danger forces Strand nuns out) confirmed the over-zealous stance of the Townsville City Council on heritage, which I’ve noted in a previous post. The Bulletin reports: NUNS have had to leave a 100-year-old … Continue reading →

Posted in North Queensland, Townsville | 1 Comment

Commonwealth may need to guarantee State borrowings again

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Obviously, if the euro zone breaks up, as many commentators including the Economist (Is this really the end?) see as reasonably likely, the global economy will suffer a massive negative shock and we may need to revisit forecasts of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Don’t tie up money in Education Trust, cut taxes instead

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The proposed Queensland Education Trust has the look of a policy born out of a focus group, and Treasury must have been asleep when the policy was under development, because the proposed policy fails on basic public finance and economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Leave a comment

Best charts from the State Growth Outlook Study

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Whoever wins the State election next year will have a lot of money to play with thanks to the projected big increase in royalties associated with the resources boom, as charted in the Queensland Resources Council’s State Growth Outlook Study: … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Leave a comment

FIFO Coordinator will be very busy

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Last week Australia’s first FIFO (i.e. fly-in, fly-out) Coordinator was appointed in Cairns, with the task of matching locals to FIFO job opportunities in the resources sector (FIFO Coordinator based in Cairns). Based on the ongoing sluggishness in the Far … Continue reading →

Posted in Cairns, Mining, North Queensland | Leave a comment

Education Dept will need to build a lot of new classrooms

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Gene Tunny

If there is a new Campbell Newman-led Government in Queensland next year, as the polls are suggesting, it will need to assess the budgetary implications of a large increase in the number of school students, before it commits funds to … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Education, Infrastructure | Leave a comment

Talking sense about the Commonwealth Games

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Sunland chairman Soheil Abedian is absolutely right that the Gold Coast’s major problem is its inability to control drunks and criminals, and hence the Commonwealth Games won’t itself save the Coast’s economy (as reported in today’s Gold Coast Bulletin): At … Continue reading →

Posted in Gold Coast | Leave a comment

Queensland wages growth trailing other States

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Peter Martin has a solid column in the Fairfax papers this morning on the ABS’s new average weekly earnings data, highlighting the strong growth in mining sector earnings and the very strong growth in earnings in Western Australia (Boom times … Continue reading →

Posted in Cairns, Labour market, Macroeconomy, Mining | Leave a comment