Monthly Archives: September 2012

My favourite Budget measure: the Public Sector Renewal Program

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Gene Tunny

When I first read in the Budget that the Government is spending $15 million over the next four years to help it identify savings, I remembered the Yes Minister episode when the Minister challenges Sir Humphrey on departmental spending on … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget | Leave a comment

LNG the hero of the Budget

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasury isn’t worried about large job losses in mining (see p. 42 of the Budget Strategy and Outlook): Notwithstanding announced cuts to operations by some companies, mining-related employment is expected to rise further, as large-scale LNG and coal projects … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Leave a comment

There will still be plenty of mining jobs in Queensland

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Gene Tunny

I’m reasonably confident there won’t be a precipitous fall in mining sector employment in Queensland, despite the news of 900 job losses across the Australian mining sector, with a large proportion of those job losses occurring in Queensland (Mining giants … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Mining | 1 Comment

Public sector job cuts may be showing up in unemployment data

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland unemployment rate slightly increased in August (see the nice OESR chart below), and the public sector job cuts (and hiring freeze) we’ve seen so far are a likely contributor, although again I’d caution not to read too much … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Labour market, Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Chinese tourism expected to boost Far North economy

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The forecast doubling of numbers may sound overly optimistic, but let’s hope there is some truth to expectations of a boom in Chinese tourism in the Far North, as reported this morning in the Cairns Post: THE number of Chinese … Continue reading →

Posted in Cairns, Tourism | Leave a comment

Retail trade restrained by stubbornly high saving rate

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday’s ABS National Accounts data were good news, showing a continuation of strong growth in demand in Queensland at 3.6% over the June quarter. One of the most interesting pieces of data in the National Accounts is the household saving … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Retail trade | 5 Comments

Government was right to cut funding to Literary Awards

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Given that the Literary Awards went ahead without government assistance, and that a number of awards went to authors from outside Queensland such as Frank Moorhouse (as reported in the Courier-Mail this morning), the Government’s decision earlier this year to … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts | Leave a comment

CIS on Australia’s Asia Literacy Non-Problem

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Gene Tunny

There is a great new paper from the Centre for Independent Studies that challenges concerns about our ability to communicate with our Asian neighbours, and hence in part questions the usefulness of the job the PM gave Ken Henry to … Continue reading →

Posted in Population | Leave a comment

Historically Queensland has lacked transparency on analysis of regulatory impacts

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Gene Tunny

I was pleased to learn from a new Productivity Commission report on Regulatory Impact Analysis that the new Queensland Office of Best Practice Regulation is intending to require the publication of all final regulation impact statements (RISs), which for some … Continue reading →

Posted in Industry policy | Leave a comment