Monthly Archives: June 2013

Productivity Commission says no rationale for State ownership of Energex and Ergon

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Paul Syvret in the Courier-Mail today has a nice summary of the Productivity Commission’s latest report on Electricity Network Regulation. The Commission suggests there would be cost savings and lower power bills flowing from privatisation of electricity network businesses such … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

State against State – Qld caught up to NSW in per capita output over 2000s

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Gene Tunny

NSW was traditionally a more productive State than Queensland per head of population, as expressed in economic measures such as gross state product (GSP) per capita produced by the ABS. But Queensland’s economy caught up in per capita terms over … Continue reading →

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Townsville beats Brisbane on economic fundamentals, says new RAI Insight database

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill will be pleased the Regional Australia Institute has ranked Townsville very highly on economic fundamentals in its new Insight database, as it supports the Council’s case for investing in the region that will be expressed in its … Continue reading →

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Slowdown in Qld mining sector jobs growth, but no slump like in WA yet

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Gene Tunny

MacroBusiness had a good post the other day (Where are the job gains and losses?) based on the detailed quarterly ABS labour force data released on Thursday. MacroBusiness’s charts show very slow growth in mining employment in Queensland and a … Continue reading →

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Queensland regional unemployment maps, May 2013

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I’ve prepared some maps based on the ABS regional unemployment rate data released yesterday. I’ve taken the numbers from Queensland Treasury’s briefing on the data, which presents 12-month moving averages of the ABS data to smooth out the high degree … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Cairns, Labour market, Wide Bay-Burnett | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Qld records respectable population growth in 2012 – still waiting for interstate migration rebound

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Gene Tunny

In 2012, Queensland’s population grew 2.0% to 4.61 million people, a respectable growth rate but only slightly above the Australian population growth rate of 1.8% and much lower than WA’s growth rate of 3.5% (see Queensland Treasury’s nice briefing on … Continue reading →

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Drum opinion piece – Taxpayer money wasted chasing film productions

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The ABC’s The Drum has published an opinion piece of mine: Taxpayer money wasted chasing film productions I see very little merit in Government assistance to the film industry, apart from supporting the creation of genuine Australian content that helps … Continue reading →

Posted in Industry policy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Traditional small business lobby much smaller than it once was – should make trading hours deregulation easier

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Gene Tunny

While thinking about retail trading hours the other day, it occurred to me again that the relative decline in traditional corner stores means that arguments in favour of maintaining trading hours restrictions are much less compelling. Across Australia there has … Continue reading →

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Odd that Treasury is proposing barrier to entry for financial advisers

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Gene Tunny

My former colleagues at the Commonwealth Treasury can generally be relied upon to defend the free market, but occasionally they fail to do so, as appears to be the case with new legislation relating to financial planners reported on by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Queensland Plan survey – a mix of interesting philosophical and misguided questions

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I found time today to fill out the Queensland Plan survey, which is meant to inform the Government’s development of a 30-year vision for Queensland. I did my best to answer the somewhat vague questions, a couple of which are … Continue reading →

Posted in Queensland Government | Tagged , , | 2 Comments