Monthly Archives: April 2014

Will laneway cafes revive Townsville CBD?

Some Townsville business people appear excited by the prospect of laneway developments in Townsville CBD, which has struggled for years to compete as a retail centre against the big suburban shopping centres at Aitkenvale and Willows (see CBD set to … Continue reading

Posted in Retail trade, Townsville | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

ABC radio interview on the debt tax and paid parental leave

Company Director and advisor Monica Bradley and I joined Steve Austin on 612 ABC Brisbane radio this morning to talk about paid parental leave, the debt tax and the upcoming Federal Budget more broadly. Is a paid parental leave scheme … Continue reading

Posted in Budget | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brisbane Times article on asset sales

I’m quoted in a Brisbane Times article today regarding asset sales: Asset sales divide economists – but they are united in saying ‘Strong Choices’ is flawed I re-iterated the same points I’ve made over the last couple of weeks: that asset … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

CommSec State of States report misleading on population growth

CommSec’s State of the States report is a PR exercise for the Commonwealth Bank rather than a serious piece of economic analysis. As I’ve posted on before, its methodology is daft and gives weird results (Ask a silly question, get … Continue reading

Posted in Population | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Higher incidence of long-term unemployment in outer metro areas, Qld outback and Wide Bay

Around one-in-five of the 150,000 or so unemployed people in Queensland have been out of work for one year or more, corresponding to around 30,000 people, according to ABS labour force data. There is considerable variation in the incidence of … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Labour market | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Economics: Keeping the World in Business – speech to high school students at UQ

Below is the prepared text of a talk I gave to high school students attending the Careers that Shape the World day at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, on Wednesday, 23 April 2014. I varied the talk significantly … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

How important is tourism to the Queensland economy?

It is being reported that visitor numbers over Easter at Queensland tourism centres such as the Gold and Sunshine Coasts were at levels not seen since before the financial crisis. This is great news given the importance of tourism to … Continue reading

Posted in Tourism | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Entrepreneurs seeking venture capital better off going to US

Australia’s low level of venture capital investment is often raised as a cause for concern, as in today’s article from Elizabeth Knight in the Age, Start ups starved of venture capital: In Australia the venture capital sector is not starved … Continue reading

Posted in Industry policy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Penalty rates reform a priority given youth unemployment rate

The Easter long weekend has once again highlighted the adverse impact penalty rates are having on the hospitality sector, with the Courier-Mail reporting restaurants close over Easter as penalty rates see wages skyrocket. I’ve commented before on how penalty rates make it … Continue reading

Posted in Labour market, Tourism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Strong Choices poorly received by public – Treasury needs to do a lot more work

The Queensland Government needs some new advisers who can prepare logical, coherent arguments as to why particular assets such as ports and electricity businesses should be privatised, because the current Strong Choices campaign has flopped (see the Brisbane Times article Strong … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments