Monthly Archives: October 2014

7.30 Qld interview on asset leases and power prices

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Gene Tunny

I featured in Eric Tlozek’s excellent story on the proposed leasing out of electricity assets on 7.30 Queensland last night: Government powers up to sell state asset leases I come in at around 3 minutes, 20 seconds, after the Opposition … Continue reading →

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

Residential building activity recovering nicely, but still below levels of mid-2000s

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Builders across Queensland should have noticed higher levels of residential building activity lately, although they may still be disappointed activity remains below the levels of the mid-2000s (see chart based on ABS building activity data released yesterday below). The new … Continue reading →

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Time for Qld Govt to reconsider $5bn BaT Tunnel – my submission to the EIS process

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Gene Tunny

It’s now time for the Queensland Government to consider public submissions on the underground Bus and Train (BaT) tunnel project, after the consultation period on the Environmental Impact Statement closed today. I took the opportunity to make a submission, extending … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Infrastructure, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reforming solar cross-subsidy is good policy, but unclear why $3.4 billion should be locked up in Cost of Living Fund

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Government’s apparent plan to end the cross-subsidy from households without solar cells to those with solar cells, and to fund the feed-in tariff through an explicit subsidy, is a sound one (see Brisbane Times coverage Power bills to come … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

New businesses need to hang tough for first year – big gains come in second year

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Gene Tunny

New businesses experience their biggest productivity gains in their second year (see the chart below), after the hard work and investment of the first year have been realised, according to new research published by the ABS (see Firm Dynamics and … Continue reading →

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ABS funding cuts may have compromised macroeconomic management

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Given the huge revisions to recent labour force data published by the ABS data yesterday, it’s now clear that the ABS is suffering from the impacts of funding cuts in recent years (see this ABC news report), and this has … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

HIA appears worried RBA will move to rein in housing market

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) released an informative (though possibly naively optimistic) note yesterday titled A Portrait of Australian Home Prices, available at the HIA website, which is basically a message to the RBA that “There’s nothing to see here.” … Continue reading →

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Strong Choices plan mostly good policy, but light on detail of budget impacts

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The final Strong Choices plan has arrived, and, as I commented yesterday, I’m mostly supportive of it. However, I would rather more of the lease proceeds be used for debt reduction rather than being allocated to infrastructure funds that could … Continue reading →

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Success of privatisation plan requires $12 billion spent wisely

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Gene Tunny

As I’ve commented on previously, I’d prefer the Queensland Government to allocate all of the privatisation proceeds to debt reduction to maximise our chances of regaining our AAA credit rating. By allocating a sizable fraction – now $12 billion according … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Don’t we have better things to spend $22 million on than Pirates of the Caribbean 5?

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Government Ministers and officials who should know better have once again been seduced by the glamour of Hollywood, with the Australian Government offering around $22 million to Disney to secure production of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 in Australia (see … Continue reading →

Posted in Industry policy | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments