Monthly Archives: June 2016

Heavy construction decline has been greater in Qld than in WA

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Gene Tunny

As I have discussed previously, relatively weak economic conditions in several Queensland regions, including Townsville and the outback, have been partly due to the mining downturn (see my post from last Saturday). At the same time as capital expenditure on … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

XRR business case should be released in full to give public comfort it is value for money

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday, the Queensland Government sent the Federal Government the business case for the $5 billion Cross River Rail (XRR) project, but alas it has only provided the public with an inadequate, opaque four-page (not counting the cover page) summary of … Continue reading →

Posted in Transport, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Qld returns to fourth place in population growth as WA falls back

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The new population data released by the ABS last week reveal Queensland is still growing slower than the national average, and much slower than Victoria (see first chart below), a State to which we are still losing interstate migrants in … Continue reading →

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

Stark difference in unemployment rates between resources regions and rest of Qld

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland branch of the Economic Society of Australia, of which I am the Secretary, was fortunate last Tuesday to host a presentation by Queensland Treasury official Greg Uptin on the economic forecasts underpinning the 2016-17 Queensland Budget. Greg gave … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy, Mining, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brexit impact depends on terms of divorce with EU

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Gene Tunny

At the Tattersall’s race meeting at Eagle Farm today, I was fortunate to run into Morgans Chief Economist Michael Knox, and we had a good chat about, unsurprisingly, what everyone else is talking about, Brexit. Michael reminded me that he … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments

Upcoming Qld Treasury briefing on Budget economic forecasts to ESA Qld

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Gene Tunny

As the Secretary of the Queensland Branch of the Economic Society of Australia, I am very pleased that Greg Uptin, a senior Queensland Treasury official, will once again brief us on the Treasury’s economic forecasts underpinning the 2016-17 State Budget. … Continue reading →

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

Workforce participation drops as Qld economy under-performs

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Far North Queensland-based economist Pete Faulkner published a great analysis of the ABS labour force estimates for May on his blog yesterday (Jobs data in Qld is poor again): Unfortunately the picture in Queensland continues to be a weaker one. … Continue reading →

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

Qld Budget includes unbelievably low expenditure growth forecasts

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Gene Tunny

As the Queensland Budget bad news (revenue write-downs, super raids, etc) had already been released by the Government, there was not much to get excited about yesterday afternoon, or so I thought. Then I had a look at the Government’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Qld Government needs to avoid costly inter-state bidding wars

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Gene Tunny

In the 2016-17 Queensland Budget being handed down today, among other measures, the State Government will allocate $40 million to “aggressively” attract businesses to the State, no doubt through a combination of payroll tax concessions, grants and similar financial incentives … Continue reading →

Posted in Industry policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Cost of bad regulation increased by excessive enforcement against Uber drivers & riders

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Gene Tunny

When the Queensland Government announced its personalised transport review, I hoped that Transport and Main Roads (TMR) would turn a blind eye to Uber. It seemed obvious the Government would eventually legalise Uber, so why continue to deny consumers and … Continue reading →

Posted in Transport, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments