Author Archives: Gene Tunny

GST slump will cost Qld Government hundreds of millions

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Gene Tunny

There is some bad news for the Queensland Government in the Federal Budget released tonight (from p. 6 of Budget Statement 3): GST paid to the States is also forecast to be lower than previous estimates. GST expected to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Tax | Leave a comment

Tiny surplus only 0.1% of GDP

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The expected surplus for 2012-13 of $1.5 billion to be announced by Deputy PM-Treasurer Wayne Swan tonight is pretty insignificant in a $1.5 trillion economy – i.e. it’s only one-tenth of 1% of GDP (see Inspector Budget). Being fairer to … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget | Leave a comment

ACCC inquiry should investigate why Brisbane has fewer petrol stations per capita than Toowoomba

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Gene Tunny

With the closure of the Caltex on Benson St and the BP on Jephson St in Toowong in recent years, there are now only three petrol stations in a short drive from my flat compared with five around a decade … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Industry policy, Toowoomba | Leave a comment

Cashed-up miners mean big difference in retail turnover in mining and non-mining States

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Gene Tunny

OESR has finally released its April 2012 Economic Review (obviously it’s taken a while to clear through the new Treasurer’s office), and it contains this interesting chart showing the stark difference in retail trade performance between the mining and non-mining … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining, Retail trade | Leave a comment

Qld has strong pulse, but rate cut needed to revive southern states

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The Reserve Bank is widely expected to cut interest rates by 0.25 per cent (or 25 basis points) today. The rate cut is probably necessary to revive the economies of southern states, which Queensland businesses have declining confidence in, according … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Could you imagine Brisbane without the Story Bridge?

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Neil Wiseman’s final Way We Were column in the Sunday Mail today is on the history of the Story Bridge, which encountered some opposition at the time of its construction, both because traffic may not have justified it at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Transport | Leave a comment

Growth forecasts believable, particularly given Can Do attitude to mining (even on Cape York)

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Gene Tunny

A couple of recent economic forecasts, from the Treasury and my former Treasury colleague Peter Downes, suggest the Australian economy will remain resilient and may even surprise us with stronger than expected performance: Treasury forecasts of 3.25pc growth to put … Continue reading →

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

Mining sector already making a large contribution to Governments

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Gene Tunny

While the Interim Report of the GST Distribution Review was fairly unsurprising (see the Australian coverage at Big States fall short in bid to ‘fix’ GST), it contains some useful and interesting pieces of analysis, including this chart showing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Mining | Leave a comment

CommSec’s State of the States misleading on Qld’s economic performance

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The latest edition of CommSec’s State of the States is out today, and it has WA ranked number one, a long way ahead of all other States, including Queensland, based on comparisons of eight economic indicators including economic growth, retail … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Should Governments promote the development of tropical cities such as Townsville?

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Gene Tunny

I am both proud and somewhat bewildered to read that Townsville, where I was born and spent my first fifteen years, is approaching a population of 200,000 people, as reported in the Townsville Bulletin this morning (Welcome to Townsville: population … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Energy, Townsville | 3 Comments