Author Archives: Gene Tunny

Queensland only third fastest growing State or Territory in 2010-11

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Unsurprisingly WA had the fastest growing population in 2010-11, and had a comfortable lead over the ACT in second place (Canberra must be hiring a lot  of new public servants) and Queensland in third place, according to new ABS demographic … Continue reading →

Posted in Population | 2 Comments

Seriously, are Qld taxpayers paying for zombie apocalypse education?

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Gene Tunny

This is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and the State Library’s budget should be significantly cut and reallocated to a more deserving organisation if it thinks this is good value for money (Be very quiet, we’re dodging zombies): Fighting … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget | 4 Comments

Treasury reports pessimism around Qld residential construction

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Commonwealth Treasury has produced a nice write-up of current economic conditions across the two-speed economy in its latest business liaison report. It contains sobering news for people in the retail sector and Queensland’s residential building industry: Retail sector contacts report … Continue reading →

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

Was the ABS asleep during the Howard Govt (or has Work Choices gone down the memory hole)?

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Former Treasury Secretary Ted Evans, who was the best in living memory according to Treasury old timers, gave a great speech in the 1990s in which he noted something along the lines of “a country chooses the level of unemployment … Continue reading →

Posted in IR | 2 Comments

Bligh’s bold breakup of Queensland Health

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Well done to Premier Anna Bligh for promising to break up Queensland Health in the wake of the fake Tahitian prince scandal (Queensland Health to be abolished “as we know it”): Premier Anna Bligh has announced plans to abolish Queensland … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | 1 Comment

Fake Tahitian princes – from Joseph Banks’s time to today

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Along with many other Queenslanders I am stunned by Queensland Health’s failure to detect the $16 million fraud of the fake Tahitian prince until recently. Surely whoever is in Government after the next election will need to commission a forensic … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | 1 Comment

Paid parking and trading hours deregulation would solve carpark woes

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Gene Tunny

If you want to see aggressive competition and scenes of triumph and despair, the Indooroopilly Shoppingtown carpark on a Saturday afternoon is the place for you. After driving around the carpark for twenty minutes last Saturday afternoon, I was luckily … Continue reading →

Posted in Retail trade | 1 Comment

Bligh’s 100,000 jobs target complicates election timing

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday’s ABS labour force data show that the flow-on effects of the resources boom are yet to translate into large numbers of jobs in the rest of the economy. Judith Sloan in the Australian today has a great description of … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market | 1 Comment

Company super profits tax would cause budgetary problems for Government

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Gene Tunny

I am surprised the Government is even bothering to investigate the possibility of reforming company tax to only tax super profits, similar to the new minerals resource rent tax, as reported here: Swan tax shake-up targets super rich This would … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Tax | 3 Comments

Coal mines re-open – Qld economy bounces back

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Gene Tunny

As the formerly flooded coal mines have re-opened, the Queensland economy has bounced back strongly. From OESR’s briefing note on the latest National Accounts figures: Also regarding the National Accounts, Fairfax economics editor Peter Martin has a great column (Economy … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining | Leave a comment