Author Archives: Gene Tunny

The Fairfax papers are reporting that Green groups rubbish recycling delay: Waste crusader Ian Kiernan is angered that commonwealth and state leaders keep dithering on a national “cash for cans” style recycling scheme. The Clean Up Australia Day founder is astonished … Continue reading →

Countless articles and blog entries have debated whether measures such as the National Broadband Network or Work Choices would boost the productivity of the Australian economy, which runs at around 85-90% of the US productivity level.  Despite all the analysis … Continue reading →

Former Treasurer Peter Costello raised a few eyebrows when he urged Australians to have “one for mum, one for dad and one for the country”, but his call to procreate and the Government’s baby bonus no doubt played an important … Continue reading →

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised the overnight cash rate 0.25% (25 basis points) today, but the Commonwealth Bank announced it would raise its mortgage rate by 0.45% (45 basis points).  This prompted a going-through-the-motions attack on the Commonwealth … Continue reading →

The British Gas Curtis Island LNG project announced yesterday by Treasurer Wayne Swan (Swan endorses British Gas project) is a big deal for Queensland, and the projected impacts are stunning (though plausible). The British Gas project is projected to generate $2.6 … Continue reading →

The Cairns business community is looking for a boost from $3 billion in infrastructure investment that is scheduled for Cairns and the surrounding region.  The Queensland Government-compiled list of infrastructure projects is dominated by Queensland and Commonwealth Government projects: Cairns … Continue reading →

Federal Government body Skills Australia has released a discussion paper on vocational education and training (VET) which asks the questions that need answering if we are to get a VET system that avoids wacky results like this one (p. 42 … Continue reading →

The transcript of last Thursday’s Senate Estimates hearing in Canberra reveals SA Senator Nick Xenophon has accused Coles of predatory pricing against SA-owned Drake Supermarkets, which has recently opened a store in Caboolture (see page E8 of the transcript). Questioning … Continue reading →