Author Archives: Gene Tunny

Lessons from the GFC symposium at Griffith’s Ship Inn Function Centre on 7 March

In this final week of January ten years ago, the fifth floor of the Treasury Building in Canberra was a hive of activity. Hard-working Treasury officials, including me, were putting together the 2009 Updated Economic and Fiscal Outlook in which … Continue reading

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Keynes’s Economic Consequences of the Peace in its centennial year

I recorded this video yesterday morning on some possible reading/re-reading for the Australia Day long weekend: John Maynard Keynes’s Economic Consequences of the Peace, now in its centennial year. You can find the book’s full text online. The book was published … Continue reading

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Qld Infrastructure pipeline not gushing

Last Friday, Building Queensland, the state government’s semi-independent infrastructure adviser, released its latest Infrastructure Pipeline Report, which identified some interesting projects that BQ has led the development of business cases for, such as the $2 billion Brisbane Live Roma St … Continue reading

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Outer-lying suburbs like Townsville’s Deeragun the most fertile

I am very pleased to be mentioned on the front page of today’s Townsville Bulletin in Tess Ikonomou’s article Townsville suburb Deeragun crowned NQ’s most fertile (pay-walled, sorry). As I told the Bulletin, in many cities, population pressures, and the … Continue reading

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Upcoming QMCA breakfast presentation on the Qld economic outlook for 2019

On Friday 8 February, I will present on Queensland’s economic outlook at the Queensland Major Contractors Association’s first breakfast event for 2019. With all the uncertainty in the global economy, it’s been a very interesting holiday period, and I’ll include … Continue reading

Posted in Health, Macroeconomy, Mining, Retail trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Concentration of Qld population in SEQ expected to increase with its higher rates of net migration

Regarding my previous post noting SEQ’s dominance in population terms, regular QEW reader Mike Willis commented perceptively: Gene, it seems the concentration will be reinforced, if the most recent Qld government statistician’s report is any guide. State population growth is … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Cairns, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Qld Councils & the 80/20 rule – 81% of Queenslanders live in just 12 out of 78 LGAs

In the final week of 2018, the Brisbane Times published an article The capital cities that ate Australia, which opened: They are the capital cities eating up the rest of Australia. Already home to more than two-thirds of the nation’s … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Population, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Qld less reliant on overseas migration as driver of growth than southern states

Over 2018 I have commented regularly that the Queensland economy is under-performing relative to NSW and Victoria, and this has been reflected in the state’s unemployment rate remaining above 6% while the national rate has fallen toward 5%. It should … Continue reading

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Speech notes from Beautiful One Day, Broke the Next launch, 19 December 2018

Me (Gene Tunny) & Julie from Connor Court at the launch of my new book Beautiful One Day, Broke the Next, at Connor Court Book Room, West End, Brisbane Beautiful One Day, Broke the Next Today’s Australian newspaper included the … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Gruen’s Evaluator General agency should be separate from federal Treasury

Last month, federal Opposition assistant treasury spokesman and former ANU economics professor Andrew Leigh backed, in part, Nicholas Gruen’s excellent idea for a federal Evaluator General to oversee the evaluation of Commonwealth programs (see Building a better feedback loop). With … Continue reading

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