Category Archives: Budget

Podcast chat with Nicholas Gruen on freeing fiscal policy from political tinkering

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Gene Tunny

The latest episode of my Economics Explored podcast features a conversation I had earlier this week with Nicholas Gruen of Lateral Economics regarding his recent Financial Times opinion piece on the need for an independent fiscal policy advisory body. In … Continue reading →

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Qld state finances chat with ABC’s Steve Austin & QEAS’s Nick Behrens

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Gene Tunny

Fellow Queensland economist Nick Behrens and I sat down with 612 ABC Brisbane’s Steve Austin to chat about the latest report from the Auditor-General on Queensland’s state finances. Of course, COVID is the big story since March last year, but, … Continue reading →

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Role of Treasury in economic policy conversation with Paul Tilley – latest Economics Explored episode

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Gene Tunny

When I spoke with Scott Emerson on his 4BC Drive program last Thursday, I mentioned the federal Treasury would be currently working on options to extend JobKeeper in some form to tourism-dependent businesses. The Treasury has been prominent in developing … Continue reading →

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Fiscal Stimulus with Fabrizio Carmignani – my latest Economics Explored podcast episode

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Gene Tunny

Fiscal stimulus is very topical worldwide, with the new US President Joe Biden proposing a US$1.9 trillion COVID relief and stimulus package. And, in Australia, there is a debate occurring over how to support the tourism sector once JobKeeper finishes … Continue reading →

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Brisbane Lockdown 2.0 – the sequel no one wanted

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Gene Tunny

To keep Queenslanders safe, our state government has decided to lock down the over2 million residents of Greater Brisbane for the next three days, but its sudden, unexpected announcement at 8am sparked immediate panic buying in our supermarkets, and an … Continue reading →

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Brisbane Inner City still the biggest beneficiary of Qld Gov’t CAPEX

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Following last year’s state budget, I posted on how Brisbane’s inner city was the big winner regarding state government capital spending. That continues in 2020-21 with the continuation of the huge Cross River Rail project (see chart below). Out of … Continue reading →

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Qld Budget doesn’t tell the full story on government’s borrowing costs

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Gene Tunny

State Treasurer Cameron Dick, who handed down the 2020-21 Queensland Budget earlier this week, has impressed me with his chutzpah, demonstrated, for example, by this audacious statement in his Budget speech (on p. 38): Not only are our interest costs … Continue reading →

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Qld Budget interview on 4BC with Scott Emerson

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Gene Tunny

I was pleased to speak with 4BC Drive host Scott Emerson yesterday about the 2020-21 Queensland Budget. Among other issues, Scott and I chatted about the Government’s abandonment or, more charitably, nuancing of its fiscal principle around keeping public service … Continue reading →

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Women and the Budget webinar presented by Griffith Business School

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Last Thursday I had a great time moderating a webinar on Women and the Budget hosted by the Griffith Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics. Presenters included Dr Leonora Risse of RMIT who has been a visiting fellow at the … Continue reading →

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Qld Budget reveals bigger deficits and a lot more debt than expected

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has handed down the long-awaited 2020-21 state budget and it contains bigger deficits and much higher debt over the forward estimates than I expected, with nearly $89 billion of general government debt and around $130 billion … Continue reading →

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