Category Archives: Industry policy

Being unpredictable helps guard against collusion: a lesson from the 2016 Colin Clark Lecture

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Professor Leslie Marx of Duke University delivered the 2016 Colin Clark Lecture last Tuesday morning at Customs House in Brisbane on how to defend against potential collusion by suppliers. In industries with a small number of players who can readily … Continue reading →

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Qld Government needs to avoid costly inter-state bidding wars

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Gene Tunny

In the 2016-17 Queensland Budget being handed down today, among other measures, the State Government will allocate $40 million to “aggressively” attract businesses to the State, no doubt through a combination of payroll tax concessions, grants and similar financial incentives … Continue reading →

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Australia’s Christmas Gifts – Innovation and our Global Financial Standing

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Gene Tunny

Thanks to Michael Willis from Effective Governance for today’s guest post. The Prime Minister’s “Innovation Statement” may or may not prove to be gold, frankincense and myrrh, a Christmas gift for our nation. But like the shepherds arriving with a … Continue reading →

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Harper Competition Policy Review – guest post by Rod Bogaards

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland Parliament’s passage of the retrograde sugar bill that was put forward by Katter’s Australian Party is a strong sign that we should not hold much hope for sensible economic policy coming out of this hung parliament (see Brisbane … Continue reading →

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Australia Awards program with Indonesian Finance Ministry officials on strengthening the public policy process

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Gene Tunny

In late October, I felt honoured to deliver workshops on economic forecasting and industry policy to officials from the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. The officials were recipients of Australia Awards from the Australian Government and were visiting Brisbane to attend … Continue reading →

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Transparency needed around luring film productions such as Thor: Ragnarok to Qld

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Gene Tunny

In its final report on government industry assistance (i.e. corporate welfare) released in August, the Queensland Competition Authority recommended an end to the lack of transparency that still, alas, characterises Queensland Government industry attraction measures. This lack of transparency was … Continue reading →

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More than half of Australian large businesses receiving government financial assistance of some type

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Gene Tunny

Australian large businesses have proven themselves much better than smaller businesses at securing government financial assistance such as grants and tax concessions. Around 57 per cent of large businesses (i.e. 200+ employees) received some type of government financial assistance in … Continue reading →

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ABC News interview on industry assistance

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Gene Tunny

I appeared on Brisbane ABC News tonight, commenting on the Queensland Competition Authority’s new report on Queensland Government industry assistance, and the story has been written up on the ABC News website: Queensland Government will maintain industry assistance measures for … Continue reading →

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QCA review suggests major budget savings available from slashing wasteful industry assistance

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland Competition Authority published the final report of its Industry Assistance Review on Friday, and regrettably the Queensland Government was quick to reject its recommendations regarding a cut to drought assistance and the further review of subsidised regional electricity … Continue reading →

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Ethanol mandate should not proceed without cost-benefit analysis

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Gene Tunny

Before the Queensland Government commits to the 2 per cent ethanol mandate proposed in the biofuels discussion paper, it should commission a cost-benefit analysis to ensure that the costs the mandate will impose on motorists, estimated at over $4 million … Continue reading →

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