Category Archives: Queensland Government

Goss Government was strong on economic management, possibly to its political detriment

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Gene Tunny

It was sad news indeed today that Wayne Goss has died at what is now a relatively young age of 63. He certainly made a fine contribution to Queensland during his years as Premier. In addition to the electoral and … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government, Queensland Rail | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How important is the return of leased out assets in 99 years time in a cost-benefit analysis?

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Premier’s interesting comparison of the proposed leasing out of Queensland Government assets to the long-term lease of Hong Kong, which was eventually returned to China, made me think about how important the eventual return of assets should be in … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Ticket scalping crack down unnecessary and undesirable

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Some unnecessary and undesirable interference in the natural workings of markets was supported by a Queensland parliamentary committee on major events last week (see the Major Events Bill report). It appears the Government is proposing to extent current laws that … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Upcoming Economic Society event on rural & remote service delivery

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Gene Tunny

With a relatively high proportion of the population living outside of major cities and towns, in outer regional or remote areas (see chart above based on ABS data), Queensland faces an additional challenge in delivering government services such as health … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Health, Population, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Reforming solar cross-subsidy is good policy, but unclear why $3.4 billion should be locked up in Cost of Living Fund

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Government’s apparent plan to end the cross-subsidy from households without solar cells to those with solar cells, and to fund the feed-in tariff through an explicit subsidy, is a sound one (see Brisbane Times coverage Power bills to come … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Big increase in Govt infrastructure spending in election lead up

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Gene Tunny

After a couple of years of spending cuts that have contributed to Queensland’s economic sluggishness, Queensland Government infrastructure spending appears to be on the rise in the lead up to the election (see chart below based on the June quarter … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Privatisation proceeds should be spent wisely

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Gene Tunny

I have an opinion piece in today’s Courier-Mail on asset sales/privatisation: Corporatisation has brought efficiency gains but there is still room for more gains through privatisation It’s based largely on my speech from a few weeks ago: Productivity and privatisation. … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Productivity and Privatisation – panel discussion at Griffith University, Southbank

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Gene Tunny

I was delighted to speak alongside productivity expert Dean Parham at a Griffith University panel discussion earlier tonight on productivity and privatisation. Thanks to Alex Robson of Griffith for organising the excellent, well-attended event. My prepared remarks are below. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wise words from the PC on capital/asset recycling

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Gene Tunny

I’ve been a strong supporter of the Queensland Government’s privatisation agenda, but have been unimpressed by the Strong Choices campaign promoting the agenda, which is uninformative and based on questionable logic. In its just-released Public Infrastructure Inquiry Report, the Productivity … Continue reading →

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Government right to worry about State credit rating, not that of generators

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Gene Tunny

I’m underwhelmed by a report in the Brisbane Times that the credit ratings of Queensland Government-owned power generators CS Energy and Stanwell will drop if they are privatised: Credit ratings agency Fitch has given the Electrical Trades Union its latest ammunition in … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment